Task 03: Enable HCI Insights

DOCUMENT CATEGORY: Runbook SCOPE: HCI Insights monitoring integration PURPOSE: Enable Azure Local Insights workbook for cluster health and performance monitoring MASTER REFERENCE: Microsoft Learn - Azure Local Insights

Status: Active

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Azure Local Insights provides a rich, pre-built Azure Monitor Workbook that visualizes cluster health, node status, storage performance, and VM state. Enabling Insights automatically installs the Azure Monitor Agent (if not already present) and configures the required Data Collection Rules for HCI-specific telemetry.

Prerequisites

Requirement	Description	Validation
Log Analytics Workspace	Created in Step 1	Workspace accessible
Azure Monitor Agent	Installed on cluster nodes (Step 2)	Extension status: Succeeded
Arc-Enabled Cluster	Azure Local cluster registered	Portal shows cluster resource
RBAC Permissions	Monitoring Contributor	Role assignment verified

Variables from variables.yml

Variable	Config Path	Example
AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID	azure.subscription.id	00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_NAME	azure.subscription.name	Azure Local Production
AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP	azure.resource_group.name	rg-azurelocal-prod-eus2
CLUSTER_NAME	cluster.name	azl-dal-cl01
LOG_ANALYTICS_WORKSPACE_NAME	monitoring.log_analytics.workspace_name	law-azl-DAL-prod-01
SITE_CODE	site.code	DAL
CLUSTER_NODE_01_NAME	nodes[0].name	azl-dal-node-01

Overview

HCI Insights collects data from specific Windows Event Log channels and performance counters:

Data Type	Source	Purpose
Health Events	Microsoft-Windows-Health/Operational	Node and component health status
SDDC Events	Microsoft-Windows-SDDC-Management/Operational	Cluster management events
Memory	Memory\Available Bytes	Memory utilization
Network	Network Interface(*)\Bytes Total/sec	Network throughput
CPU	Processor(_Total)\% Processor Time	CPU utilization
RDMA	RDMA Activity(*)\RDMA Inbound/Outbound Bytes/sec	Storage network performance

Configuration Options

Azure Portal

Step 3.1: Enable Insights from Cluster Resource

1. Navigate to Azure Portal → Azure Local → Select your cluster
2. Under Capabilities tab, locate the Insights tile
3. Click Insights to open the configuration page
4. Click Get Started

Step 3.2: Configure Data Collection Rule

1. On the Insights configuration page:

• Select an existing DCR from the dropdown, OR
• Click Create New to create a dedicated Insights DCR

2. For New DCR:

Setting	Value
Subscription	{{AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_NAME}}
DCR Name	AzureStackHCI-{{CLUSTER_NAME}}-dcr
Data Collection Endpoint	dce-{{SITE_CODE}}-azl-01

3. Click Review + create

Automatic AMA Installation

When you configure Insights, Azure Monitor Agent is automatically installed on all cluster nodes if not already present. The DCRs created by Insights have the prefix AzureStackHCI-.

Step 3.3: Verify Insights Configuration

1. Return to your cluster's Capabilities tab
2. The Insights tile should now show Configured
3. Click Insights to view the workbook

Orchestrated Script (Azure Policy)

For organizations with multiple Azure Local clusters, use Azure Policy to enable Insights at scale:

Step 3.1: Assign Built-in Policy

1. Navigate to Azure Policy → Definitions
2. Search for "Azure Local" or "HCI Insights"
3. Select Configure Azure Local machines to be associated with a Data Collection Rule
4. Click Assign

Step 3.2: Configure Policy Parameters

Parameter	Value
Scope	Management group or subscription containing clusters
Data Collection Rule Resource ID	Resource ID of your DCR
Data Collection Endpoint Resource ID	Resource ID of your DCE

5. Click Review + create → Create

Step 3.3: Trigger Remediation

1. Navigate to Policy → Compliance
2. Find the assigned policy
3. Click Create Remediation Task to apply to existing clusters

Standalone Script

#Requires -Modules Az.Monitor, Az.StackHCI

# Variables
$SubscriptionId = "{{AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID}}"
$ResourceGroup = "{{AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP}}"
$ClusterName = "{{CLUSTER_NAME}}"
$WorkspaceName = "{{LOG_ANALYTICS_WORKSPACE_NAME}}"
$SiteCode = "{{SITE_CODE}}"

# Connect to Azure
Connect-AzAccount -Subscription $SubscriptionId

# Get cluster resource
$cluster = Get-AzStackHciCluster `
 -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroup `
 -ClusterName $ClusterName

# Get workspace
$workspace = Get-AzOperationalInsightsWorkspace `
 -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroup `
 -Name $WorkspaceName

# Enable Insights by creating the required DCR
# Note: For Azure Local 23H2+, Insights is enabled through the portal
# This script prepares the DCR that Insights will use

$dcrName = "AzureStackHCI-$ClusterName-dcr"

Write-Host "To enable Insights:" -ForegroundColor Cyan
Write-Host "1. Navigate to Azure Portal → Azure Local → $ClusterName"
Write-Host "2. Click on Insights tile under Capabilities"
Write-Host "3. Select or create DCR: $dcrName"
Write-Host "4. Workspace: $WorkspaceName"

# Verify cluster is ready for Insights
$arcServers = Get-AzConnectedMachine -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroup | 
 Where-Object { $_.Name -like "*$ClusterName*" -or $_.Name -like "{{CLUSTER_NODE_01_NAME}}*" }

Write-Host "`nCluster nodes registered with Arc:" -ForegroundColor Yellow
$arcServers | ForEach-Object { Write-Host " - $($_.Name): $($_.Status)" }

Using the Insights Workbook

Once enabled, the Insights workbook provides several views:

Cluster Health Overview

Metric	Description	Alert Threshold
Cluster Health	Overall cluster status	Warning/Critical
Node Health	Individual node status	Any node unhealthy
Storage Health	Storage pool and volume status	Degraded/Unhealthy
VM Health	Virtual machine states	Failed VMs

Performance Monitoring

The workbook displays:

• CPU utilization across all nodes
• Memory availability trends
• Network throughput (total bytes/sec)
• RDMA performance for storage traffic
• Storage latency for CSV volumes

Navigation Tabs

Tab	Content
Overview	Cluster summary, health status, quick stats
Nodes	Per-node CPU, memory, network metrics
Storage	Volume health, capacity, latency
VMs	VM count, state distribution

Validation

Verify Insights Status

# Check cluster Insights configuration
$cluster = Get-AzStackHciCluster `
 -ResourceGroupName "{{AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP}}" `
 -ClusterName "{{CLUSTER_NAME}}"

# Check for AMA extensions on nodes
$nodes = @("{{CLUSTER_NODE_01_NAME}}", "{{CLUSTER_NODE_02_NAME}}")
foreach ($node in $nodes) {
 $ext = Get-AzConnectedMachineExtension `
 -ResourceGroupName "{{AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP}}" `
 -MachineName $node `
 -Name "AzureMonitorWindowsAgent"
 
 Write-Host "$node AMA Status: $($ext.ProvisioningState)"
}

Verify Data Collection

Run these queries in Log Analytics to confirm data is flowing:

// Check Health events
Event
| where Source == "Microsoft-Windows-Health"
| where TimeGenerated > ago(1h)
| summarize count() by Computer
| order by Computer asc

// Check SDDC Management events
Event
| where Source == "Microsoft-Windows-SDDC-Management"
| where TimeGenerated > ago(1h)
| summarize count() by Computer

Sample Health Query

// Cluster health summary
Event
| where Source == "Microsoft-Windows-SDDC-Management"
| where EventID == 3000 // Server health event
| where TimeGenerated > ago(24h)
| extend ParsedData = parse_json(RenderedDescription)
| project TimeGenerated, Computer, HealthState = ParsedData.HealthState
| summarize LatestHealth = arg_max(TimeGenerated, *) by Computer

Troubleshooting

Issue	Possible Cause	Resolution
Insights shows "Not configured"	AMA not installed	Check Extensions on cluster nodes
No data in workbook	DCR not associated	Verify DCR associations in Monitor → DCRs
Stale data (>15 min old)	Agent connectivity issue	Check azcmagent show on nodes
Missing health events	Event log channel not enabled	Verify Windows Event Log settings
Cluster shows "Other" status	Recent Arc reconnection	Wait for next health check cycle

Event Log Verification

On each cluster node, verify the required event logs are enabled:

# Run on each cluster node
$logs = @(
 "Microsoft-Windows-Health/Operational",
 "Microsoft-Windows-SDDC-Management/Operational"
)

foreach ($log in $logs) {
 $logInfo = Get-WinEvent -ListLog $log -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
 if ($logInfo) {
 Write-Host "✅ $log - Enabled: $($logInfo.IsEnabled)" -ForegroundColor Green
 } else {
 Write-Host "❌ $log - Not found" -ForegroundColor Red
 }
}

Variables Reference

Variable	Description	Example
{{CLUSTER_NAME}}	Azure Local cluster name	azl-dal-cluster-01
{{CLUSTER_NODE_01_NAME}}	First node hostname	azl-dal-n01
{{LOG_ANALYTICS_WORKSPACE_NAME}}	Workspace name	law-azl-dal-prod-01

Next Steps

After enabling HCI Insights:

1. ➡️ Task 4: Setup Alerting — Configure alert rules based on Insights data
2. Review the Insights workbook for baseline understanding
3. Bookmark key workbook views for operational monitoring
4. Consider enabling at scale using Azure Policy for multiple clusters

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Navigation

Previous	Up	Next
← Task 02: Azure Monitor Agent	Phase 02: Monitoring & Observability	Task 04: Setup Alerting →

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Version	Date	Author	Changes
1.0.0	2026-03-24	Azure Local Cloudnology Team	Initial release