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Building Azure Workbook to visualize your data

  • May 2, 2023
  • 8 min read
IT Production Manager. Nicolas is primarily focused on Microsoft technologies, he is a Microsoft MVP in Cloud and Datacenter Management.
IT Production Manager. Nicolas is primarily focused on Microsoft technologies, he is a Microsoft MVP in Cloud and Datacenter Management.


Azure Monitor Log Analytics can collect large amounts of data and it is important to have effective methods to make it easy to visualize it in a simple way. Azure Workbooks are part of the Azure Monitor services and offer a solution to visualize different data sources across your Azure tenant.

Visualizations are great feature of workbooks that provide a rich set of capabilities to show up data:

  • Text
  • Charts
  • Grids
  • Tiles
  • Trees
  • Graphs
  • Composite bar
  • Honeycomb
  • Map

Workbooks use the KQL query language to explore the data. KQL uses schema entities that are organized in a hierarchy like SQLs: databases, tables, and columns. In this article, I will explain how to create Azure workbook from scratch, but I will not go into the details of the KQL language, I will do it in another article.

Getting started

Open the Azure Portal, go to your Log Analytics Workspace, and click Workbooks

Open the Azure Portal, go to your Log Analytics Workspace, and click Workbooks

The workbook can be composed of different sections that show graphs, tables, text etc.

The workbook can be composed of different sections that show graphs, tables, text

In this example, select “Add text”. A new section appears to write your text using the Markdown language. Once you are happy with your text, you can click “Done Editing

Editing text item

This text section can be used to give information about your workbook. In this example, my workbook will query information across multiple workspaces.

Azure workbook

Now, click Add and select Parameters. If you work with multiple subscriptions/workspaces, you probably want to query different workspaces from a single workbook instead of creating multiple workbooks. This parameter will help us to select the desired workspace.

Enter the parameter name and the display name, then edit the parameter:

Enter the parameter name and the display name, then edit the parameter

Choose which options are interesting for you, in my case, I selected Required and Allow multiple selections. The important thing is to select parameter type = resource picker.

Then, select Query and enter the following query:

Select Query and enter the following query

Once you have saved the parameter, you should see the new parameter called “workspace” and you should be able to query multiple workspaces:

Once you have saved the parameter, you should see the new parameter called “workspace”

We can add a new text section and select the text style named “Upsell”. That could be interesting for changing log information.

We can add a new text section and select the text style named “Upsell”

Output should be like the following screenshot:

Change Log

Now, add a Query and customize the parameters:

  • Datasource = logs
  • Resource type = Log analytics
  • Log Analytics workspace = workspaces (which is the parameter name created previously)
  • Time range = Set in query
  • Visualization = Pie chart
  • Size = large

The query is based on the Azure Update Management service to visualize the Windows Updates status.

The query is based on the Azure Update Management service to visualize the Windows Updates status

Save the query and confirm the result.

Save the query and confirm the result

You may need a way to segment information in different sections in your Azure workbooks. We can build tabs very simply using the following option:

We can build tabs very simply using the following option

Add two tabs :

  • Tab name = Tab1 and Tab2 (this name will be visible in your workbook)
  • Action = Set a parameter value
  • Value = view (but you can enter whatever you want)
  • Settings = tab1 and tab2 (but you can enter whatever you want)

Add two tabs

You should see two tabs appear

You should see two tabs appear

Then, we need to organize resources in both tabs. Edit a text section created earlier and go to Advanced Settings, click Make this item conditionally visible.

  • Parameter name must be equal to the name you entered earlier (view)
  • Comparison must be “equals”
  • Parameter value must be the name you entered earlier (tab1)

Advanced Settings

Save this section, and repeat the same step for the query section

Go to Advanced Settings, click Make this item conditionally visible.

  • Parameter name must be equal to the name you entered earlier (view)
  • Comparison must be “equals”
  • Parameter value must be the name you entered earlier (tab2)

Go to Advanced Settings, click Make this item conditionally visible

Save the section and confirm the results. When you click on Tab1 or Tab2, you should see:

  • Tab1 with the text section
  • Tab2 with the query section

Save the section and confirm the results. When you click on Tab1 or Tab2, you should see

Save the section and confirm the results. When you click on Tab1 or Tab2, you should see

To finish, please note that when you save your Azure workbooks, they are stored as an Azure resource in your Azure tenant.

To finish, please note that when you save your Azure workbooks, they are stored as an Azure resource in your Azure tenant

Go to Azure Workbook section

Go to Azure Workbook section

You should find your Azure workbook, then you can share access with someone else.

You should find your Azure workbook, then you can share access with someone else

All you need to know about Azure Workbook, please read the official documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/visualize/workbooks-overview.

 

Hey! Found Nicolas’s article helpful? Looking to deploy a new, easy-to-manage, and cost-effective hyperconverged infrastructure?
Alex Bykovskyi
Alex Bykovskyi StarWind Virtual HCI Appliance Product Manager
Well, we can help you with this one! Building a new hyperconverged environment is a breeze with StarWind Virtual HCI Appliance (VHCA). It’s a complete hyperconverged infrastructure solution that combines hypervisor (vSphere, Hyper-V, Proxmox, or our custom version of KVM), software-defined storage (StarWind VSAN), and streamlined management tools. Interested in diving deeper into VHCA’s capabilities and features? Book your StarWind Virtual HCI Appliance demo today!