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Introduction to Azure Network Watcher | AZ-104 | Episode 15

autoenpublicupdated Jul 5, 2026, 18:06

Why Network Watcher Matters

Azure networking still requires traditional troubleshooting skills, but admins do not have physical access to network wires or infrastructure, so Azure provides specialized tools to surface equivalent diagnostic information.
Network Watcher acts as a toolkit for monitoring and troubleshooting communication between endpoints across Azure networks.

Network Watcher includes connection monitors, NSG diagnostics, effective rules, IP flow verify, NextHop, flow logs, topology maps, packet capture, VPN troubleshooting, and VM network troubleshooting.
NSG effective rules help identify which security rule is actually allowing or blocking traffic across subnet and network interface inbound and outbound rules.
IP flow verify and NextHop provide Azure equivalents to tools like ping, pathping, and traceroute by showing whether traffic can flow and where it may be dropped.

Topology maps show the architecture of network components and how they connect.
Connection Monitor can test communication between resources, such as across VNet peering, and identify potential breaks.
Flow logs provide historical traffic activity so teams can investigate when an issue started and review network behavior over time.
Traffic analytics aggregates NSG and VNet flow logs into reports that help identify patterns, timing, and possible causes of network problems.

Traditional packet capture tools like Wireshark rely on access to a network segment, but Azure customers cannot directly listen to the shared physical infrastructure.
Network Watcher packet capture lets Microsoft surface only the packets from a customer's secure network, providing packet-level visibility without direct wire access.

IP flow verify checks inbound and outbound traffic between endpoints and can indicate where traffic is failing.
Connection troubleshooting evaluates multiple possible failure points, including DNS resolution and network communication, then reports which component may be broken.
NextHop shows the path traffic takes and helps locate the hop where communication stops.
VPN troubleshooting checks the protocols, handshakes, authentication, and tunnel requirements needed for VPN connectivity.
VM network troubleshooting focuses on problems inside or around the virtual machine network interface and its connection to Azure networking services.

Network Watcher centralizes Azure network troubleshooting capabilities and replaces many traditional tools that depended on physical infrastructure access.