Cloud Observability with Azure Monitor: A practical guide to monitoring your Azure infrastructure and applications using industry best practices

Implement real-time monitoring, visualization, analytics, and troubleshooting strategies on Azure to ensure optimal performance and reliability in your cloud environment

Key Features

• Monitor Azure-native, hybrid, and multi-cloud infrastructure effectively
• Design proactive incident responses and visualization dashboards for configuring, optimizing, and monitoring data
• Implement strategies for monitoring Azure applications using real-world case studies
• Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook

Book Description

Cloud observability is complex and costly due to the use of hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructure as well as various Azure tools, hampering IT teams’ ability to monitor and analyze issues. The authors distill their years of experience with Microsoft to share the strategic insights and practical skills needed to optimize performance, ensure reliability, and navigate the dynamic landscape of observability on Azure.

You’ll get an in-depth understanding of cloud observability and Azure Monitor basics, before getting to grips with the configuration and optimization of data sources and pipelines for effective monitoring. You’ll learn about advanced data analysis techniques using metrics and the Kusto Query Language (KQL) for your logs, design proactive incident response strategies with automated alerts, and visualize reports via dashboards. Using hands-on examples and best practices, you’ll explore the integration of Azure Monitor with Azure Arc and third-party tools, such as Datadog, Elastic Stack, or Dynatrace. You’ll also implement artificial intelligence for IT Operations (AIOps) and secure monitoring for hybrid and multi-cloud environments, aligned with emerging trends.

By the end of this book, you’ll be able to develop robust and cost-optimized observability solutions for monitoring your Azure infrastructure and apps using Azure Monitor.

What you will learn

• Get a holistic overview of cloud observability with Azure Monitor
• Configure and optimize data sources to monitor Azure solutions
• Analyze logs and metrics using advanced data analysis techniques with KQL
• Design proactive incident response strategies with automated alerts
• Visualize monitoring data through impactful dashboards and reports
• Extend observability to hybrid and multi-cloud environments with Azure Arc
• Build and implement monitoring solutions on Azure, aligned with industry standards

Who this book is for

If you're a seasoned cloud engineer, cloud architect, DevOps engineer, SRE, or an aspiring cloud practitioner eager to elevate your observability skills on Azure and implement monitoring strategies using Azure Monitor, then this book is for you. A basic understanding of Azure cloud services, cloud infrastructure management, and network virtualization will be helpful.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Observability with Azure Monitor
2. Understanding Azure Monitor Components and Functions
3. Exploring Azure Monitor Data Sources and the Ingestion Pipeline
4. Analyzing Your Data Using Logs and Metrics
5. Responding to Monitoring Events
6. Visualizing Your Logs and Metrics
7. Application Observability and Performance Monitoring with Application Insights
8. Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Monitoring
9. Integrating with Third-Party Tools
10. Building Your Monitoring Strategy
11. Cost Management and Optimization
12. Future Trends and Looking Ahead
13. Appendix

José Ángel Fernández has worked as a Microsoft Specialist and Cloud Solution Architect, specializing in advanced cloud migrations, with extensive technical expertise and a deep understanding of Azure solutions. He has been focused on the cloud for the last 11 years at Microsoft, starting at the same time virtual machines reached general availability and Azure Monitor was not yet a product. José Ángel graduated with a degree in telecommunications engineering from the Technical University of Madrid in 2013. He later earned a degree in big data analytics from the Graduate School of Engineering and Basic Sciences of Charles III University of Madrid in 2020. He resides in Madrid, Spain with his wife, his three-year-old child, and an adopted black cat that has never brought him bad luck.

Manuel Lázaro Ramírez is a Microsoft Cloud Solution Architect with a wide technical breadth and deep understanding of Azure solutions. He has been focused on designing and implementing cloud architectures in different industries for the last 10 years. Manuel graduated with a degree in pure and applied mathematics from Complutense University of Madrid in 2013 and later earned a master's degree in pure and applied mathematics from Complutense University of Madrid in 2014. He resides in Madrid, Spain, with his wife, and his passion is developing code with their friends and working and solving real-world business problems with cloud technology to deliver real value.