After initial signup or at any time later, running through the Setup Wizard is a very convenient way to configure monitoring for new resources, especially when adding many resources at once.


You can find the Setup Wizard button in the upper menu. The Setup Wizard also runs automatically when the user logs into their Netreo Essentials account if that account has not yet been configured.




After the Wizard opens, select the “Setup for Microsoft Azure” option. You will then be presented with multiple authorization options.


Step 1: Select an authorization method


First, determine which API you need to authorize through: ARM or Classic. This depends on the API through which your resources were deployed. Certain resources can only be monitored through the ARM API. Other resources, such as Virtual Machines, can be monitored through either API. If you are not sure, verify which method should be used by reading this article.

This is also a good time for you to understand the security precautions taken by Netreo Essentials to store your credential information.



Step 2: Authorization (ARM)


 


In order to authorize Netreo Essentials to see ARM resources, you must specify the Azure tenant and grant Netreo Essentials access. Learn more about how to find your Azure tenant here.


Provide the Azure tenant name, then click the Authorize button. In the newly opened browser window log into the Azure Portal and click the Accept button to grant Netreo Essentials access to your subscription. The Azure account used for authorization should be an Active Directory account with administrative privileges (or be allowed to create Service Principals) and have Owner or Contributor permissions in the target Azure subscription. Even if the user account is a Global Administrator, it cannot be a Live ID account and must be an Azure AD user account.


Netreo Essentials does not retain knowledge of your Azure username or password, but instead uses it to instrument its own access via the creation of a Service Principal based on its own Azure AD Application.


After authorization completes, Netreo Essentials will register a new Service Principal named Netreo Essentials under the Applications section of the Active Directory blade. After the Azure Subscription is selected in the Setup Wizard, the Service Principal will be granted the Contributor role. If needed, you can later downgrade Contributor to Reader level. However, there a number of implications if this is done. Learn more here.




After completion of the Setup Wizard, Netreo Essentials will be able to access your Azure Subscription through the Service Principal it has created.


Step 2: Authorization (Classic)


To authorize Netreo Essentials to see Classic resources you can choose one of three options:


Option 1

Request Netreo Essentials to generate a publish settings file for you and then upload it.


To generate a publish settings file, simply select the appropriate option in Step 1 and click the link labeled “Download it here.” That will automatically download a file that you can then upload after selecting the “Browse” button in the bottom-right corner.



Option2

Request Netreo Essentials to generate a management certificate for you and then upload it.


To allow Netreo Essentials to generate a management certificate, you need to provide your subscription ID.


To find your subscription ID, log into the Azure Portal and navigate to Subscriptions. Then select the subscription that Netreo Essentials should monitor and copy the Subscription ID from the Overview screen.




Then select the appropriate authorization option in Step 1, copy the Subscription ID and select the “Next” button.




Download the generated certificate by clicking the “Download public key” link.




Upload the downloaded file to the Management Certificates section in the Microsoft Azure Portal. Ensure that you’re using the Classic (old) Azure Portal, then go to Settings, open the Management Certificates tab and upload the generated file.




Go back to Netreo Essentials and continue the setup by selecting the “Next” button.


Option 3

Provide Netreo Essentials with a management certificate that you previously generated in the Azure Portal.


Generate a management certificate as described in this article, then select the appropriate option in Step 1. Provide the password and subscription ID (see above how to find Subscription ID in the Azure Portal). Then continue the setup by selecting the “Next” button.




Step 3: Select resources


Netreo Essentials automatically detects available resources and lists them. You then must select which resources should be monitored. Optionally, you may select configuration templates from the dropdown menus.



Step 4 (optional): Provide additional information


For certain resources you will be requested to provide additional information. If no additional information is required, this step will be skipped and you will progress directly to Step 5.


See the details of what information you will need to provide below:


Step 5: Confirmation and important messages


The last step of the Setup Wizard displays important warnings for the resources that were configured. It is important to understand these warnings before proceeding.


Upon completion of the wizard, navigate to the Performance Dashboard and verify that Netreo Essentials is visualizing metrics for those resources. You may need to wait for a few minutes before seeing the data.








A video explaining setup through the Classic API route is available below.