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How to add an Azure Log Analytics provider

Catherine
  • Updated

The Azure Log Analytics tile is a SquaredUp feature that enables you to view Azure data within your SquaredUp dashboards.

This article describes the one-time configuration to get started with the tile. For more information on how to use this tile see How to use the Azure Log Analytics tile.

Prerequisites

  • SquaredUp v4 or above.
  • We recommend that you upgrade to the latest version of SquaredUp and use the Log Analytics tile.
  • If you use a proxy server you may need to configure the proxy to allow the Azure Log Analytics tile to communicate with Log Analytics.
  • A Microsoft Azure Log Analytics workspace.
  • For configuring the provider you will also need the following: (which are not required for using the tile)
    • Azure subscription administrator role
    • Azure Active Directory User administrator role

A Connect edition licence (or above) is required for this feature.

To upgrade please contact sales@squaredup.com.

To check the licence edition you are using see How to check which licence key is being used. To see what is included in different product edition licences see the Licensing Overview.

Connecting SquaredUp to Azure Log Analytics is a simple procedure, but requires some one-time configuration in your Azure Active Directory (AAD) environment prior to making a SquaredUp provider. These settings will enable permissions and connectivity for API access, and only need to be performed once regardless of the number of SquaredUp instances you have.

Configure Azure Active Directory

In order for SquaredUp to authenticate and access Log Analytics data you must create an Azure AD application that represents SquaredUp and configure an SPN for that application with the appropriate permissions to access Log Analytics data for your workspace(s).

In order to complete the Azure Active Directory configuration process, you will need to have Administrative permissions over Azure AD.

A. Add Log Analytics as a new Service Principal in your Azure Active Directory

This step is required to ensure that your Azure Active Directory is set up to interact with the Log Analytics API.

Adding the Service Principal is a one-time operation.

First, you will need to find your Azure Active Directory Tenant ID, and then create a new Log Analytics API Service Principal. The instructions below assume you have PowerShell v4 or later installed (if not, you can use the in-browser PowerShell session right from the Azure portal).

  1. In the Azure portal, open your Azure Active Directory resource. From here, click properties.

  2. Take note of the Directory ID down as you will need it in following steps. (This will be entered as the azure active directory id on the azure log analytics provider page later).

    AzureLogAnalyticsADID__1_.png

  3. Start a new PowerShell prompt, and type in the below (where <AAD Tenant Directory ID> is the ID located in the previous step):

    Install-Module AzureAD

    Connect-AzureAD -TenantId <AAD Tenant Directory ID> -Credential (get-credential)

  4. You will get a prompt to log in using your Azure credentials.

  5. Execute the following command:

    New-AzureADServicePrincipal -AppId ca7f3f0b-7d91-482c-8e09-c5d840d0eac5 -DisplayName "Log Analytics API"

B. Create an Azure Active Directory Application

In this step, you will create an AAD application, which SquaredUp will use to authenticate against your AAD. If you have previously used the v3 OMS tile in this AD Tenant, you can use the existing application that was created for that tile (skip this section).

  1. Open your Azure Active Directory resource in the Azure portal and click on App registrations.
  2. Click New application registration.
  3. Give your application a name (such as SquaredUp). Make sure the application type is set to Web app/API. Finally, enter a sign-on URL for SquaredUp. This must be unique, but is only used if someone clicks on a link to the application within Azure. If you do not wish to enter your URL here, you can put in a dummy value such as http://squaredup.local/.
  4. Click create.

C. Allow the Application to access Log Analytics data

  1. Open the Azure Active Directory resource and under the App registrations page, find your SquaredUp app, and click on it to open it's details page.
  2. Take note of the Application ID as you will need it later. (This will be entered as the active directory application id on the azure log analytics provider page later).
  3. Click required permissions.
  4. On the required permissions page, click add.
  5. On the Add API Access wizard, select the Service Principal you created in the first section of these instructions (i.e. Log Analytics API).
  6. Next, in step 2 of the wizard, ensure that Read Log Analytics data as user is checked under Delegated Permissions. Click Select and then complete the add API access process by clicking Done.
  7. The last step to get your AAD application configured is to create an API access key. Back in the Settings page for our AD Application, click on Keys. Give your key a name and an expiry date and press Save. Your API Key will be generated and displayed - make sure to copy it down, as it cannot be retrieved once you navigate away from the page. (This will be entered as the application key on the azure log analytics provider page later).

We now have an application that will allow us to authenticate against your Azure Active Directory!

D. Grant access from your Azure AD application to Log Analytics workspaces

In this step you will allow the Azure AD application to access Log Analytics workspaces. This step will need to be repeated on each Log Analytics workspace you want to query using SquaredUp.

  1. Find your Log Analytics resource on the Azure portal.
  2. Take note of the Workspace ID as you will need it later. (This will be entered as the workspace id on the azure log analytics provider page later).
  3. Next, click on Access Control (IAM) and then Add.
  4. Set the Role to Log Analytics Reader.
  5. On the Select dropdown list click on the AAD application created earlier, and make sure it appears under Selected members.
  6. Click Save.

Walkthrough: In SquaredUp create an Azure Log Analytics provider

Now that SquaredUp has an identity within Azure Active Directory that it can use to query Log Analytics workspaces, you need to provide the details to SquaredUp. A provider defines the Log Analytics workspace that you wish to query, and the identity used for doing so (in this case, the Azure AD Application authenticates to query Log Analytics as the user who authorises the provider).

If you have multiple workspaces that you want to query, you can either create multiple providers (one per workspace) and/or create an empty Log Analytics workspace for use with the provider, and then use the additional workspaces option in each tile to query up to 10 workspaces simultaneously.

Create provider for a Log Analytics workspace

  1. Log on to SquaredUp and navigate to the right-hand menu ☰ then system and then click on the web api perspective.
  2. Click add new provider.
  3. Change the provider type to azure log analytics and type in a suitable name, e.g. LondonLogAnalytics.
  4. Enter the Log Analytics workspace ID you noted down in section D above.
  5. Enter the Azure Active Directory Tenant ID you noted down in section A above.
  6. Enter the Azure Active Directory Application ID you noted down at the beginning of section C above.
  7. Enter the application API access key you noted down at the end of section C above.
  8. Click add provider.

Add ReplyUrl to Azure AD Application and authorise provider

Once the provider is created, the final step is to authorise it within Azure AD. These credentials are sent to Azure AD and are not stored anywhere within SquaredUp.

  1. Note down the reply url listed under the newly created provider.
  2. In the Azure portal, click on the Azure Active Directory resource and under the App registrations page, find your SquaredUp app, and click on it to open it's details page.
  3. Click on Reply URLs.
  4. Add the URL from step 1 to the list of URLs and click Save.
  5. Wait a few minutes for the Azure AD to process the update, then back in SquaredUp click perform authorization under the newly created provider.

If you do not want to repeatedly add a reply URL to the application for each new provider, you can specify a wildcard when configuring the reply URL using a * (e.g. https://squaredup.local/*).

Using the Azure Log Analytics tile

For more information on how to use this tile see How to use the Azure Log Analytics tile.

Troubleshooting

Attempts to authorise the provider fail

Ensure that you have added the Reply URL to the Azure AD application, and that you have given Azure enough time to replicate the configuration (often takes several minutes).

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