Monitor Azure Virtual Machine Scale Set (VMSS)

  • How-to guide
  • 6-min read
  • Published Jul 19, 2017

Capabilities

Dynatrace provides a VM extension to install OneAgent on Azure Virtual Machine Scale Set (VMSS). The extension doesn't include the OneAgent installer. Instead, it uses the Dynatrace REST API to download the latest version from the cluster, unless a default OneAgent version is configured. OneAgent updates are provided automatically.

Prerequisites

  • Create a PaaS token.

  • Determine your environment ID.

  • Determine your server URL if required.

    The server URL is required only if you use an ActiveGate for a Dynatrace SaaS endpoint. The URL is automatically generated from the environment ID.

    • ActiveGate server URL:
      https://<your-active-gate-IP-or-hostname>:9999/e/<your-environment-id>/api (the ActiveGate port is configurable)

Installation

The Dynatrace VM extension is available for Windows and Linux in all public Azure regions.

  1. Run the command below.

    Replace all values marked with <...> with your actual values.

    az vmss extension set
      --publisher dynatrace.ruxit
      -n "<Extension-Type>"
      -g "<Resource-Group>"
      --vmss-name "<VMSS-Name>"
      --settings "{\"tenantId\":\"<Environment-ID>\",\"token\":\"<API-Token>\", \"server\":\"<Server-Url>\", \"enableLogAnalytics\":\"yes\", \"hostGroup\":\"<Host-Group>\"}"

    When using the Azure CLI within PowerShell, you need to format the settings as a here-string.

    --settings @'"{\"tenantId\":\"<Environment-ID>\",\"token\":\"<API-Token>\"}"'@
    ParameterRequiredDescription
    Resource-GrouprequiredName of the resource group on which the VM is deployed.
    VMSS-NamerequiredName of the VMSS where you want to install the extension.
    Extension-TyperequiredFor Windows-based VMs, use oneAgentWindows. For Linux-based VMs, use oneAgentLinux.
    tenantIdrequiredThe environment ID as described in Prerequisites.
    tokenrequiredThe PaaS token as described in Prerequisites.
    serveroptionalThe server URL, if you want to configure an alternative communication endpoint as described in Prerequisites.
    enableLogAnalyticsoptionalSet to yes if you want to enable Log Monitoring.
    hostGroupoptionalDefine the host group to which the VM belongs.

  2. Update the VMSS virtual machines.

    az vmss update-instances --instance-ids '*' --resource-group $CLUSTER_RESOURCE_GROUP --name $SCALE_SET_NAME

  3. To check the deployment status, go to Deployment Status.

    After installation is complete, restart your applications on the VMs. Immediately after restart, OneAgent will begin monitoring them.

Install Dynatrace OneAgent VM extension via an ARM template

Alternatively to the main installation methods, you can make the Dynatrace site extension part of your ARM templates.

  1. Place the JSON configuration for a virtual machine extension in the VMSS resource, under extensions in extensionProfile.

    Example:

    {
      "type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets",
      "sku": {...},
      "name": "<VMSS-Name>",
      "apiVersion": "2018-06-01",
      "location": "centralus",
      "properties": {
        "upgradePolicy": {...},
        "virtualMachineProfile": {
          "osProfile": {...},
          "storageProfile": {...},
          "networkProfile": {...},
          "extensionProfile": {
            "extensions": [
              {
                "name": "dynatrace",
                "properties": {
                  "publisher": "dynatrace.ruxit",
                  "type": "<Extension-Type>",
                  "typeHandlerVersion": "<Extension-Version>",
                  "autoUpgradeMinorVersion": true,
                  "settings": {
                    "tenantId": "<Environment-ID>",
                    "token": "<API-Token>",
                    "enableLogAnalytics": "yes"
    

                  }
                }
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      }
    }

  2. Configure the JSON file.

    {
      "name": "dynatrace",
      "properties": {
        "publisher": "dynatrace.ruxit",
        "type": "<Extension-Type>",
        "typeHandlerVersion": "<Extension-Version>",
        "autoUpgradeMinorVersion": true,
        "settings": {
            "tenantId": "<Environment-ID>",
            "token": "<API-Token>",
            "server": "<Server-Url>",
            "enableLogAnalytics": "yes",
            "hostGroup": "<Host-Group>"
        },
      }
    }
    ParameterRequiredDescription
    Resource-GrouprequiredName of the resource group on which the VM is deployed.
    VMSS-NamerequiredName of the VMSS where you want to install the extension.
    Extension-TyperequiredFor Windows-based VMs, use oneAgentWindows. For Linux-based VMs, use oneAgentLinux.
    tenantIdrequiredThe environment ID as described in Prerequisites.
    tokenrequiredThe PaaS token as described in Prerequisites.
    Extension-VersionoptionalRequired version1 of the extension.
    serveroptionalThe server URL, if you want to configure an alternative communication endpoint as described in Prerequisites.
    enableLogAnalyticsoptionalSet to yes if you want to enable Log Monitoring.
    hostGroupoptionalDefine the host group to which the VM belongs.
    1

    o fetch the list of extension versions, run

    az vm extension image list --name oneAgentLinux --publisher dynatrace.ruxit

  3. To check the deployment status, go to Deployment Status.

    After installation is complete, restart your applications on the VM. Immediately after restart, OneAgent will begin monitoring them.

Troubleshooting

Restart the VMSS nodes via PowerShell, replacing all values marked with <...> with your actual values:

Restart-AzureRmVmss -ResourceGroupName "<Resource-Group>" -VMScaleSetName "<VMSS-Name>"
ParameterRequiredDescription
Resource-GrouprequiredName of the resource group on which the Virtual Machine is deployed
VMSS-NamerequiredName of the VMSS where you want to install the extension.
Related tags
Infrastructure Observability