Exercise - Use Azure log analytics and schedule updates

  • 8 minutes

Recently, your department moved all of their infrastructure to Azure. There are many virtual machines (VMs) serving up web sites and email functions. You have been tasked to keep these VMs up to date with the latest patches and security releases. You decide to roll out the Update Management solution to all of the VMs in your enterprise.

In the following exercise you will review the agent connectivity to log analytics and, learn how to schedule update deployments.

Review Agent Connectivity to Log Analytics

Perform the following steps in the Azure portal to assess if connectivity between the agent and log analytics has taken place.

  1. Sign into the Azure portal.

  2. Select Virtual machines > MediaWebServer.

  3. On the VM Overview page, make note of the Public IP Address. Screenshot that highlights the public IP address that's on the VM's overview page.

  4. On the Overview page, select Connect > Native RDP > Select.

  5. Select Download RDP file.

  6. From the browser, select Open file and Connect.

  7. In Windows security, select More choices > Use different account.

  8. In Enter your credentials, type the username and password that you specified when you created the virtual machine, and then select OK.

  9. In the certificate warning dialog, select Yes.

  10. On the remote machine, go to the Windows icon > Control Panel

  11. In Control Panel, search for and select Microsoft Monitoring Agent.

  12. Select the Azure Log Analytics (OMS) tab.

  13. Observe that the agent displays the following message: The Microsoft Monitoring Agent has successfully connected to Microsoft Operations Management Suite service. as shown below.

    Screenshot that shows the Azure Log Analytics (OMS) tab with the status message.

  14. Select OK to close the Microsoft Monitoring Agent Properties window.

  15. In the All Control Panel Items window, clear your search and select Administrative Tools.

  16. Open the Event Viewer.

  17. Expand Applications and Services Logs, and open Operations Manager.

  18. Maximize the Event Viewer window.

  19. In the Operations Manager view, select the Event ID column heading to sort the list by Event ID.

  20. Observe Event IDs 3000 and 5002. These events indicate that the computer has registered with the Log Analytics workspace and is receiving configuration. Event ID 5002 is shown below.

    Screenshot that shows the VM has received new configuration from the service.

  21. Close the Event Viewer and all other windows that were opened.

  22. Sign out of the Remote Desktop Connection application.

Schedule Update Deployments

Here, you'll learn how to schedule updates for the virtual machine.

  1. In the Azure portal, go to the VM MediaWebServer and select Guest + host updates > Go to Update management.

  2. Select the tab Schedule update deployment.

  3. Fill out the form using the information from the following table.

    Screenshot that shows the New update deployment page and Schedule settings page with the fields filled out as described in the table.

    Field Values
    Name Critical and security updates
    Update classifications Select only Critical updates and Security updates
    Schedule settings Click to configure
    Start Increment the time up one hour
    Recurrence Recurring
    Recur every Configure update to occur once every week on Sunday

  4. Select OK.

  5. On New update deployment, select Create.