Monitoring Azure Virtual WAN

When you have critical applications and business processes relying on Azure resources, it’s important to monitor those resources for their availability and performance. This article will guide you through the monitoring data generated by Azure Virtual WAN and how to leverage Azure Monitor to gain visibility into your Virtual WAN deployment.

Prerequisites

To follow along, you’ll need to have an existing Virtual WAN deployment configured. If you need help with that, check out these guides:

Analyzing Metrics

Azure Monitor collects numerical metrics that describe the state of your Virtual WAN resources over time. These metrics are collected every minute and are useful for setting up alerts to proactively notify you of important conditions.

To view the available metrics for your Virtual WAN:

  1. Navigate to your Virtual WAN resource in the Azure portal.
  2. Select the gateway you want to monitor, such as VPN (Site-to-Site), ExpressRoute, or User VPN (Point-to-Site).
  3. Click on ‘Monitor Gateway’ and then ‘Metrics’. You can also access the metrics dashboard directly from the Virtual Hub overview page.
  4. On the Metrics page, you can explore and chart the various metrics available for your Virtual WAN, such as ‘Virtual Hub Data Processed’.

For a full list of the available metrics, check out the Monitoring Virtual WAN data reference.

Analyzing Logs

In addition to metrics, Azure Virtual WAN also generates diagnostic logs that provide detailed information about the operations and events within your Virtual WAN. To view these logs:

  1. Navigate to your Virtual WAN resource in the Azure portal.
  2. Under the Connectivity group, select the gateway you want to monitor.
  3. Click on ‘Monitor Gateway’ and then ‘Logs’.
  4. On this page, you can create a new diagnostic setting or edit an existing one to send the logs to destinations like Log Analytics, Event Hubs, or Storage.

For a list of the supported logs, refer to the Monitoring Virtual WAN data reference.

Alerts and Insights

Azure Monitor allows you to set up alerts on both metrics and logs, helping you proactively identify and address issues before your customers notice them. You can learn more about the different types of alerts and best practices in the Monitoring - best practices guide.

Additionally, Azure Virtual WAN leverages Network Insights to provide a comprehensive view of your Virtual WAN deployment. Network Insights presents an auto-discovered topological map of your Virtual WAN, with overlays showing the state and status of your resources. You can explore this dashboard and navigate directly to the configuration pages of your Virtual WAN resources.

To learn more about Azure Monitor Network Insights for Virtual WAN, check out the Azure Monitor Network Insights for Virtual WAN article.

Conclusion

Monitoring is a crucial aspect of managing your Azure Virtual WAN deployment. By leveraging Azure Monitor, you can gain visibility into the health and performance of your Virtual WAN resources, set up proactive alerts, and explore comprehensive insights into your network topology. Following the steps outlined in this article will help you effectively monitor and manage your Azure Virtual WAN.

Source: Monitoring Azure Virtual WAN