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Improve incident response with alerting on Azure | AZ-104 | Episode 28

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Azure Monitor Alerts Overview

  1. Alerts are a critical part of monitoring because logs and metrics can show that something is wrong, but alerts help trigger a response.
  2. Azure Monitor alerts listen for signals within a defined scope, evaluate thresholds, and trigger actions when conditions are met.
  3. An alert rule defines the signal to monitor, the threshold that causes firing, and what should happen when the alert fires.

Alert Processing Flow

  1. Azure collects monitoring data, uses it as the basis for signals, and evaluates those signals through alert rules tied to a scope.
  2. When a threshold is reached, the alert fires with severity and status values, then processes whether it has already fired or needs escalation.
  3. Alert rules can avoid repeated notifications by defining when a trigger resets and can fire again.
  4. After firing, the alert calls an action group, runs the configured response activities, and then can be marked complete for future triggering.

Action Groups

  1. Action groups define the response to an alert and can be simple notifications or more complex automated workflows.
  2. Notifications can include email, SMS, push, voice messages, and messages to specific users, groups, or roles.
  3. Action groups can also run automation runbooks, Azure Functions, Event Hub actions, ITSM integrations, Logic Apps, and webhooks.
  4. A ticketing system integration can generate a ticket, return the ticket number, and notify someone to take action.

Azure Advisor And Monitor Tools

  1. Azure Advisor is a free portal tool that evaluates default Azure telemetry against key well-architected framework areas.
  2. Advisor reports on cost, security, reliability, operational excellence, and performance using Microsoft recommendations and baselines.
  3. Azure Monitor brings monitoring information together and provides insights for applications, virtual machines, storage accounts, containers, and networks.
  4. Built-in dashboards and insights can help review resource health and monitoring data before configuring alerts.

Alert Rule Demo

  1. The demo creates an action group with an email notification for Bob and optional additional actions.
  2. The demo then creates an alert rule scoped to a virtual machine, with a condition for average CPU utilization greater than 80 percent.
  3. The existing action group is attached to the alert rule so an email is sent when CPU usage exceeds the threshold.
  4. Alert rules can be created from the central alerts area by selecting a scope, or directly from a resource where the scope is already selected.

Conclusion

  1. Monitoring helps identify system performance issues, while alerting enables timely human or automated responses to defined conditions.
  2. Adding alerts to an overall monitoring solution helps ensure appropriate responses are taken when care or attention is needed.

Actiepunten

  1. Create alert rules that define the monitored scope, signal, threshold, severity, and action group for important resource conditions.
  2. Use action groups to notify responsible people or trigger automated responses such as runbooks, functions, tickets, logic apps, or webhooks.
  3. Review Azure Advisor and Azure Monitor insights to identify issues and monitoring signals that may need alerts.