You can't fix what you can't see. Azure Monitor provides comprehensive observability, but effective monitoring requires intentional design.
The Three Pillars
Metrics: Numeric measurements over time Logs: Discrete events with context Traces: Request flow across services
Application Insights
Instrument applications for deep visibility:
from applicationinsights import TelemetryClient
tc = TelemetryClient('instrumentation-key')
tc.track_event('OrderPlaced', {'order_id': '123'})
Alerts That Matter
Avoid alert fatigue:
- Alert on symptoms, not causes
- Set meaningful thresholds
- Include runbooks
- Suppress duplicates
Dashboards
Build dashboards for different audiences:
- Executive: SLO status, trends
- Operations: Real-time health
- Development: Performance metrics