How to Manage Network Monitoring & Database Connections in Azure

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If you’re trying to fix connectivity issues between your Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster and an on-premises database, you need to understand the limitations of some common tools before you start troubleshooting. One popular tool, Azure Network Watcher, is often used for network monitoring. However, it isn’t built to directly monitor network errors happening between your AKS pods and your on-premises database.

Network Watcher mainly works at the virtual network level within Azure. It can provide visibility into the network traffic at the virtual machine or virtual machine scale set (VMSS) network interface card (NIC) level. But it doesn’t go down to the pod level or offer application-specific details. This means it can be helpful for understanding basic network connectivity and policy enforcement between Azure resources, but it can’t diagnose more detailed, end-to-end connection problems, like whether an individual AKS pod can reach your on-premises database.

So, what tools can you use for better insight? Here are some options:

First, consider using Azure Monitor Managed Service for Prometheus. This tool helps track application-level metrics, such as connection retries, timeouts, and failures. It combines data from your workload with cluster-level metrics, offering a clearer picture of where problems might be occurring in your application’s network connections.

Second, Container Network Observability is useful for collecting network metrics at the pod and node level within AKS. If your cluster is experiencing slowdowns or packet loss, this can help you spot where the degradation is happening.

Third, Container Insights offers overall operational visibility, helping you identify if issues are caused by node pressure, frequent pod restarts, or other cluster health problems that may interfere with network connectivity.

Finally, while Azure Network Watcher isn’t designed for end-to-end connection troubleshooting, it can still support your investigation in specific ways. For example, NSG Flow Logs allow you to see if traffic from your AKS nodes is being allowed or blocked. Connection Monitor can also check if your AKS nodes can reach your on-premises endpoints, providing more clues.

Using a combination of these tools gives you a more complete view and helps you pinpoint where the connectivity issues lie. Remember, no single tool does everything, so integrating data from various sources is your best bet for effective troubleshooting.