Performance diagnostics for Azure virtual machines

The performance diagnostics tool helps you troubleshoot performance issues that can affect a Windows or Linux virtual machine (VM). Supported troubleshooting scenarios include quick checks on known issues and best practices, and complex problems that involve slow VM performance or high usage of CPU, disk space, or memory.

You can run performance diagnostics directly from the Azure portal, where you can also review insights and a report on various logs, rich configuration, and diagnostics data. We recommend that you run performance diagnostics and review the insights and diagnostics data before you contact Microsoft Support.

Note

For Windows, Performance diagnostics is currently supported on VMs that have .NET SDK version 4.5 or a later version installed. For the steps to run performance diagnostics on classic VMs, see Azure Performance Diagnostics VM extension.

Supported operating systems

Windows

  • Windows server 2022
  • Windows Server 2019
  • Windows Server 2016
  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Windows Server 2012
  • Windows 11
  • Windows 10

Linux

  • The following distributions are currently supported:

    Note

    Microsoft has only tested the versions that are listed in the table. If a version isn't listed in the table, then it isn't explicitly tested by Microsoft, but the version might still work.

    Distribution Version
    Oracle Linux Server 6.10 [*], 7.3, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9
    CentOS 6.5 [*], 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9
    RHEL 7.2, 7.5, 8.0 [*], 8.1, 8.2, 8.6, 8.8
    Ubuntu 14.04, 16.04, 18.04, 20.04, 22.04
    Debian 8, 9, 10, 11 [*]
    SLES 12 SP4 [*], 12 SP5 [*], 15 [*], 15 SP1 [*], 15 SP2 [*], 15 SP4 [*]
    AlmaLinux 8.4, 8.5
    Azure Linux 2.0

Note

[*] Please refer to Known issues

Install and run performance diagnostics on your VM

Performance diagnostics installs a VM extension that runs a diagnostics tool that is named PerfInsights. PerfInsights is available for both Windows and Linux. To install and run performance diagnostics, follow these steps:

  1. In the Azure portal, select Virtual machines.

  2. From the list of VM names, select the VM that you want to run diagnostics on.

  3. In the Help section, select Performance diagnostics.

    Screenshot of Azure portal, with Install performance diagnostics button highlighted.

  4. Select a storage account (optional)

    If you want to use a single storage account to store the performance diagnostics results for multiple VMs, you can select a storage account by clicking the Settings button in the toolbar. Click the OK button once you select the storage account.

    Screenshot of Performance diagnostics blade, with Settings toolbar button highlighted.

    If you do not specify a storage account, a new storage account will be created by default.

  5. Select the Install performance diagnostics button. If you want to run a diagnostic after the installation is completed, select the Run diagnostics after the installation finishes check box. If you make this selection, you will be able to choose the performance analysis scenario and related options.

    Screenshot of Performance diagnostics install button. The Run diagnostics after installation finishes option is checked.

Select an analysis scenario to run

The following analysis scenarios are available from the Azure portal. Select an analysis, depending on the performance issue that you are having. Select the duration and trace options as necessary for the analysis.

  • Quick performance analysis
    Checks for known issues, analyzes best practices, and collects diagnostics data. This analysis takes several minutes to run. Learn more Windows or Linux

  • Performance analysis
    Includes all checks in the quick performance analysis and monitors high resource consumption. Use this version to troubleshoot general performance issues, such as high CPU, memory, and disk usage. This analysis takes 30 seconds to 15 minutes, depending on the selected duration. Learn more Windows or Linux

  • Advanced performance analysis *
    Includes all checks in the performance analysis, and collects one or more of the traces, as listed in the following sections. Use this scenario to troubleshoot complex issues that require additional traces. Running this scenario for longer periods will increase the overall size of diagnostics output, depending on the size of the VM and the trace options that are selected. This analysis takes 30 seconds to 15 minutes to run, depending on the selected duration. Learn more

  • Azure Files analysis *
    Includes all checks in the performance analysis, and captures a network trace and SMB counters. Use this scenario to troubleshoot the performance of Azure files. This analysis takes 30 seconds to 15 minutes to run, depending on the selected duration. Learn more

Note

[*] These analysis scenarios are only supported on Windows.

Screenshot of Run diagnostics pane inside Performance diagnostics blade.

Provide symptoms (optional)

Select any preselected symptoms from the list, or add new symptoms. This helps us improve the analysis in the future.

Provide support request number, if available (optional)

If you are working with a Microsoft support engineer on an existing support ticket, provide the support ticket number.

To run the diagnostics, you must agree to the legal terms and accept privacy policy.

Select OK to run the diagnostics

A notification is displayed as performance diagnostics starts to install. After the installation is completed, you see a notification that indicates that the installation is successful. The selected analysis is then run for the specified duration. This would be a good time to reproduce the performance issue so that the diagnostics data can be captured at the correct time.

After the analysis is complete, the following items are uploaded to Azure tables and a binary large object (BLOB) container in the specified storage account:

  • All the insights and related information about the run
  • An output compressed (.zip) file (named PerformanceDiagnostics_yyyy-MM-dd_hh-mm-ss-fff.zip ) on Windows and a tar file (named PerformanceDiagnostics_yyyy-MM-dd_hh-mm-ss-fff.tar.gz ) on Linux that contains log files
  • An HTML report

After the upload, a new diagnostics report is listed in the Azure portal.

Screenshot of a list of diagnostics report in Performance diagnostics blade.

How to change performance diagnostics settings

Use the Settings toolbar button to change the storage account where the diagnostics insights and output can be stored. You can use the same storage account for multiple VMs that use performance diagnostics. When you change the storage account, the old reports and insights are not deleted. However, they will no longer be displayed in the list of diagnostics reports.

Note

Performance diagnostics insights and reports are stored in your own storage account. Insights are stored in Azure Tables, and reports are stored as compressed files in a binary large object (BLOB) container that is named azdiagextnresults.

If your storage account uses private endpoints, to make sure that performance diagnostics can store insights and reports in the storage account, do the following two actions:

  1. Create separate private endpoints for Table and BLOB.
  2. Add DNS configuration to each separate private endpoint.

Review insights and performance diagnostics report

Each diagnostic run contains a list of insights and recommendations, affected resources, log files, and other rich diagnostics information that is collected, plus a report for offline viewing. For a complete list of all the collected diagnostics data, see What kind of information is collected by PerfInsights? on Windows or Linux.

Select a performance diagnostics report

You can use the diagnostics report list to find all the diagnostics reports that were run. The list includes details about the analysis that was used, insights that were found, and their impact levels. Select a row to view more details.

Screenshot of selecting a diagnostics report from Performance diagnostics blade.

Review a performance diagnostics report

Each performance diagnostics report may contain several insights and indicate an impact level of High, Medium, or Low. Each insight also contains recommendations to help lessen the concern. Insights are grouped for easy filtering.

Impact levels represent the potential for performance issues, based on factors such as misconfiguration, known problems, or issues that are reported by other users. You might not yet be experiencing one or more of the listed issues. For example, you may have SQL log files and database files on the same data disk. This condition has a high potential for bottlenecks and other performance issues if the database usage is high, whereas you might not notice an issue if the usage is low.

Screenshot of Performance diagnostics report overview blade.

Reviewing performance diagnostics insights and recommendations

You can select an insight to view more details about the affected resources, suggested mitigations, and reference links.

Screenshot of a Performance diagnostics insight detail.

Download and review the full performance diagnostics report

You can use the Download report button to download an HTML report that contains additional rich diagnostics information, such as storage and network configuration, performance counters, traces, list of processes, and logs. The content depends on the selected analysis. For advanced troubleshooting, the report may contain additional information and interactive charts that are related to high CPU usage, high disk usage, and processes that consume excessive memory. For more information about the performance diagnostics report, see Windows or Linux.

Note

Performance diagnostics reports can be downloaded from the Performance Diagnostics blade within 30 days after they are created. After 30 days, you may get an error when you download a report from the Performance Diagnostics blade. To get a report after 30 days, go to the storage account and download it from a binary large object (BLOB) container that's named azdiagextnresults. You can view the storage account information by using the Settings button on the toolbar.

Manage performance diagnostics reports

You can delete one or more performance diagnostics reports by using the Delete report button.

How to uninstall performance diagnostics

You can uninstall performance diagnostics from a VM. This action removes the VM extension but does not affect any diagnostics data that is in the storage account.

Screenshot of the Performance diagnostics blade toolbar with Uninstall button highlighted.

Move Azure resources across regions

Azure VMs, and related network and storage resources, can be moved across regions by using Azure Resource Mover. However, moving VM extensions across regions isn't supported. For example, moving the Azure Performance Diagnostics VM extension across regions isn't supported. You have to install it manually on the VM in the target region after the VM is moved. For more information, see Support matrix for moving Azure VMs between Azure regions.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the diagnostics data from my VM stored

All performance diagnostics insights and reports are stored in your own storage account. Insights are stored inside Azure tables. The reports compressed file is stored in a binary large object (BLOB) container that is named azdiagextnresults.

You can view the storage account information by using the Settings button on the toolbar.

How do I share this data with Microsoft Customer Support

There are multiple ways to share the diagnostics report with Microsoft.

Option 1: Automatically share the latest report
When you open a support ticket with Microsoft, it is important to share the performance diagnostics report. If you opted to share this information with Microsoft while you run the diagnostics (by selecting the "I agree to share diagnostics information with Microsoft" check box), Microsoft will be able to access the report from your storage account using a SAS link to the output zip file for up to 30 days from the run date. Only the latest report is available to the support engineer.

Option 2: Generate a Shared Access Signature for the diagnostics report compressed file
You may share a link to the reports compressed file by using Shared Access Signatures. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. In the Azure portal, browse to the storage account in which the diagnostics data is stored.
  2. Select Containers under the Data Storage section.".
  3. Select the azdiagextnresults container.
  4. Select the Performance diagnostics output compressed file that you want to share.
  5. On the Generate SAS tab, select the criteria for sharing.
  6. Click Generate blob SAS token and URL.
  7. Copy the Blob SAS URL, and share it with the support engineer.

Option 3: Download the report from the storage account

You can also locate the performance diagnostics report compressed file by using steps 1–4 in Option 2. Select to download the file, and then share it through email or ask the support engineer for instructions to upload the file.

How do I capture the diagnostics data at the correct time

Each performance diagnostics run has two stages:

  1. Install or update the performance diagnostics VM extension.
  2. Run the diagnostics for the specified duration.

Currently there is no easy way to know exactly when the VM extension installation is complete. Generally it takes about 45 seconds to 1 minute to install the VM extension. After the VM extension is installed, you can run your repro steps to have the performance diagnostics capture the correct set of data for troubleshooting.

Contact us for help

If you have questions or need help, create a support request, or ask Azure community support. You can also submit product feedback to Azure feedback community.