Sorry I haven’t added any content lately. I ‘ve been working on Azure Architect Certifications.
App Insights Overview
Thought I’d get back into the rhythm of making posts by posting about one of the most useful features of
Azure, App Insights. What's better is that this feature requires very little or no effort to tap into on the
platform.
Azure, App Insights. What's better is that this feature requires very little or no effort to tap into on the
platform.
During the course of my development career I have integrated numerous logging frameworks into
applications that I have developed. I have spent numerous hours improving the logging capabilities
of these applications. Most of them even after several iterations were not close to the capabilities that
App Insights gives you out of the box. In this post I am going to highlight a few of these features.
applications that I have developed. I have spent numerous hours improving the logging capabilities
of these applications. Most of them even after several iterations were not close to the capabilities that
App Insights gives you out of the box. In this post I am going to highlight a few of these features.
Adding App Insights to an application such as a web site deployed to App Services is a straightforward process.
During the deployment process simply enable AppInsights. Be aware that there is some cost associated with
the storage account that must be created when you enable this feature.
During the deployment process simply enable AppInsights. Be aware that there is some cost associated with
the storage account that must be created when you enable this feature.
To start our tour let's take a look at the dashboard. The dashboard as you would expect gives you a great
overview of key metrics . On the dashboard view you can see your application’s failed requests, response time,
traffic on your site and availability. To get a glance at the health of your application this is a valuable tool.
overview of key metrics . On the dashboard view you can see your application’s failed requests, response time,
traffic on your site and availability. To get a glance at the health of your application this is a valuable tool.
The dashboard is useful for looking at trends on your site. Looking at server response times, can give you a
look at when your site is the most busy or if a background process like a webjob is consuming
too many resources and affecting website performance.
The dashboard below shows that scenario note the number server requests are going down but response
time is going up.
look at when your site is the most busy or if a background process like a webjob is consuming
too many resources and affecting website performance.
The dashboard below shows that scenario note the number server requests are going down but response
time is going up.
Failed Requests
On the left hand side of the dashboard is a section that allows you to see the most common error response
codes. This is an entry point from one of App Insights most useful troubleshooting capabilities.
Here you can drill down to see the error details by clicking on the link to the left under the count column.
Clicking on the link brings up the calls complete with URLs that generated the error.
This view breaks down errors by type and allows drilling down to details.
codes. This is an entry point from one of App Insights most useful troubleshooting capabilities.
Here you can drill down to see the error details by clicking on the link to the left under the count column.
Clicking on the link brings up the calls complete with URLs that generated the error.
This view breaks down errors by type and allows drilling down to details.
Performance
Another key element of interest to software engineers is performance.
App Insights has you covered with a detailed breakdown of your applications performance.
I found that this data is invaluable when optimizing performance.
Analyzing this data has given me insight into ways to improve the customer experience, by pointing out
operations that were consistently taking longer than expected.
App Insights has you covered with a detailed breakdown of your applications performance.
I found that this data is invaluable when optimizing performance.
Analyzing this data has given me insight into ways to improve the customer experience, by pointing out
operations that were consistently taking longer than expected.
Performance views show both aggregate views that show over all performance and a drill down view that
shows performance on the individual call level. This aggregate view is useful for seeing at a high level how
your site is performing under load.
shows performance on the individual call level. This aggregate view is useful for seeing at a high level how
your site is performing under load.
Performance Summary by Request
I find this view to be the most useful of the performance screens. On this screen (note I edited out the
call details for security reasons) shows your call details along with average call length.
This can be invaluable in improving performance and user experience on the site.
call details for security reasons) shows your call details along with average call length.
This can be invaluable in improving performance and user experience on the site.
Summary
App Insights is a great tool with lots of capabilities to make the life of a developer easier. I have found that it has spoiled me to the point that I have added it to applications that are not hosted in Azure. This is a fairly straightforward process that gives you the power of App Insights without requiring Azure hosting. I’ll cover this process in a later post.
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