Enable VM insights in the Azure portal

This article describes how to enable VM insights using the Azure portal for the following :

• Azure virtual machine
• Azure virtual machine scale set
• Hybrid virtual machine connected with Azure Arc

Prerequisites

• Create a Log Analytics workspace. You can create a new workspace during this process, but you should use an existing workspace if you already have one. See Log Analytics workspace overview and Design a Log Analytics workspace architecture for more information.
• See Supported operating systems to ensure that the operating system of the virtual machine or virtual machine scale set you're enabling is supported.
• See Manage the Azure Monitor agent for prerequisites related to Azure Monitor agent.

Note

This process describes enabling VM insights from the Monitor menu in the Azure portal. You can perform the same process from the Insights menu for a particular virtual machine or virtual machine scale set.

View monitored and unmonitored machines

Open VM insights by selecting Virtual Machines from the Monitor menu in the Azure portal. The Overview page lists all of the virtual machines and virtual machine scale sets in the selected subscriptions. Machines will either be included in the Monitored or Not monitored tab depending on whether the machine is currently being monitored by VM insights.

A machine may be listed in Not monitored even though it has the Azure Monitor or Log Analytics agent installed but has not been enabled for VM insights. If a virtual machine has the Log Analytics agent installed but not the Dependency agent, it will be listed as not monitored. In this case, the Azure Monitor agent will be started without being given the option for the Log Analytics agent.

Note

Data collection rule column has replaced the Workspace column on the Overview page to support the Azure Monitor agent. This either shows the data collection rules used by the Azure Monitor agent for each machine, or it gives the option to configure with the Azure Monitor agent.

Enable VM insights for Azure Monitor agent

Note

A system-assigned managed identity will be added for a machine as part of the installation process of the Azure Monitor agent if one doesn't already exist.

Use this procedure to enable an unmonitored virtual machine or virtual machine scale set using Azure Monitor agent.

1. Select Virtual Machines from the Monitor menu in the Azure portal.

2. From the Overview page, select Not Monitored.

3. Click the Enable button next to any machine that you want to enable. If a machine is currently running, then you must start it to enable it.

   

4. Click Enable on the introduction page to view the configuration.

5. Select Azure Monitor agent from the Monitoring configuration page and then select Azure Monitor agent.

6. If a data collection rule (DCR) hasn't already been created for unmonitored machines, then one will be created with the following details.

   • Guest performance enabled.
   • Processes and dependencies disabled.

7. If you want this configuration, then click Configure to start the agent installation, or select a different data collection rule from the dropdown. Only data collection rules enabled for VM insights will be included.

8. If you want a different configuration or want to use a different Log Analytics workspace, then click Create new to create a new data collection rule. This will allow you to select a workspace and specify whether you want to collect processes and dependencies to enable the map feature in VM insights.

6. Click Configure to start the configuration process. It will take several minutes for the agent to be installed and data to start being collected. You'll receive status messages as the configuration is performed.

7. If you use a manual upgrade model for your virtual machine scale set, upgrade the instances to complete the setup. You can start the upgrades from the Instances page, in the Settings section.

Enable VM insights for Log Analytics agent

Use this procedure to enable an unmonitored virtual machine or virtual machine scale set using Log Analytics agent.

1. Select Virtual Machines from the Monitor menu in the Azure portal.

2. From the Overview page, select Not Monitored.

3. Click the Enable button next to any machine that you want to enable. If a machine is currently running, then you must start it to enable it.

3. Click Enable on the introduction page to view the configuration.

4. Select Azure Monitor agent from the Monitoring configuration page and then select Log Analytics agent.

5. If the virtual machine isn't already connected to a Log Analytics workspace, then you'll be prompted to select one. If you haven't previously created a workspace, then you can select a default for the location where the virtual machine or virtual machine scale set is deployed in the subscription. This workspace will be created and configured if it doesn't already exist. If you select an existing workspace, it will be configured for VM insights if it wasn't already.

   Note

   If you select a workspace that wasn't previously configured for VM insights, the VMInsights management pack will be added to this workspace. This will be applied to any agent already connected to the workspace, whether or not it's enabled for VM insights. Performance data will be collected from these virtual machines and stored in the InsightsMetrics table.

6. Click Configure to modify the configuration. The only option you can modify is the workspace. You will receive status messages as the configuration is performed.

7. If you use a manual upgrade model for your virtual machine scale set, upgrade the instances to complete the setup. You can start the upgrades from the Instances page, in the Settings section.

Enable Azure Monitor agent on monitored machines

Use this procedure to add the Azure Monitor agent to machines that are already enabled with the Log Analytics agent.

1. Select Virtual Machines from the Monitor menu in the Azure portal.

2. From the Overview page, select Monitored.

3. Click Configure using Azure Monitor agent next to any machine that you want to enable. If a machine is currently running, then you must start it to enable it.

   

4. Follow the process described in Enable VM insights for Azure Monitor agent to select a data collection rule. The only difference is that the data collection rule hasn't created for monitored machines has Processes and dependencies enabled for backward compatibility with the Log Analytics agent.

   

5. With both agents installed, a warning will be displayed indicating that you may be collecting duplicate data.

   

   Warning

   Collecting duplicate data from a single machine with both the Azure Monitor agent and Log Analytics agent can result in the following consequences:

   • Additional ingestion cost from sending duplicate data to the Log Analytics workspace.
   • The map feature of VM insights may be inaccurate since it does not check for duplicate data.

   See Migrate from Log Analytics agent.

6. Once you've verified that the Azure Monitor agent has been enabled, remove the Log Analytics agent from the machine to prevent duplicate data collection.

Next steps

• See Use VM insights Map to view discovered application dependencies.
• See View Azure VM performance to identify bottlenecks, overall utilization, and your VM's performance.