Apply the Microsoft Azure diagnostics extension in Cloud Services (extended support)

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You can monitor key performance metrics for any cloud service. Every cloud service role collects minimal data: CPU usage, network usage, and disk utilization. If the cloud service has the Microsoft.Azure.Diagnostics extension applied to a role, that role can collect more points of data. For more information, see Extensions Overview

Microsoft Azure Diagnostics extension can be enabled for Cloud Services (extended support) through PowerShell or ARM template

Apply Microsoft Azure Diagnostics extension using PowerShell

# Create WAD extension object
$storageAccountKey = Get-AzStorageAccountKey -ResourceGroupName "ContosOrg" -Name "contosostorageaccount"
$configFilePath = "<Insert WAD public configuration file path>"
$wadExtension = New-AzCloudServiceDiagnosticsExtension -Name "WADExtension" -ResourceGroupName "ContosOrg" -CloudServiceName "ContosoCS" -StorageAccountName "contosostorageaccount" -StorageAccountKey $storageAccountKey[0].Value -DiagnosticsConfigurationPath $configFilePath -TypeHandlerVersion "1.5" -AutoUpgradeMinorVersion $true 

# Add <privateConfig> settings
$wadExtension.ProtectedSetting = "<Insert WAD Private Configuration as raw string here>"

# Get existing Cloud Service
$cloudService = Get-AzCloudService -ResourceGroup "ContosOrg" -CloudServiceName "ContosoCS"

# Add WAD extension to existing Cloud Service extension object
$cloudService.ExtensionProfile.Extension = $cloudService.ExtensionProfile.Extension + $wadExtension

# Update Cloud Service
$cloudService | Update-AzCloudService

Download the public configuration file schema definition by executing the following PowerShell command:

(Get-AzureServiceAvailableExtension -ExtensionName 'PaaSDiagnostics' -ProviderNamespace 'Microsoft.Azure.Diagnostics').PublicConfigurationSchema | Out-File -Encoding utf8 -FilePath 'PublicWadConfig.xsd'

Here's an example of the public configuration XML file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<PublicConfig xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2010/10/DiagnosticsConfiguration">
  <WadCfg>
    <DiagnosticMonitorConfiguration overallQuotaInMB="25000">
      <PerformanceCounters scheduledTransferPeriod="PT1M">
        <PerformanceCounterConfiguration counterSpecifier="\Processor(_Total)\% Processor Time" sampleRate="PT1M" unit="percent" />
        <PerformanceCounterConfiguration counterSpecifier="\Memory\Committed Bytes" sampleRate="PT1M" unit="bytes"/>
      </PerformanceCounters>
      <EtwProviders>
        <EtwEventSourceProviderConfiguration provider="SampleEventSourceWriter" scheduledTransferPeriod="PT5M">
          <Event id="1" eventDestination="EnumsTable"/>
          <DefaultEvents eventDestination="DefaultTable" />
        </EtwEventSourceProviderConfiguration>
      </EtwProviders>
    </DiagnosticMonitorConfiguration>
  </WadCfg>
</PublicConfig>

Download the private configuration file schema definition by executing the following PowerShell command:

(Get-AzureServiceAvailableExtension -ExtensionName 'PaaSDiagnostics' -ProviderNamespace 'Microsoft.Azure.Diagnostics').PrivateConfigurationSchema | Out-File -Encoding utf8 -FilePath 'PrivateWadConfig.xsd'

Here's an example of the private configuration XML file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<PrivateConfig xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2010/10/DiagnosticsConfiguration">
  <StorageAccount name="string" key="string" />
  <AzureMonitorAccount>
    <ServicePrincipalMeta>
      <PrincipalId>string</PrincipalId>
      <Secret>string</Secret>
    </ServicePrincipalMeta>
  </AzureMonitorAccount>
  <SecondaryStorageAccounts>
    <StorageAccount name="string" />
  </SecondaryStorageAccounts>
  <SecondaryEventHubs>
    <EventHub Url="string" SharedAccessKeyName="string" SharedAccessKey="string" />
  </SecondaryEventHubs>
</PrivateConfig>

Apply Microsoft Azure Diagnostics extension using ARM template

"extensionProfile": { 
          "extensions": [ 
            { 
              "name": "Microsoft.Insights.VMDiagnosticsSettings_WebRole1", 
              "properties": { 
                "autoUpgradeMinorVersion": true, 
                "publisher": "Microsoft.Azure.Diagnostics", 
                "type": "PaaSDiagnostics", 
                "typeHandlerVersion": "1.5", 
                "settings": "Include PublicConfig XML as a raw string", 
                "protectedSettings": "Include PrivateConfig XML as a raw string”", 
                "rolesAppliedTo": [ 
                  "WebRole1" 
                ] 
              } 
            }
          ]
        },

Next steps