Microsoft has recently released the public preview of the Query Editor in Azure Monitor Metrics, enabling users to create and execute PromQL queries directly within their Azure Monitor workspace. This eliminates the need to switch between tools, streamlining the workflow and boosting productivity when working with various types of metrics.
Priyanka Mishra, senior product manager at Microsoft, detailed this announcement in a blog post. Query Editor enables resource insights through PromQL queries and addresses a previous limitation by facilitating direct querying of Prometheus metrics for AKS resources or Arc-enabled clusters within the Azure portal. This process simplifies metrics analysis and empowers users to make informed decisions based on their data. PromQL's features, including functions and operators, enable users to perform complex manipulations on metric data. Furthermore, the Query Editor offers a user-friendly experience for those accustomed to Prometheus-based monitoring.
To use Query Editor, navigate to your Azure Monitor workspace (AMW), select the Azure Monitor Metrics Query Editor, and begin composing your PromQL queries.
Source: Introducing Query editor: Empowering Users with PromQL in Azure Monitor Metrics!
Recently, Microsoft Build 2024 featured the new capabilities of Azure Monitor and a deep dive into Azure Chaos Studio as well, highlighting enhancements in observability.
Microsoft expanded its Azure Monitor pipeline capabilities from the cloud to edge devices, allowing for large-scale data collection with centralized management. This builds upon Azure Monitor's previous work with OpenTelemetry. Initially, they supported OpenTelemetry Distros, and now they've expanded to include the Azure Monitor pipeline. This pipeline is based on the OpenTelemetry Collector and is Microsoft's first product to natively support OpenTelemetry. Microsoft plans to further extend this support through the Azure Monitor Agent and direct cloud ingestion of OTLP signals.
Microsoft is making Azure Monitor logs more accessible to all users, from developers to IT professionals, by simplifying log analysis. This enables users across organizations to easily derive insights from log data without needing to write complex queries. Additionally, enhancements to Copilot in Azure allow engineers to interact with log data using natural language, easing tasks such as querying and analyzing relevant logs for containers.
During Build 2024, Microsoft also showcased enhancements to Application Insights Code Optimizations. It is an AI-powered service designed to identify and resolve performance issues within .NET applications at the code level. The updates include deeper integration of Code Optimizations recommendations within the Application Insights Performance.
The Grafana Labs Observability Survey 2024 Report further highlighted the growing demand for centralized observability, with 79% of respondents reporting time and cost savings. The most frequently cited benefits included reduced mean time to repair (MTTR), lower vendor fees and operational costs, as well as improved processes and overall performance.
Mishra has encouraged the community to explore and provide feedback on the Query Editor in Azure Monitor Metrics. Currently, the Query Editor's functionality is limited to querying metrics stored within an Azure Monitor Workspace.