Healthbot availability issue

Question

Healthbot availability issue

Rob Capozziello 0

Using Azure Healthbot and receiving the following message every other day since Tuesday 4/29:
"Sorry, looks like something went wrong. Let's try that again".
App works fine the following day, then the message appears the next day and prevents user entry. We've made no changes to this bot in months.

2 answers

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Answer 1

Wagner Silva 80 Microsoft Employee

The Azure Health Bot availability issue can be caused by several factors, ranging from resource limitations in free-tier plans to configuration or connectivity problems. Below are recommended steps to diagnose and resolve the issue:

Troubleshooting Steps

Check the Bot Plan and Instance Type
If you’re using the free (F1) tier, be aware that it runs on shared, non-guaranteed compute, which can lead to degraded performance or downtime during high traffic or backend maintenance. Consider upgrading to a paid (S1) tier for more reliable performance.
Test with the Bot Framework Emulator
Before deploying the bot, use the Bot Framework Emulator to identify any local issues that might affect live deployment.
Verify Endpoint Accessibility
In the Azure portal, navigate to the bot resource. Copy the messaging endpoint and paste it into a browser. If it returns a 404 or 405, the bot is reachable. If the site can’t be reached, the bot may be down and might need to be redeployed.
Restart the Bot’s Web App
In the Azure portal, locate the web app associated with your bot and restart it. Then test the bot again to see if the issue is resolved.
Use Diagnose and Solve Problems in Azure
In the Azure portal, go to the web app hosting your bot, select “Diagnose and solve problems,” and explore the “Availability and performance” section to identify any service interruptions.
Review Channel Configurations
Ensure the bot is properly configured on the desired channels (e.g., Web Chat, Microsoft Teams). Misconfigured channels can result in availability problems.
Check Diagnostic Logs
Enable diagnostic logging on the web app hosting your bot and review the logs for errors or exceptions that might indicate the root cause of the issue.

Additional Considerations

Recent Updates: Check if there were any recent updates to Azure Health Bot or Azure Bot Services that could be affecting availability.
Resource Limits: Be aware of the limitations of your current pricing tier. Free tiers can face usage restrictions that impact performance.
Microsoft Support: If the issue persists after trying the above, consider contacting Microsoft support for further assistance.

Ronnie Dolinger 5 Reputation points

2025-05-03T15:37:50.9233333+00:00

We have tried all of these things. The really strange thing is that the bot will work just fine one day and the next we get that message when we try to run the bot and then the next day it will work just fine. It is not only our production version( which our clients are down for a whole day) and our qa version and any other version that we have. I can also edit the steps of the scenario and try to run it from there and get the same message when it is down, so it is just the production app service. We have made no changes in months except when this started I made a text change and deployed the bot to see if that would fix the issue. I also have restarted the app service multiple times and still get the same generic message.
Prashanth Veeragoni 4,515 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-05T02:24:09.47+00:00

Hi Rob Capozziello,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and disruption caused by the recurring issue with your Health Bot.

Based on your description, this appears to be an intermittent availability issue with your Azure Health Bot, showing the message:

"Sorry, looks like something went wrong. Let's try that again."

This could be due to various reasons like service disruptions, expired authentication tokens, backend throttling, or integration issues. Since the app works fine on alternate days, it suggests a cyclic/periodic issue—possibly related to tokens, rate limits, or service dependencies.

Step-by-Step Troubleshooting:

1.Check Azure Health Bot Service Status

Go to the Azure Status page: https://status.azure.com

Check if there are any outages in the region where your Health Bot is deployed—especially for:

·       Azure Health Bot

·       Azure Web Apps (if embedded in another app)

·       Azure Bot Services

2.Inspect Logs (Telemetry)

Navigate to your Azure Health Bot resource:

·       Go to Azure Portal > Health Bot > Logs (under Monitoring)

·       Check for errors, warnings, or throttling in Application Insights (if enabled)

If Application Insights is not configured, consider enabling it to track exceptions and usage patterns.

3.Check Authentication/Token Expiry

If your Health Bot uses a DirectLine token to embed in a web or mobile app:

·       These tokens usually expire in 30 minutes–1 day

·       You might need to refresh or regenerate them dynamically

If you hardcoded a token, it may be invalid every other day due to expiry

Solution: Set up dynamic token generation via Azure Function or backend API and refresh before each session.

4.Check Bot Framework Channel Connection

Go to:

·       Health Bot Resource > Channels > Web Chat or DirectLine

·       Test the bot in Web Chat (from this interface) and check if the issue is reproducible there

If it works in the Azure portal but not in the embedded version, the issue is likely in your frontend integration (e.g., token, CORS, or config).

5.Throttling or Rate Limiting

If many users use the bot during a specific period:

·       You may be hitting a throttling limit

·       Check metrics like Requests and Rate-limited requests

Go to:

Azure Health Bot > Metrics > Add Metric: "Requests" or "Throttled Requests"

If you see spikes or failed requests, scaling the service or optimizing load may help.

Even though you haven't changed the bot, Azure Health Bot is a platform-managed service, and updates or security policy changes might affect it. As it is temporary and fixed in backend soon.

Hope this helps, do let me know if you have any further queries.

Thank you!
Prashanth Veeragoni 4,515 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-06T05:38:55.06+00:00

Hi Rob Capozziello,

Did you got chance to see my last response in private message. please do share the details asked.

Thank you!

Answer 2

Hi Rob Capozziello,

I'm glad to hear that your issue has been resolved backend as it is an intermitted issue product team worked on it resolved it. And thanks for confirmation on it, which might be beneficial to other community members reading this thread as solution. Since the Microsoft Q&A community has a policy that "The question author cannot accept their own answer. They can only accept answers by others ", so I'll repost your response to an answer in case you'd like to accept the answer. This will help other users who may have a similar query find the solution more easily. If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask. We're always here to help.

Ask: Healthbot availability issue

Solution: The problem has gone away however we still don't know root cause - Issue Resolved backend.

Please don’t forget to Accept Answer and Yes for "was this answer helpful" wherever the information provided helps you, this can be beneficial to other community members.

Thank you!

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