Azure Log Analytics

This article is the reference for the Aspire Azure Log Analytics Hosting integration. It enumerates the AppHost APIs — with examples for both AppHost.cs and apphost.mts — that you use to model Azure Log Analytics workspace resources in your AppHost project.

Azure Log Analytics is a tool in Azure Monitor that allows you to edit and run log queries against data in Azure Monitor Logs. The Aspire Azure Log Analytics integration enables you to provision Log Analytics workspaces for centralized logging and monitoring.

Installation

To start building an Aspire app that uses Azure Log Analytics, install the 📦 Aspire.Hosting.Azure.OperationalInsights NuGet package:

C#

Terminal

aspire add azure-operational-insights

Learn more about aspire add in the command reference.

Or, choose a manual installation approach:

C# — AppHost.cs

#:package Aspire.Hosting.Azure.OperationalInsights@*

XML — AppHost.csproj

<PackageReference Include="Aspire.Hosting.Azure.OperationalInsights" Version="*" />

TypeScript

Terminal

aspire add azure-operational-insights

Learn more about aspire add in the command reference.

This updates your aspire.config.json with the Azure Log Analytics hosting integration package:

aspire.config.json

{
  "packages": {
    "Aspire.Hosting.Azure.OperationalInsights": "13.3.0"
  }
}

Add Azure Log Analytics workspace resource

The Aspire Azure Log Analytics hosting integration models the Log Analytics workspace as the AzureLogAnalyticsWorkspaceResource type. To add a Log Analytics workspace resource to your app host, call AddAzureLogAnalyticsWorkspace (or addAzureLogAnalyticsWorkspace):

C#

C# — AppHost.cs

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

var logAnalytics = builder.AddAzureLogAnalyticsWorkspace("log-analytics");

// After adding all resources, run the app...
builder.Build().Run();

TypeScript

TypeScript — apphost.mts

import { createBuilder } from './.aspire/modules/aspire.mjs';

const builder = await createBuilder();

const logAnalytics = await builder.addAzureLogAnalyticsWorkspace("log-analytics");

// After adding all resources, run the app...
await builder.build().run();

The preceding code adds an Azure Log Analytics workspace resource named log-analytics to the application model.

Caution

When you call AddAzureLogAnalyticsWorkspace (or addAzureLogAnalyticsWorkspace), it implicitly calls AddAzureProvisioning—which adds support for generating Azure resources dynamically during app startup. The app must configure the appropriate subscription and location. For more information, see Local provisioning: Configuration.

Use with Application Insights

A common pattern is to use a Log Analytics workspace with Application Insights for centralized telemetry collection. You can link an Application Insights resource to a Log Analytics workspace:

C#

C# — AppHost.cs

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

var logAnalytics = builder.AddAzureLogAnalyticsWorkspace("log-analytics");
var appInsights = builder.AddAzureApplicationInsights("app-insights", logAnalytics);

builder.AddProject<Projects.ExampleProject>()
.WithReference(appInsights);

// After adding all resources, run the app...
builder.Build().Run();

TypeScript

TypeScript — apphost.mts

import { createBuilder } from './.aspire/modules/aspire.mjs';

const builder = await createBuilder();

const logAnalytics =
  await builder.addAzureLogAnalyticsWorkspace('log-analytics');
const appInsights = await builder.addAzureApplicationInsights('app-insights');
await appInsights.withLogAnalyticsWorkspace(logAnalytics);

const api = await builder.addNodeApp('api', './api', 'index.js');
await api.withReference(appInsights);

await builder.build().run();

The preceding code:

• Adds an Azure Log Analytics workspace resource named log-analytics.
• Adds an Azure Application Insights resource named app-insights that uses the Log Analytics workspace for log storage.
• References the Application Insights resource in the consuming project.

For more information, see Azure Application Insights integration.

Connection properties

The Azure Log Analytics workspace resource exposes the following connection property:

Property name	Description
logAnalyticsWorkspaceId	The resource ID of the Log Analytics workspace.

Provisioning-generated Bicep

If you’re new to Bicep, it’s a domain-specific language for defining Azure resources. With Aspire, you don’t need to write Bicep by-hand—the provisioning APIs generate Bicep for you. When you publish your app, the generated Bicep is output alongside the manifest file. When you add an Azure Log Analytics workspace resource, the following Bicep is generated:

Generated Bicep — log-analytics.bicep

@description('The location for the resource(s) to be deployed.')
param location string = resourceGroup().location

resource log_analytics 'Microsoft.OperationalInsights/workspaces@2023-09-01' = {
  name: take('log-analytics-${uniqueString(resourceGroup().id)}', 63)
  location: location
  properties: {
    sku: {
      name: 'PerGB2018'
    }
  }
  tags: {
    'aspire-resource-name': 'log-analytics'
  }
}

output logAnalyticsWorkspaceId string = log_analytics.id

The preceding Bicep provisions an Azure Log Analytics workspace with the pay-per-GB pricing tier.

The generated Bicep is a starting point and is influenced by changes to the provisioning infrastructure in C#. Customizations to the Bicep file directly will be overwritten, so make changes through the C# provisioning APIs to ensure they are reflected in the generated files.

Customize provisioning infrastructure

All Aspire Azure resources are subclasses of the AzureProvisioningResource type. This type enables the customization of the generated Bicep by providing a fluent API to configure the Azure resources using the ConfigureInfrastructure API. For example, you can configure the SKU, retention period, and more. The following example demonstrates how to customize the Azure Log Analytics workspace:

C# — AppHost.cs

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

var logAnalytics = builder.AddAzureLogAnalyticsWorkspace("log-analytics")
    .ConfigureInfrastructure(infra =>
    {
        var workspace = infra.GetProvisionableResources()
            .OfType<OperationalInsightsWorkspace>()
            .Single();

        workspace.Sku = new OperationalInsightsWorkspaceSku(
            OperationalInsightsWorkspaceSkuName.PerGB2018);
        workspace.RetentionInDays = 90;
        workspace.Tags.Add("environment", "production");
    });

var appInsights = builder.AddAzureApplicationInsights("app-insights", logAnalytics);

Note

TypeScript AppHosts can use curated provisioning helper APIs when an integration exposes them. This example directly customizes Azure.Provisioning objects through ConfigureInfrastructure, which is currently C#-only unless the integration wraps the scenario in a polyglot-friendly helper.

The preceding code:

• Chains a call to the ConfigureInfrastructure API:
  • The infra parameter is an instance of the AzureResourceInfrastructure type.
  • The provisionable resources are retrieved by calling GetProvisionableResources.
  • The OperationalInsightsWorkspace is configured with 90-day retention and a custom tag.

For more information, see Customize Azure resources. For the full list of configurable properties, see the Azure.Provisioning.OperationalInsights API documentation.

Client integration

Note

The Azure Log Analytics hosting integration does not include a corresponding client integration package. Use the Azure Monitor Query client library to query logs programmatically.

See also

• Azure Monitor Logs overview
• Log Analytics workspace overview
• Azure Application Insights integration
• Azure integration overview