Configure log collection and analysis for Azure Virtual Desktop session hosts

Configuring log collection and analysis for Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) session hosts is an essential task for monitoring and troubleshooting your AVD environment. In this article, we will explore the steps to configure log collection and analysis for AVD session hosts using Azure Monitor and Azure Log Analytics.

Step 1: Create a Log Analytics workspace

To get started, you need to create a Log Analytics workspace in the Azure portal. This workspace acts as a central repository for collecting and analyzing logs from your AVD session hosts. Follow these steps to create a new Log Analytics workspace:

1. Navigate to the Azure portal (portal.azure.com) and search for “Log Analytics workspaces” in the search bar.
2. Click on “Log Analytics workspaces” from the search results and then click on the “Add” button.
3. Provide a name, subscription, resource group, and location for the Log Analytics workspace.
4. Choose an appropriate pricing tier based on your requirements.
5. Click on the “Review + Create” button and then “Create” to create the workspace.

Step 2: Enable diagnostic settings for AVD session hosts

Once you have created the Log Analytics workspace, you need to enable diagnostic settings on your AVD session hosts to send logs to the workspace. Follow these steps to enable diagnostic settings:

1. In the Azure portal, navigate to your AVD session host’s resource group.
2. Click on the AVD session host resource and select the “Diagnostic settings” option under the Monitoring section.
3. Click on the “Add diagnostic setting” button.
4. Provide a name for the diagnostic setting and select the desired logs to collect, such as “Host diagnostics logs” and “Application event logs.”
5. Choose the Log Analytics workspace created in Step 1 as the destination for the collected logs.
6. Click on the “Save” button to enable the diagnostic settings.

Step 3: View and analyze logs in Azure Log Analytics

After enabling diagnostic settings, the logs from your AVD session hosts will start flowing into the Log Analytics workspace. To view and analyze these logs, follow these steps:

1. In the Azure portal, navigate to your Log Analytics workspace.
2. Click on “Logs” under the General section to open the Log Analytics query editor.
3. In the query editor, select the desired log type, such as “HostDiagnostics” or “ApplicationEvent”, from the dropdown list.
4. Write a query to filter and analyze the logs based on your requirements. For example, you can use the following query to retrieve host diagnostics logs for a specific AVD session host:

HostDiagnostics
| where Computer contains "sessionhost-1"

1. Click on the “Run” button to execute the query and view the results.

Step 4: Create alerts and dashboards

To proactively monitor your AVD session hosts, you can create alerts and dashboards based on specific log events or performance metrics. Azure Monitor allows you to set up alerts that notify you when certain conditions are met, such as high CPU utilization or application crashes. You can also create custom dashboards to visualize the collected log data in a meaningful way.

To create alerts and dashboards, follow these steps:

1. In the Azure portal, navigate to your Log Analytics workspace.
2. Click on “Alerts” under the Monitoring section to create new alerts based on log events or performance metrics.
3. Follow the prompts to configure the alert rule, including the condition, actions, and notification settings.
4. To create a custom dashboard, click on “Workbooks” under the General section and then click on the “New” button to create a new workbook.
5. Build your custom dashboard by adding visualizations based on the log data and save it.

By following the above steps, you can configure log collection and analysis for AVD session hosts using Azure Monitor and Azure Log Analytics. This allows you to monitor the health and performance of your AVD deployment, troubleshoot issues, and gain insights into user activity. Leverage the power of Azure’s monitoring and analytics capabilities to ensure a smooth and efficient AVD experience for your users.