Azure Monitor
What it is
Azure Monitor is the unified monitoring platform for all Azure (and some on-premises/other-cloud) resources. It collects, analyzes, and acts on telemetry — the data a resource emits — and turns it into insights, dashboards, alerts, and automation. It is the single pane of glass for “what is happening in my environment.”
Why it exists
Every resource generates telemetry, but raw data is useless. You need a central place to (1) collect telemetry, (2) store it durably, (3) query/visualize it, and (4) react when something is wrong. Without Azure Monitor you’d have hundreds of disconnected portals per resource.
Key ideas
- Two telemetry “pipelines”: time-series metrics and Log Analytics logs (KQL-queryable via KQL).
- Sources: platform telemetry generated by Azure, guest OS/VM diagnostics, application telemetry (via Application Insights), and custom metrics/logs.
- Data stores: Metrics store (retention ~93 days / 30 days default) + Log Analytics workspace (configurable retention).
- Act & react: alerts fire on signals and trigger action groups; data can feed workbooks/dashboards.
- Activity log (control-plane audit) is a separate log stream of management events.
How it fits (diagram)
Diagrams courtesy of Microsoft Learn / Azure docs: azure-monitor/overview
Exam notes
- Know the three telemetry sinks: Metrics, Activity Log, Log Analytics — and what each holds.
- Metrics = numeric, time-series, granular performance. Activity log = control-plane/audit events (
who did what). Logs = diagnostic text/data queried with KQL. - Azure Monitor is the umbrella under which metrics, logs, alerts, and Application Insights live — many exam questions test “which tool for which job.”
Related
azure-monitor-metrics · azure-monitor-activity-log · log-analytics · kql · metric-alert · action-group · workbooks · application-insights · Home
📘 Source: Microsoft Learn — Azure Monitor