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Azure Monitoring Prerequisites

Two methods are available to get metrics from Azure:

  • Azure API ('api').
  • Azure CLI ('azcli').

Centreon recommends to use Azure Monitor API instead of Azure CLI for the following reasons:

  • The API is much more efficient by avoiding CLI binary execution
  • The API supports application authentication while CLI does not (yet)

This discovery feature is only compatible with Azure Monitor API.

More information about the Host Discovery module is available in the Centreon documentation: Host Discovery

Azure API setup​

4 tokens are needed for Centreon to request Azure Monitor API:

  • subscription ID
  • tenant ID
  • client ID
  • client secret

You need to create a new application in Azure to obtain these tokens. The steps below detail how to create this application and set the right permissions to monitor Azure resources.

  • Create an Application in Azure Active Directory:
    • Log in to Azure Portal.
    • Select Azure Active Directory.
    • Go to App registrations in the sidebar on the left.
    • Click on + New registration, put the name of your application and then click on Register.
  • Add the Monitoring Reader role to your new application:
    • Go back to the Azure Portal home menu.
    • Go to Resource groups.
    • Choose the resource group containing the resources you want to monitor.
    • Click on Access Control (IAM) and + Add > Add role assignment.
    • Search for the Monitoring Reader role, select it and click Next.
    • Select your new application as a member for this role by clicking on + Select members.
    • Review and assign.

Now that the application is created, the steps below will guide you to retrieve the 4 tokens:

  • Get the subscription ID:
    • Go to Subscriptions in Azure portal.
    • Copy the Subscription ID next to the name of your subscription.
  • Get the Tenant ID:
    • Go to Azure Active Directory.
    • Go to Overview and copy the Tenant ID.
  • Get the Client ID:
    • Go to Azure Active Directory.
    • Go to App registrations in the sidebar on the left and click on your application.
    • Go to Overview and copy the Application (client) ID.
  • Get the Client secret:
    • Still in Azure Active Directory > App registrations, go to Certificates & secrets.
    • Click on + New client secret, set description as well as expiration date and Add.
    • Save the key value, it is the client secret and you won't be able to retrieve it after you leave this page.

These 4 tokens will be mandatory when using host autodiscovery and Centreon Azure based plugins.

Azure CLI setup​

These steps are not required if you can use Azure Monitor API.

Install Azure CLI on every Centreon poller expected to monitor Azure Resources:

sudo rpm --import https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc
sudo echo -e "[azure-cli]\nname=Azure CLI\nbaseurl=https://packages.microsoft.com/yumrepos/azure-cli\nenabled=1\ngpgcheck=1\ngpgkey=https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc" > /etc/yum.repos.d/azure-cli.repo
sudo yum install azure-cli-2.29.2-1.el7

Then, use the centreon-engine account to obtain a token:

su - centreon-engine
az login

The shell will output this message including an authentication code:

To sign in, use a web browser to open the page https://microsoft.com/devicelogin
and enter the code CWT4WQZAD to authenticate.*

Go to https://microsoft.com/devicelogin and enter the code, then log in with the dedicated monitoring service account.

As a result, the shell should prompt the information below:

	[
	  {
		"cloudName": "AzureCloud",
		"id": "0ef83f3a-d83e-2039-d930-309df93acd93d",
		"isDefault": true,
		"name": "N/A(tenant level account)",
		"state": "Enabled",
		"tenantId": "0ef83f3a-03cd-2039-d930-90fd39ecd048",
		"user": {
		  "name": "email@mycompany.onmicrosoft.com",
		  "type": "user"
		}
	  }
	]

Credentials are now stored locally in the accessTokens.json, Centreon Azure based plugins will be able to retrieve them.