Documentation forSolarWinds Observability SaaS

Virtual Machines metrics

Azure Virtual Machines are image service instances that provide on-demand and scalable computing resources with usage-based pricing.

More broadly, a virtual machine behaves like a server: it is a computer within a computer that provides the user the same experience they would have on the host operating system itself. In general, virtual machines are sandboxed from the rest of the system, meaning that the software inside a virtual machine can't escape or tamper with the underlying server itself.

Each virtual machine provides its own virtual hardware including CPUs, memory, hard drives, network interfaces, and other devices. Use the Azure Resource Manager to gather metrics for this resource, then ensure your cloud platform is configured in SolarWinds Observability SaaS to collect this resource type's data. See Add an Azure cloud account.

Depending on the subscription pricing tier of your Azure account or its resources, additional metrics may be available for this entity. To collect additional Azure metrics, select the premium pricing tier when configuring your Azure namespaces.

Many of the collected metrics from Azure VM entities are displayed as widgets in SolarWinds Observability explorers; additional metrics may be collected and available in the Metrics Explorer. You can also create an alert for when an entity's metric value moves out of a specific range. See Entities in SolarWinds Observability SaaS for information about entity types in SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

The following table lists some of the metrics collected for these entities. To see the Azure VM metrics in the Metrics Explorer, type azure.vm in the search box.

MetricUnitsDescription
sw.metrics.healthscore Percent (%)

Health score. A health score provides real-time insight into the overall health and performance of your monitored entities. The health score is calculated based on anomalies detected for the entity, alerts triggered for the entity's metrics, and the status of the entity. The health score is displayed as a single numerical value that ranges from a Good (70-100) to Moderate (40-69) to Bad (0-39) distinction.

To view the health score for Azure VM and other host type entities in the Metrics Explorer, filter the sw.metrics.healthscore metric by entity_types and select host.

azure.vm.cpu.credits_consumed credits

Total number of credits consumed by the Virtual Machine

azure.vm.cpu.credits_remainingcredits

Total number of credits available to burst

azure.vm.cpu.percentagePercent (%)

The percentage of allocated compute units that are currently in use by the Virtual Machine(s)

azure.vm.disk.cache.data.read_hitPercent (%)

The number of successful read operations from the data disk cache. A higher value indicates efficient caching performance.

azure.vm.disk.cache.data.read_missPercent (%)

The number of read operations that were not found in the data disk cache, requiring retrieval from the underlying storage.

azure.vm.disk.cache.os.read_hitPercent (%)

The number of successful read operations from the OS disk cache, improving performance by reducing direct disk access.

azure.vm.disk.cache.os.read_missPercent (%)

The number of read operations that were not found in the OS disk cache, leading to additional disk access.

azure.vm.disk.data.bandwidth.consumed.percentagePercent (%)

The percentage of allocated bandwidth consumed by data disk operations. A high percentage may suggest bandwidth saturation.

azure.vm.disk.data.iops.consumed.percentagePercent (%)

The percentage of allocated IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) consumed by data disk operations. A high percentage may indicate performance bottlenecks.

azure.vm.disk.data.max.burst.bandwidthCount

The maximum bandwidth that a data disk can achieve when bursting is enabled. This allows temporary performance boosts beyond the provisioned limits.

azure.vm.disk.data.max.burst.iopsCount

The maximum IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) a data disk can reach during burst periods. This helps handle short-term spikes in workload demand.

azure.vm.disk.data.queue_depthCount

The number of outstanding I/O requests waiting to be processed by the data disk. A higher queue depth may indicate disk contention or performance bottlenecks.

azure.vm.disk.data.read_bytesbps

The total number of bytes read from the data disk over a given period. This metric helps monitor disk read performance and workload patterns.

azure.vm.disk.data.read_opsCount per second

The total number of read operations performed on the data disk. This metric is useful for analyzing disk activity and optimizing performance.

azure.vm.disk.data.target.bandwidthCount

The expected bandwidth allocation for a data disk based on its provisioned performance tier. This helps ensure consistent throughput for workloads.

azure.vm.disk.data.target.iopsCount

Represents the expected IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) allocation for a data disk based on its provisioned performance tier. This helps ensure consistent disk performance.

azure.vm.disk.data.used.burst.bps.credits.percentagePercent (%)The percentage of burst bandwidth credits used by a data disk. Azure premium disks allow temporary performance bursts beyond provisioned limits, and this metric helps track credit consumption.
azure.vm.disk.data.used.burst.io.credits.percentagePercent (%)The percentage of burst IOPS credits used by a data disk. This metric helps monitor how much of the available burst capacity has been consumed.
azure.vm.disk.data.write_bytes bps

The total number of bytes written to the data disk over a given period. This metric helps monitor disk write performance and workload patterns.

azure.vm.disk.data.write_opsCount per second

The total number of write operations performed on the data disk. This metric is useful for analyzing disk activity and optimizing performance.

azure.vm.disk.os.bandwidth.consumed.percentage Percent (%)

The percentage of allocated bandwidth consumed by the OS disk. A high percentage may indicate bandwidth saturation.

azure.vm.disk.os.iops.consumed.percentage Percent (%)

The percentage of allocated IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) consumed by the OS disk. A high percentage may suggest performance bottlenecks.

azure.vm.disk.os.max.burst.bandwidthCount

The maximum bandwidth that the OS disk can achieve when bursting is enabled. This allows temporary performance boosts beyond the provisioned limits.

azure.vm.disk.os.max.burst.iopsCount

The maximum IOPS the OS disk can reach during burst periods. This helps handle short-term spikes in workload demand.

azure.vm.disk.os.queue_depth Count

The number of outstanding I/O requests waiting to be processed by the OS disk. A higher queue depth may indicate disk contention or performance bottlenecks.

azure.vm.disk.os.read_bytes bps

The total number of bytes read from the OS disk over a given period. This metric helps monitor disk read performance and workload patterns.

azure.vm.disk.os.read_opsCount per second

The total number of read operations performed on the OS disk. This metric helps monitor disk activity and performance.

azure.vm.disk.os.target.bandwidth Count

The expected bandwidth allocation for the OS disk based on its provisioned performance tier. This helps ensure consistent throughput for workloads.

azure.vm.disk.os.target.iopsCount

The expected IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) allocation for the OS disk based on its provisioned performance tier. This helps maintain stable disk performance.

azure.vm.disk.os.used.burst.bps.credits.percentagePercent (%)The percentage of burst bandwidth credits used by the OS disk. Azure premium disks allow temporary performance bursts beyond provisioned limits, and this metric helps track credit consumption.
azure.vm.disk.os.used.burst.io.credits.percentagePercent (%)The percentage of burst IOPS credits used by the OS disk. This metric helps monitor how much of the available burst capacity has been consumed.
azure.vm.disk.os.write_bytesbps

The total number of bytes written to the OS disk over a given period. This metric helps monitor disk write performance and workload patterns.

azure.vm.disk.os.write_opsCount per second

The total number of write operations performed on the OS disk. This metric helps monitor disk activity and performance.

azure.vm.disk.read_bytes bytes

Bytes read from disk during monitoring period

azure.vm.disk.read_opsCount per second

Disk Read IOPS.

azure.vm.disk.write_bytesbytes

Bytes written to disk during monitoring period.

azure.vm.disk.write_opsCount per second

Disk Write IOPS.

azure.vm.memory.available_bytesbytes

The amount of physical memory, in bytes, immediately available for allocation to a process or for system use in the virtual machine.

azure.vm.network.inbytes

The number of billable bytes received on all network interfaces by the Virtual Machine(s) (Incoming Traffic).

azure.vm.network.inbound_flows Count

The number of inbound network flows to the virtual machine. This metric helps monitor network traffic and connection patterns.

azure.vm.network.inbound_flows_maximum_creation_rateCount per second

The maximum rate at which inbound network flows are created for the virtual machine. This metric helps assess network performance and connection handling.

azure.vm.network.outbytes

The total amount of outbound network traffic from the virtual machine. This metric helps monitor bandwidth usage and network performance.

azure.vm.network.outbound_flowsCount

The number of outbound network flows from the virtual machine. This metric helps monitor outgoing connections and network activity.

azure.vm.network.outbound_flows_maximum_creation_rate Count per second

The maximum rate at which outbound network flows are created for the virtual machine. This metric helps assess network performance and connection handling.

azure.vm.network.total_in bytes

The total amount of inbound network traffic received by the virtual machine. This metric helps monitor bandwidth usage and network performance.

azure.vm.network.total_outbytes

the total amount of outbound network traffic sent from the virtual machine. This metric helps monitor outgoing bandwidth usage and network efficiency.