Monitor storage

Azure provides various tools and services to monitor and manage storage resources effectively. Let’s explore some of the key aspects you should focus on when monitoring storage for your SAP workloads.

1. Utilize Azure Monitor

Azure Monitor is a comprehensive monitoring solution that helps you collect and analyze data from different Azure resources, including storage accounts. With Azure Monitor, you can set up alerts, view performance metrics, analyze logs, and gain insights into the health and performance of your storage infrastructure.

2. Enable diagnostic settings for storage accounts

Diagnostic settings allow you to collect granular data from your storage accounts and route it to different destinations like Azure Monitor Logs or Azure Storage. By enabling diagnostic settings, you can capture metrics, logs, and traces that provide valuable insights into the behavior of your storage accounts.

To enable diagnostic settings for a storage account, you can use Azure PowerShell:

Set-AzStorageServiceLoggingProperty -Context $ctx -ServiceType Blob -MetricsEnabled $true
Set-AzStorageServiceLoggingProperty -Context $ctx -ServiceType Blob -LoggingOperations Read, Write, Delete

3. Monitor latency and throughput

Monitoring latency and throughput metrics helps you evaluate the performance of your storage accounts and identify any bottlenecks. Azure Monitor provides various performance metrics such as AverageE2ELatency, AverageServerLatency, and NetworkIngress. By monitoring these metrics, you can identify if any specific storage operations are experiencing high latency or if the throughput is consistently low.

4. Set up alerts and notifications

Azure Monitor allows you to set up alerts based on predefined conditions or custom queries. You can configure alerts for specific metrics like storage latency exceeding a threshold or a sudden drop in throughput. When an alert condition is met, you can receive notifications via email, SMS, or integrate with third-party systems like Microsoft Teams or Azure Logic Apps.

To set up an alert for storage latency exceeding a threshold using Azure Monitor, you can use the following steps:

1. Go to the Azure portal and navigate to your storage account.
2. Select the “Alerts” option under the “Monitoring” section.
3. Click on “New alert rule” and specify the condition and threshold for latency.
4. Configure the action group to define the notifications and recipients.

5. Leverage Azure Storage Explorer

Azure Storage Explorer is a powerful tool that allows you to interact with your storage accounts visually. It enables you to monitor the performance of your storage resources, view metrics, and analyze logs. You can also perform tasks such as uploading and downloading files, managing containers, and setting access permissions.

6. Regularly review logs and diagnostics data

Examining logs and diagnostic data helps you gain insights into the behavior and usage patterns of your storage accounts. By analyzing this information, you can identify any anomalies, trends, or potential issues. Azure Monitor Logs can be used to query and analyze logs collected from your storage accounts, enabling you to perform deep-dive investigations and troubleshoot specific issues.

In conclusion, monitoring storage is a critical aspect of planning and administering Azure for SAP workloads. By leveraging Azure Monitor, enabling diagnostic settings, monitoring latency and throughput, setting up alerts, using Azure Storage Explorer, and reviewing logs and diagnostics data, you can ensure the optimal performance and availability of your storage infrastructure. Following these best practices will help you proactively identify and address any issues and optimize your SAP environment on Azure.