A general logging service is always a valuable tool for any organization. You can use it to ensure that you keep track of what’s happening on your servers, network, and software tools like databases and CRMs. If you need a service to log your data, but don’t know which one is best for you, we have the answer. Azure has many logging services from which to choose.

Azure’s wide range of configurable logging options helps one identify the gaps in your security mechanisms. It helps you troubleshoot past problems, improve application performance and maintainability, and automate actions that would otherwise require manual intervention. It is categorized into the following types:

• Management Logs provide information about Azure Resource Manager and their Create, Update and Delete operations.
• Data Plane Logs give information about events raised as Azure resource usage. For example, the Windows event system, security, and application logs in a virtual machine.
• Processed Events provide information about analyzed events that have been processed on your behalf. For example, Microsoft Defender for Cloud alerts where Microsoft Defender for Cloud analyzes your subscription and provides concise security alerts.

However, there is no general logging service on Azure. It offers several features including Azure Monitor which can be used for logging. You may now like to know what is it and how does it work. Let’s get started.

Azure Monitor

Azure Monitor is a cloud platform that enables you to collect and analyze telemetry data from the cloud and on-premise applications and services. Azure monitoring can help organizations identify issues and respond accordingly.

It is also used for collecting and evaluating telemetry data from your applications and services on-premises and in the cloud. The service contains metrics and log data and incorporates a variety of utilities for analysis and response. This data is used to measure your application and service performance and identify problems and possibilities for optimization.

How does Azure Monitor Work?

In Azure Monitor, logs are the primary source of data for analysis. These logs are assembled from various sources that include numeric and text data. They range widely in their contents and represent a span of data structures and time intervals depending on the sources ingested. Even applications and services usually create custom logs to accommodate the specific data and structure needed. There are multiple tasks that Azure Monitor does, so let’s discuss them in detail:

Provides Log Analytics Workspace

The workspaces in the Log Analytics service count on the data sources used, and when you add sources, you specify the workspaces used for the sources. You can use these workspaces to collect activity and resource logs from other monitoring solutions. For example, you can consume log data from Azure Sentinel and Azure Security Center.

An expected set of tables is automatically added when adding a specific workspace to Log Analytics. And, as you add different sources, new tables are created when needed. You can also manually build tables through calls to the Data Collector API.

Collects Relevant Data

Whether you are a software developer, IT Ops specialist, or a DevOps practitioner, monitoring is essential in your domain. With modern applications developing from an on-premises world to becoming more hybrid, there is also a need to evolve skill sets and adopt some best practices for a successful monitoring strategy. The Azure Monitor provides general Azure logging service at its best.

Enables Monitoring For all Your Apps

The first step for perfect observation is to monitor all your web apps and services. So, if you are working in code, you should add Azure Monitor Application Insights SDKs to your apps written in .NET, Java, or Node.js. It is the most trusted way since you can specify custom events, metrics, or page views relevant to your app or business.

Enables Monitoring for The Suitable Components of Your Infrastructure

It is challenging to anticipate what components of your application stack might have a problem. Hence, it is essential to monitor all the major components. Azure Monitor helps you track the health and performance of your hybrid infrastructure, be it VMs, Containers, Storage, Network, or any other Azure services. Azure resources also enable deeper monitoring for virtual machines with a simple click button on the Azure Portal.

Prepares Role-Based Dashboards and Workbooks for Reporting

Dashboards and workbooks help you with knowledge sharing between devs and ops. These could be organized as dynamic reports with metric charts and log queries or even as troubleshooting guides made by devs helping customer support and ops tackle fundamental problems.

Summing Up

If you are looking for a logging service that is simple to set up, scalable, and secure then this blog post will have been worth your time. With Azure, you can use standard access control methods to secure your logs by restricting the access and deleting those logs you no longer want to keep in your storage account.