Monitor resources in Azure
📘Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104)
Azure Monitor Insights is a set of tools in Azure Monitor that helps you monitor, diagnose, and optimize your Azure resources such as Virtual Machines (VMs), Storage Accounts, and Networks. In the AZ-104 exam, you need to know how these insights work, what metrics they provide, and how they help troubleshoot issues.
We’ll break it down into three parts: VMs, Storage Accounts, and Networks.
1. Monitor Virtual Machines (VMs) using Azure Monitor Insights
Azure Monitor provides VM Insights to monitor the performance and health of your virtual machines.
What VM Insights provides
- Performance metrics – CPU usage, memory usage, disk I/O, network traffic.
- Health status – Shows whether a VM is healthy, warning, or critical.
- Dependencies – Shows connections and dependencies between your VMs and other resources.
- Processes – Allows monitoring of running processes inside the VM if Azure Monitor Agent is installed.
- Alerts – Automatically generate alerts if CPU, memory, or other metrics exceed limits.
How to use VM Insights
- Enable VM Insights: Install the Azure Monitor Agent on your VM.
- Go to Insights in Azure Portal → Select the VM → View performance, events, and dependencies.
- View performance charts: You can see graphs for CPU, memory, disk, and network usage.
- Analyze dependencies: Understand which other VMs, databases, or services your VM depends on.
Example in IT environment: If a VM hosting a database starts using 90% CPU consistently, VM Insights will show this and you can set an alert to notify the admin before users experience slow database responses.
2. Monitor Storage Accounts using Azure Monitor Insights
Azure provides Storage Insights to help you monitor the performance and availability of storage accounts.
What Storage Insights provides
- Metrics:
- Transactions (read/write operations)
- Latency (how long requests take)
- Availability and success rate
- Capacity usage
- Alerts: You can set up alerts for when storage exceeds thresholds (e.g., capacity > 90%).
- Logs: Activity logs for auditing, like who accessed which blob or file.
How to use Storage Insights
- Enable metrics for your storage account.
- Go to Monitoring → Metrics in Azure Portal.
- Choose metrics like Total Requests, Average Latency, Success E2E Latency.
- Create alerts for thresholds to avoid performance or capacity issues.
Example in IT environment: If a storage account hosting backups is reaching 90% capacity, Storage Insights can alert admins so they can increase storage before backups fail.
3. Monitor Networks using Azure Monitor Insights
Azure Monitor provides Network Insights (part of Network Performance Monitor) to monitor network performance, connectivity, and issues.
What Network Insights provides
- Connectivity checks – Monitors if your network links are working between regions or virtual networks.
- Performance metrics:
- Network latency
- Packet loss
- Bandwidth usage
- Topology map – Shows the network layout visually and highlights issues.
- Traffic analytics – Helps identify heavy traffic flows or abnormal patterns.
How to use Network Insights
- Enable Network Performance Monitor for virtual networks.
- Check Topology and Performance dashboards.
- Configure alerts for packet loss, high latency, or connectivity failures.
Example in IT environment: If a VM cannot connect to a database VM in another region, Network Insights can show where the connection fails and whether it’s due to latency, packet loss, or a network security group blocking traffic.
Key Steps to Monitor Resources with Insights
- Enable the appropriate Insights:
- VM Insights for VMs
- Storage Insights for Storage Accounts
- Network Insights for networks
- Install agents if required:
- Azure Monitor Agent for VMs
- Network agents for network monitoring
- Configure Metrics & Logs:
- Select relevant metrics
- Enable diagnostic logs
- Set up Alerts:
- Threshold-based alerts
- Action groups for notifications
- Analyze and Troubleshoot:
- Check dashboards and charts
- Use dependency maps and logs to pinpoint issues
Important Exam Tips
- Know the differences between VM, Storage, and Network Insights.
- Be able to identify which agent is required for VM monitoring (Azure Monitor Agent).
- Understand what metrics are available for each resource.
- Remember alerts and action groups are essential for proactive monitoring.
- Understand the dependency mapping for VMs and network topology for troubleshooting.
- For the exam, scenarios might include:
- VM high CPU or memory → use VM Insights
- Storage account latency → use Storage Insights
- Network connectivity problem → use Network Insights
Summary Table
| Resource Type | Tool / Insights | Key Metrics | Alerts | Logs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VM | VM Insights | CPU, Memory, Disk, Network | Yes | Yes |
| Storage | Storage Insights | Transactions, Latency, Capacity | Yes | Yes |
| Network | Network Insights | Latency, Packet Loss, Bandwidth | Yes | Yes |
✅ By understanding these insights, Azure administrators can monitor resources effectively, detect issues early, and maintain performance, which is exactly what the AZ-104 exam expects you to know.
