Enable Profiler for web apps on an Azure virtual machine

Article
09/22/2023

Note

We recommend that you use the Azure Az PowerShell module to interact with Azure. See Install Azure PowerShell to get started. To learn how to migrate to the Az PowerShell module, see Migrate Azure PowerShell from AzureRM to Az.

In this article, you learn how to run Application Insights Profiler on your Azure virtual machine (VM) or Azure virtual machine scale set via three different methods:

Visual Studio and Azure Resource Manager
PowerShell
Azure Resource Explorer

With any of these methods, you:

Configure the Azure Diagnostics extension to run Profiler.
Install the Application Insights SDK on a VM.
Deploy your application.
View Profiler traces via the Application Insights instance in the Azure portal.

Prerequisites

A functioning ASP.NET Core application.
An Application Insights resource.
To review the Azure Resource Manager templates (ARM templates) for the Azure Diagnostics extension:
- VM
- Virtual machine scale set

Add the Application Insights SDK to your application

Open your ASP.NET core project in Visual Studio.
Select Project > Add Application Insights Telemetry.
Select Azure Application Insights > Next.
Select the subscription where your Application Insights resource lives and select Next.
Select where to save the connection string and select Next.
Select Finish.

Note

For full instructions, including how to enable Application Insights on your ASP.NET Core application without Visual Studio, see the Application Insights for ASP.NET Core applications.

Confirm the latest stable release of the Application Insights SDK

Go to Project > Manage NuGet Packages.
Select Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.AspNetCore.
On the side pane, select the latest version of the SDK from the dropdown.
Select Update.

Enable Profiler

You can enable Profiler by any of three ways:

Within your ASP.NET Core application by using an Azure Resource Manager template and Visual Studio. Recommended.
By using a PowerShell command via the Azure CLI.
By using Azure Resource Explorer.

Install the Azure Diagnostics extension

Choose which ARM template to use:
- VM
- Virtual machine scale set
In the template, locate the resource of type extension.
In Visual Studio, go to the arm.json file in your ASP.NET Core application that was added when you installed the Application Insights SDK.
Add the resource type extension from the template to the arm.json file to set up a VM or virtual machine scale set with Azure Diagnostics.

Within the WadCfg tag, add your Application Insights instrumentation key to MyApplicationInsightsProfilerSink.

"WadCfg": {
  "SinksConfig": {
    "Sink": [
      {
        "name": "MyApplicationInsightsProfilerSink",
        "ApplicationInsightsProfiler": "YOUR_APPLICATION_INSIGHTS_INSTRUMENTATION_KEY"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Deploy your application.

The following PowerShell commands are an approach for existing VMs that touch only the Azure Diagnostics extension.

Note

If you deploy the VM again, the sink will be lost. You need to update the config you use when you deploy the VM to preserve this setting.

Install Application Insights via the Azure Diagnostics config

Export the currently deployed Azure Diagnostics config to a file:
```
$ConfigFilePath = [IO.Path]::GetTempFileName()
```

Add the Application Insights Profiler sink to the config returned by the following command:

(Get-AzVMDiagnosticsExtension -ResourceGroupName "YOUR_RESOURCE_GROUP" -VMName "YOUR_VM").PublicSettings | Out-File -Verbose $ConfigFilePath

Application Insights Profiler WadCfg:

"WadCfg": {
  "SinksConfig": {
    "Sink": [
      {
        "name": "MyApplicationInsightsProfilerSink",
        "ApplicationInsightsProfiler": "YOUR_APPLICATION_INSIGHTS_INSTRUMENTATION_KEY"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Run the following command to pass the updated config to the Set-AzVMDiagnosticsExtension command.
```
Set-AzVMDiagnosticsExtension -ResourceGroupName "YOUR_RESOURCE_GROUP" -VMName "YOUR_VM" -DiagnosticsConfigurationPath $ConfigFilePath
```
Note

Set-AzVMDiagnosticsExtension might require the -StorageAccountName argument. If your original diagnostics configuration had the storageAccountName property in the protectedSettings section (which isn't downloadable), be sure to pass the same original value you had in this cmdlet call.

IIS Http Tracing feature

If the intended application is running through IIS, enable the IIS Http Tracing Windows feature:

Establish remote access to the environment.

Use the Add Windows features window, or run the following command in PowerShell (as administrator):

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -FeatureName IIS-HttpTracing -Online -All

If establishing remote access is a problem, you can use the Azure CLI to run the following command:

az vm run-command invoke -g MyResourceGroupName -n MyVirtualMachineName --command-id RunPowerShellScript --scripts "Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -FeatureName IIS-HttpTracing -Online -All"

Deploy your application.

Set the Profiler sink by using Azure Resource Explorer

Because the Azure portal doesn't provide a way to set the Application Insights Profiler sink, you can use Azure Resource Explorer to set the sink.

Note

If you deploy the VM again, the sink will be lost. You need to update the config you use when you deploy the VM to preserve this setting.

Verify that the Microsoft Azure Diagnostics extension is installed by viewing the extensions installed for your virtual machine.
Find the VM Diagnostics extension for your VM:
1. Go to Azure Resource Explorer.
2. Expand subscriptions and find the subscription that holds the resource group with your VM.
3. Drill down to your VM extensions by selecting your resource group. Then select Microsoft.Compute > virtualMachines > [your virtual machine] > extensions.
Add the Application Insights Profiler sink to the SinksConfig node under WadCfg. If you don't already have a SinksConfig section, you might need to add one. To add the sink:
- Specify the proper Application Insights iKey in your settings.
- Switch the Explorer mode to Read/Write in the upper-right corner.
- Select Edit.
```
"WadCfg": {
  "SinksConfig": {
    "Sink": [
      {
        "name": "MyApplicationInsightsProfilerSink",
        "ApplicationInsightsProfiler": "YOUR_APPLICATION_INSIGHTS_INSTRUMENTATION_KEY"
      }
    ]
  }
}        
```
After you've finished editing the config, select PUT.
If the put is successful, a green check mark appears in the middle of the screen.