Analyze usage metrics by using Application Insights

Application Insights is a powerful monitoring and diagnostics tool provided by Microsoft that can help you analyze usage metrics and gain insights into the performance of your applications. In the context of designing and implementing Microsoft DevOps solutions, integrating Application Insights into your applications can provide valuable information about how your application is being used and help identify areas for improvement. In this article, we will explore various ways to analyze usage metrics using Application Insights.

1. Instrumenting Your Application

To start analyzing usage metrics, you first need to instrument your application to send telemetry data to Application Insights. Application Insights provides SDKs for various platforms and languages such as .NET, Java, Node.js, and more. You can find the appropriate SDK for your application from the Azure portal or the official documentation.

Once you have selected the SDK, you need to install it in your application and configure it to send telemetry data. This can typically be done by adding a few lines of code to your application’s initialization code. For example, in a .NET application, you can add the following code to the Startup.cs file:

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IWebHostEnvironment env)
{
app.UseApplicationInsightsRequestTelemetry();
app.UseApplicationInsightsExceptionTelemetry();

// Other application configuration
}

2. Basic Usage Metrics

Once your application is instrumented with Application Insights, it automatically starts collecting various basic usage metrics such as the number of requests, response times, and exceptions. These metrics can be viewed and analyzed through the Azure portal.

To access these metrics:

• Go to the Azure portal and navigate to your Application Insights resource.
• Select the “Metrics” option from the left-hand menu.
• In the metrics explorer, you can select the desired metric, such as “Request duration” or “Exceptions,” and apply filters to narrow down the data.

You can also customize the metrics view by adjusting the aggregation and time range. This helps you identify trends, performance bottlenecks, and areas where your application needs improvement.

3. Custom Usage Metrics

In addition to the basic metrics, you can also track custom events and metrics specific to your application. This allows you to gain deeper insights into the behavior and usage patterns of your application.

To track custom events and metrics, you can use the Application Insights SDK to log events and metrics at appropriate points in your code. For example, you can track the number of items added to a shopping cart or the number of searches performed in your application.

Here’s an example of how to track a custom event in a .NET application:

// Add the required namespace
using Microsoft.ApplicationInsights;

// Track a custom event
telemetryClient.TrackEvent("ProductAddedToCart", new Dictionary
{
{ "ProductId", "1234" },
{ "ProductName", "Sample Product" }
});


The custom events and metrics can be visualized and analyzed similarly to the basic metrics within the Azure portal.

4. User Analytics

Application Insights also provides user analytics, which can help you gain insights into how users are interacting with your application. User analytics track individual user sessions, user flows, and user retention metrics.

To access user analytics:

• Go to the Azure portal and navigate to your Application Insights resource.
• Select the “Analytics” option from the left-hand menu.
• In the analytics explorer, you can write queries using Application Insights Analytics language, which is similar to SQL.

For example, you can use the following query to get the number of unique users who performed a particular action within a specific time range:

customEvents
| where name == "ProductAddedToCart"
| summarize dcount(user_Id)

By analyzing user analytics, you can identify user behavior patterns, track conversion rates, and optimize user experiences.

5. Alerts and Diagnostics

Application Insights allows you to set up alerts to proactively monitor your application’s usage metrics. Alerts can notify you when specific usage thresholds are exceeded or when exceptions occur frequently.

To set up alerts:

• Go to the Azure portal and navigate to your Application Insights resource.
• Select the “Alerts” option from the left-hand menu.
• Configure alert rules based on the desired metrics and conditions.

Additionally, Application Insights provides diagnostics tools that can help you troubleshoot issues and analyze the root cause of performance problems. The available diagnostics tools vary based on the platform and SDK used.

Conclusion

Analyzing usage metrics using Application Insights is an essential part of designing and implementing Microsoft DevOps solutions. By instrumenting your application with Application Insights and leveraging its powerful features, you can gain valuable insights into how your application is used, identify performance bottlenecks, track user behavior, and improve the overall user experience. Start integrating Application Insights into your DevOps workflow and unlock the potential for continuous improvement and optimization.