Azure Monitor Agent and Data Collection Rules now generally available

The new generally available Azure Monitor Agent (AMA) together with the Data Collection Rules (DCR) improve on key areas of data collection including granular and flexible configuration (e.g. collect from a subset of VMs for a single workspace), collect once and send to both Log Analytics (multi-homing) and Azure Monitor Metrics, data filtration at source, improved extension management, and better performance overall.   

DCRs make this simple by letting you define rules defining what data to collect and where it should be sent to. It’s agnostic of the data source or destination, making it independent of either and thus flexible enough to configure granular and targeted data collection, just the way you need to!  

Here’s what’s now generally available:

• All existing features, capabilities and support that were available in preview except for below: 
  • Using Azure Monitor Metrics as destination is not GA, and continues to be in preview. 
  • You can still collect metrics data and send it to Log Analytics workspaces (where it gets stored as logs). This is generally available. 
• New features: 
  • Production quality, security and compliance as expected of generally available features of Azure Monitor. 
  • Availability in all public regions where Azure Monitor is supported. 
  • Performance and scale improvements to support higher EPS (events per second) uploads. 
• Coming next: Support for direct proxy and private link networking support, to use these features in your existing networking setup

Start using the new agent and data collection capabilities in your production infrastructure to get immediate benefits like easier management and cost reduction and get started early on gaining long-term benefits as you transition over to the NorthStar of data collection.

Learn more:

• Latest blog on demystifying AMA and DCR
• Should I switch to Azure Monitor agent? 
• AMA Teams Community