Microsoft Azure Cognitive Search (formerly Microsoft Azure Search Service) is an AI-powered cloud search service for mobile and web app development that enriches all types of information to easily identify and explore relevant content.



This step-by-step guide explains how to setup and monitor Azure Cognitive Search using CloudMonix.



In this article


1. Monitoring setup

2. Collect, understand and use your data

    2.1 Metrics

    2.2 Alerts

    2.3 Actions

3. Setup verification and troubleshooting



Did you know?

CloudMonix extends native Azure Cognitive Search monitoring with advanced metrics and features. Noteworthy:

  • CloudMonix receives data from the Azure Management API and Azure Monitor API
  • pre-configured metrics: indexer statuses, indexes statistics, queries per second, search latency, throttled queries and resource status
  • alerts on indexers not running and resource outages




Setup


a. Run the Setup Wizard in the portal (preferred way):


CloudMonix setup wizard

This article explains how to add resources to CloudMonix via the Setup Wizard.




b. Tweak settings in the Definition tab (optional):


Definition tab for an existing resource can be accessed by clicking the resource's monitoring settings in the performance dashboard:


Resource monitoring settings



Definition tab provides optional settings for the resource name, Azure resource group, Azure management token, Azure resource name, configuration template and categories:



Definition settings



Best Practices

Configuration Template setting provides pre-defined configuration templates available in CloudMonix by default as well as previously stored custom templates. See predefined templates for Azure Cognitive Search for reference.




c. Manual setup (optional instead of the Setup Wizard route):



Click the Add New button in the top right corner of your dashboard:


Add new resource


Fill in required information in the Definition tab as described in the previous step.




d. Advanced configuration:


Advanced configuration


Advanced configuration tab provides additional monitoring settings, which are already set as default for most use-cases.




Collect, understand and use your data


Specific Metrics, Templates, Alerts and Automation Actions for Azure Cognitive Search:


Azure Cognitive Search Settings




a. Metrics:


Diagnostic data points retrieved from the monitored resource are referred to as metrics . CloudMonix provides default templates for the metrics recommended for common configurations. Metrics can be further added, removed or customized in the Metrics tab of the Azure Cognitive Search resource configuration dialog:


CloudMonix Azure Cognitive Search monitoring metrics




b. Alerts:


CloudMonix features a sophisticated alert engine that allows alerts to be published for very particular conditions pre-defined by a template configuration or custom based on any of the available metrics. Alerts can be further added, removed or customized in the Alerts tab of the Azure Cognitive Search resource configuration dialog:


CloudMonix alerts for Azure Cognitive Search




c. Actions:


Actions are automation features that can be configured to fire based on specific conditions or schedule. Actions can be added and configured in the Actions tab of the Azure Cognitive Search resource configuration dialog:


Automation allows executing actions on specified conditions. While Azure Cognitive Search resource itself doesn't support any actions on its own, CloudMonix provides the possibility to execute calls to custom API endpoints as well as execute Azure Functions, Runbooks and WebJobs on other resources.



CloudMonix Azure Cognitive Search automation





Setup verification and troubleshooting


a. Setup verification:


Successful resource setup can be verified by clicking Test button in the resource configuration dialog and visiting the Test Results tab:


Monitoring setup test results




b. Troubleshooting monitoring issues:


CloudMonix provides deep insights into resource monitoring issues via the Status Dashboard screen. The screen allows to overview resources that have raised alerts and troubleshoot them by diving into the monitoring logs.


Status dashboard


Read the full article on how to use Status Dashboard to diagnose resource monitoring issues.