Database Reference
In-Depth Information
12.5 Monitoring Windows Azure
When applications on Windows Azure are up and running, we need to closely observe the opera-
tions. he operation data will be collected and analyzed to diagnose operation problems. Windows
Azure provides several tools to help monitor and analyze the operations. he most well-known
monitoring tool is the Windows Azure Management Portal. Another tool, Windows Azure
Diagnostics, is a programming-based tool, which supports monitoring functionalities.
Monitor with Windows Azure Diagnostics
: Windows Azure Diagnostics can be used to
accomplish management tasks such as performance management, resource usage analysis, moni-
toring and auditing network traic, and debugging and troubleshooting applications on Windows
Azure. Diagnostic data can be periodically collected from running role instances. hen, the col-
lected diagnostic data are transferred to Windows Azure storage for further analysis.
To run Windows Azure Diagnostics, you need to irst create an XML coniguration ile and
save the coniguration ile to the Windows Azure Blob storage resource called wad-control-con-
tainer. In the coniguration ile, you can conigure the items such as the deployment ID, role
name, and the instance ID of a role instance. he coniguration of Windows Azure Diagnostics
can be done with programming code created in a role of an application on Windows Azure. You
can also program a local application to remotely perform management tasks. In such a way, you
can run and manage Windows Azure Diagnostics on Windows Azure from your local computer.
To use the Diagnostics module in a role, you need to import the module into the service deini-
tion ile with the following code:
<
Imports
>
<
Import moduleName
=
"Diagnostics"/
>
<
/Imports
>
Once the Diagnostics module is imported, the diagnostic monitor will be started automat-
ically. he diagnostic monitor runs in Windows Azure and in the Windows Azure compute
emulator. With the diagnostic monitor, you can collect diagnostic data for a role instance. To
collect the diagnostic data, you need to conigure the data source where the diagnostic data are
collected. he data source may include the Windows Azure logs, IIS 7.0 logs, IIS failed request
trace logs, crash dumps, as well as custom error logs. Information collected by the diagnostic
monitor may include:
◾
Logs about IIS sites
◾
Logs about Windows Azure diagnostic infrastructure for web roles
◾
Logs about the information of the RemoteAccess module and RemoteForwarder module
◾
Logs about web and worker roles' failed requests
◾
Logs about failed requests to an IIS site, an application or a driver
◾
Logs of Windows events of web roles
◾
Logs about performance counters
◾
Logs about the state of the operating system in the event of a system crash, as well as the
information from the customer error logs
here are several ways to collect diagnostic data. You can deine a trace element in the conigu-
ration XML ile in the web role. You can use the trace element during or after application develop-
ment. Tracing can help you validate the operation low of an application. For example, you can
collect data from the failed request trace logs to check what has caused a failure.
