Azure VM Insights OpenTelemetry (Preview)

In this video, I walk through the new Azure VM Insights with OpenTelemetry (Preview) and explain how it modernizes guest OS monitoring for Azure virtual machines.

You’ll learn what’s new compared to the classic VM Insights experience, how Azure Monitor Workspace fits into the architecture, and how to customize metrics collection and alerts using PromQL.

🔹 Topics covered in this video:

What is Azure VM Insights OpenTelemetry (Preview)
Key differences and benefits over legacy VM Insights
Prerequisites and supported scenarios
What is an Azure Monitor Workspace and why it’s required
Step-by-step guide to enable VM Insights (OTel)
How to add additional/custom guest OS metrics
Understanding OpenTelemetry metric naming and behavior
How to configure low disk space alerts using PromQL
Real-world example: alert when disk usage exceeds 80%

🔹 Why this matters:

Azure is moving towards OpenTelemetry as the standard observability framework. Learning this now helps you:

Prepare for future Azure Monitor changes
Build scalable, workspace-based monitoring
Use PromQL for advanced metrics alerting

📌 This video is ideal for:

Azure Administrators
Cloud & Platform Engineers
Azure Architects

Anyone exploring OpenTelemetry in Azure

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