Manage Azure Application Insights Resources

Azure.ResourceManager.ApplicationInsights is the Azure Resource Manager SDK for managing Application Insights resources for application performance monitoring, authenticating through an ArmClient with DefaultAzureCredential. Resources nest as subscription > resource group > ApplicationInsightsComponent, with API keys, linked storage accounts, web tests, and workbooks hanging off the component.

Creating a component (workspace-based is the current recommended kind) sets the application type, the Log Analytics workspace resource ID, ingestion mode, public network access for ingestion and query, retention in days, sampling percentage, IP masking, and 30-day immediate-purge behavior; the created resource exposes its instrumentation key and connection string. A separate API key can be minted with linked read-scope paths (for the telemetry API and agent config), and its key value is shown only once. Availability monitoring covers URL ping tests (a single request checked from multiple geographic test locations on a configurable frequency and timeout) and multi-step tests (a full XML web-test definition chaining multiple HTTP requests, such as a login flow posting credentials after loading a page). Workbooks hold a JSON-serialized dashboard definition - text blocks plus KQL query panels rendered as charts - source-linked to the component. A linked storage account can be attached for exports like the Service Profiler. Components, web tests, and workbooks can all be listed, updated via a full-data PUT (e.g. changing retention or sampling on an existing component), and deleted.

Supported application types are Web, iOS, Java, NodeJS, .NET (MRT), and Other. Web tests can run from a dozen named global locations spanning the US, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Australia. Errors surface as a typed RequestFailedException you can branch on by HTTP status - 409 for an already-existing component, 400 for invalid configuration.

Use it when you need to provision or manage Application Insights infrastructure itself - components, API keys, availability tests, workbooks, storage links - as infrastructure-as-code, rather than to send telemetry from your application. Telemetry emission is a separate concern handled by the Microsoft.ApplicationInsights SDK (or its ASP.NET Core integration, or the Azure.Monitor.OpenTelemetry.Exporter), configured with the connection string this management SDK produces - don't reach for this package just to instrument your app's code.

Input is the resource configuration (component settings, web-test definition, workbook JSON, or storage-account link). Output is the created/updated ARM resource and its properties - notably the connection string and instrumentation key used to wire up telemetry elsewhere. Install it with:

dotnet add package Azure.ResourceManager.ApplicationInsights
dotnet add package Azure.Identity

Its own best practices: prefer workspace-based components linked to Log Analytics, set retention and sampling to balance cost against data availability, store the connection string in Key Vault or via managed identity rather than in code, enable multiple web-test locations for accurate availability signal, use workbooks for custom dashboards, set up alerts on availability and metrics, tag resources for cost allocation, and use private endpoints for secure ingestion.

It targets the Application Insights resource provider (API version 2022-06-15) and Log Analytics workspaces for ingestion, and hands off its connection string to the separate Microsoft.ApplicationInsights, Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.AspNetCore, or Azure.Monitor.OpenTelemetry.Exporter packages for actual telemetry collection.

.NET infrastructure and platform engineers provisioning and managing Application Insights resources - components, availability tests, workbooks, and API keys - as part of infrastructure automation, distinct from application developers instrumenting code with the telemetry SDK.