Alerting via Logs with Azure Monitor
Zeaware Monitor for Power BI supports raising alerts via logging. This is intended for sites who wish to raise alerts using Azure Monitor. Using this method, Zeaware Monitor for Power BI will write alerts to the application log and push this to an Application Insights instance. The Application Instances logs can then be monitored by Azure Monitor and raise alerts using Azure Monitor alert rules.
Alert Configuration
Alerts can be configured in Azure Monitor to send emails based on alerts raised by Zeaware Monitor for Power BI via logging. There are various options to consider when raising alerts via Azure Monitoring which includes:
- Which alerts will send emails.
- How frequently alerts will be sent, and how many reoccurrences will be sent.
- Who the alerts will be send to and by what method (email/SMS).
- How will these alerts be tracked and managed.
Alert Query
There are various different ways to configure the Azure Monitor alerts and each organisation should implement an appropriate alerting strategy for their unique needs. The following log query can be used as the base of alert configuration.
traces
| where message startswith "[zAlert]"
| extend IssueId = tolong(customDimensions.IssueId)
| extend Issue = tostring(customDimensions.Issue)
| extend Status = tostring(customDimensions.Status)
| extend Type = tostring(customDimensions.Type)
| extend Created = todatetime(customDimensions.Created)
| extend Details = tostring(customDimensions.Details)
| extend Source = tostring(customDimensions.Source)
| summarize count()
by IssueId, bin(timestamp, 1h),
Issue, Status, Type, Created, Details, Source
Alert Dimensions
If you wish to use a single Alert Rule to raise multiple different alert types you can use the Alert Dimensions feature of Azure Monitor. Various different fields can be used to optimise this however you may find use of the IssueType and Source fields provide the ability to raise a separate alert for each type of issue, for each unique Power BI object/entity causing the issue. Other combinations may also be used to provide different alerting results.
Azure Monitor Alert Costs
Please note that Azure Monitor alerts have costs associated and charges may vary by how many alerts are configured and sent. Please ensure you understand the fee structure for Azure Monitor Alerts and monitor the costs being charged.