Azure Disk Monitoring Integration

Azure disks are block-level storage volumes that are used with Azure Virtual Machines. Azure provides exclusive disk storage that can be attached to a virtual machine (VM) and can be used as a primary operating system (OS) disk, data disk, or both. These disks are virtualized versions of real disks on the on-premises servers.

With Site24x7's integration, you can now monitor your OS and data disks with accurate metrics, configure thresholds, and get instant alerts if there is a breach.

Setup and configuration

Adding an Azure disk while configuring a new Azure monitor

If you haven't configured an Azure Monitor yet, add one by following the steps below:

Log in to your Site24x7 account.
Choose Cloud from the left navigation pane, and select Azure > Add Azure Monitor. You can also follow these steps to add an Azure Monitor.
During Azure monitor configuration, in the Edit Azure Monitor page, select Azure Disk from the Service/Resource Types drop-down.

Adding an Azure disk to an existing Azure monitor

If you already have an Azure monitor configured for the tenant, you can add the Azure disk using the following steps:

Log in to your Site24x7 account.
Navigate to Cloud > Azure > select the Azure monitor from the left pane for which you wish to add an Azure disk.
In the Service View page, click the Enable Monitoring button on the Service type that you would like to add. In this case, click the Enable Monitoring button in the Azure Disk Service type.
It will take 15-30 minutes to discover new Azure resources. To immediately discover the selected configuration, click Discover Now in the top-right corner.

After successful addition, go to Cloud > Azure and select Azure Disk from the Azure monitor drop-down. Now, you can view the discovered disks.

Polling frequency

Site24x7's Azure Disk monitor collects metric data every minute and the statuses from your disks every five minutes.

Supported metrics

Site24x7 supports metric monitoring for Azure's basic metrics, as well as in-depth metrics of data disks and OS disks by tracking the VM that manages the disk.

Azure Preview metrics

Metric	Description	Statistic	Unit
Disk Read Bytes/Sec (Preview)	The amount of bytes read from the disk during the monitoring period.	Average	Bytes per second
Disk Read Operations/Sec (Preview)	The number of read IOs (input-outputs) performed on a disk during the monitoring period.	Average	Count per second
Disk Write Bytes/Sec (Preview)	The amount of bytes written to disk during the monitoring period.	Average	Bytes per second
Disk Write Operations/Sec (Preview)	The number of write IOs performed on a disk during the monitoring period.	Average	Count per second
Disk Paid Burst IOPS (Preview)	The number of accumulated operations of burst transactions used for disks with on-demand burst enabled. This is emitted in an hourly interval.	Average	Count

Note

These metrics are in preview and are subject to change by Azure before becoming generally available.

Performance metrics of data disks

Metric name	Description	Statistic	Unit
Data Disk Read Bytes/Sec	The amount of data read from a single disk during the monitoring period.	Average	Bytes per second
Data Disk Write Bytes/Sec	The amount of data written to a single disk during the monitoring period.	Average	Bytes per second
Data Disk Read Operations/Sec	The amount of read operations data from a single disk during the monitoring period.	Average	Count per second
Data Disk Write Operations/Sec	The amount of write operations data from a single disk during the monitoring period.	Average	Count per second
Data Disk Bandwidth Consumed Percentage	The percentage of data disk bandwidth consumed per minute.	Average	Percent
Data Disk IOPS Consumed Percentage	The amount of data disk IOs consumed per minute.	Average	Count
Data Disk Bandwidth Consumed	The amount of data disk bandwidth consumed per minute.	Average	Count
Data Disk IOPS Consumed	The amount of data disk IOs consumed per minute.	Average	Count
Data Disk Target Bandwidth	The amount of throughput the data disk can achieve without bursting.	Average	Count
Data Disk Target IOPS	The amount of baseline IOPS the data disk can achieve without bursting.	Average	Count
Data Disk Max Burst Bandwidth	The maximum bytes throughput the data disk can achieve with bursting.	Average	Count
Data Disk Max Burst IOPS	The maximum IOPS the data disk can achieve with bursting.	Average	Count
Data Disk Used Burst BPS Credits Percentage	The percentage of data disk burst bandwidth credits used so far.	Average	Percent
Data Disk Used Burst IO Credits Percentage	The percentage of data disk burst IO credits used so far.	Average	Percent
Data Disk Used Burst BPS Credits	The amount of data disk burst bandwidth credits used so far.	Average	Count
Data Disk Used Burst IO Credits	The percentage of data disk burst IO credits used so far.	Average	Count
Data Disk Queue Depth	The amount of data disk queue depth or the length of the queue.	Average	Count

Performance metrics of OS disks

Metric name	Description	Statistic	Unit
OS Disk Read Bytes/Sec	The amount of data read from a single disk during the monitoring period for the OS disk.	Average	Bytes per second
OS Disk Write Bytes/Sec	The amount of data written to a single disk during the monitoring period for OS disk.	Average	Bytes per second
OS Disk Read Operations/Sec	The number of read operations from a single disk during the monitoring period for the OS disk.	Average	Count per second
OS Disk Write Operations/Sec	The number of write operations from a single disk during the monitoring period for the OS disk.	Average	Count per second
OS Disk Bandwidth Consumed Percentage	The percentage of OS disk bandwidth consumed per minute.	Average	Percent
OS Disk IOPS Consumed Percentage	The percentage of OS disk IOs consumed per minute.	Average	Percent
OS Disk Bandwidth Consumed	The amount of OS disk bandwidth consumed per minute.	Average	Count
OS Disk IOPS Consumed	The amount of OS disk IOs consumed per minute.	Average	Count
OS Disk Target Bandwidth	The amount of baseline bytes throughput the OS disk can achieve without bursting.	Average	Count
OS Disk Target IOPS	The amount of baseline IOPS that the OS disk can achieve without bursting.	Average	Count
OS Disk Max Burst Bandwidth	The maximum bytes throughput that the OS disk can achieve with bursting.	Average	Count
OS Disk Max Burst IOPS	The maximum IOPS that the OS disk can achieve with bursting	Average	Count
OS Disk Used Burst BPS Credits Percentage	The percentage of OS disk burst bandwidth credits used so far.	Average	Percent
OS Disk Used Burst IO Credits Percentage	The percentage of OS disk burst IO credits used so far.	Average	Percent
OS Disk Used Burst BPS Credits	The amount of OS disk burst bandwidth credits used so far.	Average	Count
OS Disk Used Burst IO Credits	The amount of OS disk burst IO credits used so far.	Average	Count
OS Disk Queue Depth	The amount of OS disk queue depth or the length of the queue.	Average	Count

Threshold configuration

Global configuration

Go to the Admin section on the left navigation pane.
Select Configuration Profiles from the left pane and choose Threshold and Availability (+) from the drop-down menu. Click Add Threshold Profile from the top right corner.
Choose Azure Disk as the monitor type.

You can also set the threshold values for all the metrics mentioned above.

Monitor-level configuration

Go to Cloud > Azure and select Azure Disk from the drop-down menu.
Choose a resource for which you would like to set a threshold and then click the hamburger icon on the top. Choose the Edit option, which will direct you to the Edit Azure Disk Monitor page.

You can set the threshold values for the metrics by selecting the Threshold and Availability option. You can also configure IT automation at the attribute level.

Default threshold for disk optimization

Site24x7 alerts you based on a set of default thresholds. These default thresholds ensure that your disk capacity is not overutilized, thus maintaining optimal storage and performance. This also helps in reducing costs by getting alerts for unusual changes in your disks. The default thresholds are as follows:

Alert if Disk is not attached (Idle Disk)
Alert if Storage Type is Changed
Alert if Disk Size is Changed
Alert if Disk IOPS Size is Changed
Alert if Disk throughput is Changed
Alert if Public Network Access is Changed
Alert if Performance Tier is Changed
Alert if Connected VM is Changed
Data Disk Bandwidth Consumed Percentage
Data Disk IOPS Consumed Percentage
Data Disk Used Burst BPS Credits Percentage
Data Disk Used Burst IO Credits Percentage
OS Disk Bandwidth Consumed Percentage
OS Disk IOPS Consumed Percentage
OS Disk Used Burst BPS Credits Percentage
OS Disk Used Burst IO Credits Percentage

IT Automation

Site24x7 offers a set of exclusive IT Automation tools to auto-resolve performance degradation issues. These tools react to events proactively rather than waiting for manual intervention. IT Automation tools help automate repetitive tasks and automatically remediate threshold breaches. The alarms engine continually evaluates system events for which thresholds are set and executes the mapped automation when there is a breach.

How to configure IT Automation for a monitor.

Configuration Rules

Editing multiple monitors to associate different monitor groups or adding a different tag can be a tedious process. With Site24x7's Configuration Rules, you can automate the configuration settings of your monitoring resources. Also, Site24x7 allows you to create custom rules to continuously track configuration changes and achieve the ideal configuration settings.

How to add a configuration rule.

Performance

The Performance tab will give you the performance data organized by time for the above-mentioned metrics.

To view the summary, go to Cloud > Azure and click the Azure monitor > Azure Disk.
Click a resource and select the Performance tab.

By doing so, you can view metrics like Queue Depth, Read Bytes, Write Bytes, and many more.

Configuration Details

The Configuration Details tab provides details on configurations for application instances. Here, you'll find the Managed By field, Disk Size, Disk State, Disk Tier, Network Access Policy, and so on.

To get the configuration details, go to Cloud > Azure and click the Azure monitor > Azure Disk.
Click a resource and select the Configuration Details tab.

Reports

Gain in-depth data about the various parameters of your monitored resources and accentuate your service performance using our insightful reports.

To view reports for an Azure disk:

Navigate to the Reports section on the left navigation pane.
Select Azure Disk from the menu on the left.

You can find the Availability Summary Report, Inventory Report, and Performance Report for one selected monitor, or you can get the Summary Report, Availability Summary Report, Health Trend Report, and Performance Report for all the disk monitors.

Schedule reports

You can also schedule the Inventory Report by navigating to Reports > Azure Disk > Inventory Report and clicking the Share This button at the top-right corner. In the Schedule Report pop-up, choose the monitor, assign the desired frequency—daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly—and receive the regular reports of your inventory details to the groups that you desire.

Site24x7 Azure Disk monitoring also provides an exclusive set of reports that will enable you to gain deeper insight into your resources.

These reports include:

Disks by State
Disks by Size
Disks by Storage Type
Disks by Tier
Disks by Pricing Tier
Disks by Max IOPS
Disks by Max Throughput

Top N and bottom N reports

Azure Disks by IOPS Consumed Percentage (Data Disks)
Azure Disks by Bandwidth Consumed Percentage (Data Disks)
Azure Disks by Used Burst IO Credits Percentage (Data Disks)
Azure Disks by Used Burst BPS Credits Percentage (Data Disks)
Azure Disks by IOPS Consumed Percentage (OS Disks)
Azure Disks by Bandwidth Consumed Percentage (OS Disks)
Azure Disks by Used Burst IO Credits Percentage (OS Disks)
Azure Disks by Used Burst BPS Credits Percentage (OS Disks)
Azure Disks by Disk On-demand Burst Operations (Preview)

You can also view the reports from the Performance tab of the Azure Disk Monitor.

Go to the Performance tab of the Azure Disk Monitor, and get the Availability Summary Report of the monitor by clicking on Availability.

You can also find the Performance Report of the monitor by clicking on any chart title.