Create Azure Advisor alerts on new recommendations using the Azure portal

This article shows you how to set up an alert for new recommendations from Azure Advisor using the Azure portal.

Whenever Azure Advisor detects a new recommendation for one of your resources, an event is stored in Azure Activity log. You can set up alerts for these events from Azure Advisor using a recommendation-specific alerts creation experience. You can select a subscription and optionally a resource group to specify the resources that you want to receive alerts on.

You can also determine the types of recommendations by using these properties:

  • Category
  • Impact level
  • Recommendation type

You can also configure the action that will take place when an alert is triggered by:

  • Selecting an existing action group
  • Creating a new action group

To learn more about action groups, see Create and manage action groups.

Note

Advisor alerts are currently only available for High Availability, Performance, and Cost recommendations. Security recommendations are not supported.

Create alert rule

  1. In the portal, select Azure Advisor.

    Azure Advisor in portal

  2. In the Monitoring section of the left menu, select Alerts.

    Alerts in Advisor

  3. Select New Advisor Alert.

    New Advisor alert

  4. In the Scope section, select the subscription and optionally the resource group that you want to be alerted on.

    Advisor alert scope

  5. In the Condition section, select the method you want to use for configuring your alert. If you want to alert for all recommendations for a certain category and/or impact level, select Category and impact level. If you want to alert for all recommendations of a certain type, select Recommendation type.

    Azure Advisor alert condition

  6. Depending on the Configure by option that you select, you will be able to specify the criteria. If you want all recommendations, just leave the remaining fields blank.

    Advisor alert action group

  7. In the action groups section, select Add existing to use an action group you already created or select Create new to set up a new action group.

    Advisor alert add existing

  8. In the Alert details section, give your alert a name and short description. If you want your alert to be enabled, leave Enable rule upon creation selection set to Yes. Then select the resource group to save your alert to. This will not impact the targeting scope of the recommendation.

    Screenshot of the Alert details section.

Configure recommendation alerts to use a webhook

This section shows you how to configure Azure Advisor alerts to send recommendation data through webhooks to your existing systems.

You can set up alerts to be notified when you have a new Advisor recommendation on one of your resources. These alerts can notify you through email or text message, but they can also be used to integrate with your existing systems through a webhook.

Using the Advisor recommendation alert payload

If you want to integrate Advisor alerts into your own systems using a webhook, you will need to parse the JSON payload that is sent from the notification.

When you set up your action group for this alert, you select if you would like to use the common alert schema. If you select the common alert schema, your payload will look like:

{  
   "schemaId":"azureMonitorCommonAlertSchema",
   "data":{  
      "essentials":{  
         "alertId":"/subscriptions/<subid>/providers/Microsoft.AlertsManagement/alerts/<alerted>",
         "alertRule":"Webhhook-test",
         "severity":"Sev4",
         "signalType":"Activity Log",
         "monitorCondition":"Fired",
         "monitoringService":"Activity Log - Recommendation",
         "alertTargetIDs":[  
            "/subscriptions/<subid>/resourcegroups/<resource group name>/providers/microsoft.dbformariadb/servers/<resource name>"
         ],
         "originAlertId":"001d8b40-5d41-4310-afd7-d65c9d4428ed",
         "firedDateTime":"2019-07-17T23:00:57.3858656Z",
         "description":"A new recommendation is available.",
         "essentialsVersion":"1.0",
         "alertContextVersion":"1.0"
      },
      "alertContext":{  
         "channels":"Operation",
         "claims":"{\"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/emailaddress\":\"Microsoft.Advisor\"}",
         "caller":"Microsoft.Advisor",
         "correlationId":"8554b847-2a72-48ef-9776-600aca3c3aab",
         "eventSource":"Recommendation",
         "eventTimestamp":"2019-07-17T22:28:54.1566942+00:00",
         "httpRequest":"{\"clientIpAddress\":\"0.0.0.0\"}",
         "eventDataId":"001d8b40-5d41-4310-afd7-d65c9d4428ed",
         "level":"Informational",
         "operationName":"Microsoft.Advisor/recommendations/available/action",
         "properties":{  
            "recommendationSchemaVersion":"1.0",
            "recommendationCategory":"Performance",
            "recommendationImpact":"Medium",
            "recommendationName":"Increase the MariaDB server vCores",
            "recommendationResourceLink":"https://portal.azure.com/#blade/Microsoft_Azure_Expert/RecommendationListBlade/source/ActivityLog/recommendationTypeId/a5f888e3-8cf4-4491-b2ba-b120e14eb7ce/resourceId/%2Fsubscriptions%<subscription id>%2FresourceGroups%2<resource group name>%2Fproviders%2FMicrosoft.DBforMariaDB%2Fservers%2F<resource name>",
            "recommendationType":"a5f888e3-8cf4-4491-b2ba-b120e14eb7ce"
         },
         "status":"Active",
         "subStatus":"",
         "submissionTimestamp":"2019-07-17T22:28:54.1566942+00:00"
      }
   }
}

If you do not use the common schema, your payload looks like the following:

{  
   "schemaId":"Microsoft.Insights/activityLogs",
   "data":{  
      "status":"Activated",
      "context":{  
         "activityLog":{  
            "channels":"Operation",
            "claims":"{\"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/emailaddress\":\"Microsoft.Advisor\"}",
            "caller":"Microsoft.Advisor",
            "correlationId":"3ea7320f-c002-4062-adb8-96d3bd92a5f4",
            "description":"A new recommendation is available.",
            "eventSource":"Recommendation",
            "eventTimestamp":"2019-07-17T20:36:39.3966926+00:00",
            "httpRequest":"{\"clientIpAddress\":\"0.0.0.0\"}",
            "eventDataId":"a12b8e59-0b1d-4003-bfdc-3d8152922e59",
            "level":"Informational",
            "operationName":"Microsoft.Advisor/recommendations/available/action",
            "properties":{  
               "recommendationSchemaVersion":"1.0",
               "recommendationCategory":"Performance",
               "recommendationImpact":"Medium",
               "recommendationName":"Increase the MariaDB server vCores",
               "recommendationResourceLink":"https://portal.azure.com/#blade/Microsoft_Azure_Expert/RecommendationListBlade/source/ActivityLog/recommendationTypeId/a5f888e3-8cf4-4491-b2ba-b120e14eb7ce/resourceId/%2Fsubscriptions%2F<subscription id>%2FresourceGroups%2F<resource group name>%2Fproviders%2FMicrosoft.DBforMariaDB%2Fservers%2F<resource name>",
               "recommendationType":"a5f888e3-8cf4-4491-b2ba-b120e14eb7ce"
            },
            "resourceId":"/subscriptions/<subscription id>/resourcegroups/<resource group name>/providers/microsoft.dbformariadb/servers/<resource name>",
            "resourceGroupName":"<resource group name>",
            "resourceProviderName":"MICROSOFT.DBFORMARIADB",
            "status":"Active",
            "subStatus":"",
            "subscriptionId":"<subscription id>",
            "submissionTimestamp":"2019-07-17T20:36:39.3966926+00:00",
            "resourceType":"MICROSOFT.DBFORMARIADB/SERVERS"
         }
      },
      "properties":{  
 
      }
   }
}

In either schema, you can identify Advisor recommendation events by looking for eventSource is Recommendation and operationName is Microsoft.Advisor/recommendations/available/action.

Some of the other important fields that you may want to use are:

  • alertTargetIDs (in the common schema) or resourceId (legacy schema)
  • recommendationType
  • recommendationName
  • recommendationCategory
  • recommendationImpact
  • recommendationResourceLink

Manage your alerts

From Azure Advisor, you can edit, delete, or disable and enable your recommendations alerts.

  1. In the portal, select Azure Advisor.

    Screenshot of the Azure portal menu showing Azure Advisor selected.

  2. In the Monitoring section of the left menu, select Alerts.

    Screenshot of the Azure portal menu showing Alerts selected.

  3. To edit an alert, click on the Alert name to open the alert and edit the fields you want to edit.

  4. To delete, enable, or disable an alert, click on the ellipse at the end of the row and then select the action you would like to take.

Next steps