BiteDowntown3294 shares actionable tips for effective Azure Application Insights logging in .NET, discussing practical configurations, resource links, and the benefits of OpenTelemetry and data sampling.

Best Practices and Resources for Azure Application Insights Logging with .NET

Author: BiteDowntown3294

If you’re working with Azure Application Insights along with ILogger in your .NET projects and want to optimize your logging and telemetry strategies, here are some key recommendations and resources from the community:

Logging and Telemetry Tips

  • Log Selectively: Only log custom details when they’re likely to help with troubleshooting. Over-logging increases cost and noise.
  • Sampling: Carefully set your logging sample rate to balance cost and diagnostic usefulness. Downsample less useful info and upsample important signals. Proper sampling is especially crucial at scale.
  • Data Retention: Data storage costs the same, so consider keeping data for the maximum period (e.g., 6 months), maximizing access to historical insights.
  • Custom Metrics: Utilize custom metrics to track the specific aspects of your application’s workflow.
  • Cost Awareness: Application Insights can be costly compared to other services (e.g., Datadog). Log with intent; define clear goals to avoid unnecessary expense.
  • Daily Ingestion Limits: Always set daily data ingestion limits to help manage costs and avoid surprises.

Leveraging OpenTelemetry

  • Industry Standard: OpenTelemetry is now the standard for logs, metrics, and traces in .NET.
  • SDK Choices: The Azure Monitor SDK is built on OpenTelemetry, which provides deep integration with Application Insights. You can use the standard OpenTelemetry SDK or Microsoft’s for easier setup with Application Insights.
  • Distributed Applications: Tools like Aspire dashboard offer first-class support for OpenTelemetry and are especially useful in distributed systems.
  • Auto-Instrumentation: Both OpenTelemetry and Azure Monitor SDKs provide solid auto-instrumentation with good defaults. Review generated logs and add custom hooks only where gaps exist.

Final Advice

  • Start by reviewing what logs and telemetry are enabled by default in your SDK.
  • Plug custom logging only where it truly adds diagnostic or operational value.
  • Take time to understand and configure sampling and retention settings from the start.
  • Stay up-to-date as Microsoft’s tooling, especially around Aspire and OpenTelemetry, is evolving quickly.

By following the above strategies and diving into these resources, you can achieve effective, cost-conscious telemetry and logging with Application Insights in your .NET projects.

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