This blog post will demonstrate how to import community Azure Workbooks into your Azure environment.
Azure Workbooks is a powerful tool that allows users to create customizable reports, visualizations, and dashboards for their Azure resources, which can help them perform data analysis, debugging, and troubleshooting tasks within Azure.
In addition to writing your own workbooks, you can also use various workbooks made by people in the community or Microsoft.
To help you get started, I wrote this blog post, which explains how you can import and use such workbooks in your Azure environment.
Prerequisites
- An Azure subscription (preferably more than one if you want to follow the Enterprise-Scale architecture).
- An Azure Administrator account with the necessary RBAC roles.
Import Azure Workbooks from the Azure Portal
Logon to the portal and type in “workbooks” in the global search box in the top bar. Then select Azure Workbooks.
Click + Create.
Click + New.
Open the Advanced Editor by clicking on the </> button on the toolbar.
Delete the default JSON commands in the input field underneath the Gallery Template tab.
As the example* community Workbook, I will use the Azure Orphan Resources Workbook created by Dolev Shor and Emil Wasilewski to import it into my Azure environment.
*If you also want to use this Azure Workbook you can follow along, but you can also use any other community Workbook to import.
On the GitHub page, click on Workbook and then select the OrphanResources.workbook file (always select a .workbook or .json file to import).
Then click on the “Raw” to sanitize the code. This ensures that there are no bad characters or bad formatting.
Then select (<Ctrl + A> and copy to code (<Ctrl + C>).
Then paste the raw copied content (<Ctrl + V>) into the input field and click “Apply.”
Then save the workbook by clicking on the floppy icon.
Then click “Done Editing” to start using the imported workbook.
To manually add Tags, Rename, Delete or Share the Workbook, just go back to the Azure Workbooks page and select the Workbook.
Use imported Azure Workbooks from the Azure Portal
Once again, go to the global search box on top of the screen, and type in “monitor”. Then select Monitor.
On the Monitor Overview page, select Workbooks.
On the Workbooks Gallery page, click on Workbooks, and then click on the Workbook name of the Workbook you want to open and use.
Useful community Azure Workbooks
Below you can find a list of community Azure Workbooks I frequently implement in my own or in customer Azure environments:
- Azure Orphan Resources Workbook: https://github.com/dolevshor/azure-orphan-resources
- Azure Arc for Servers Workbook: https://github.com/microsoft/AzureMonitorCommunity/blob/master/Azure%20Services/Azure%20Arc/Workbooks/Azure%20Arc%20for%20Servers/Azure%20ARC%20for%20Servers.workbook
- Antimalware Assessment Workbook: https://github.com/microsoft/AzureMonitorCommunity/blob/17fff190f3ed350c25682c5d626a68cfb958f436/Azure%20Services/Azure%20Monitor/Workbooks/Antimalware%20Assessment.json
- PSRule Workbook: https://github.com/Azure/PSRule.Rules.Azure/blob/main/docs/setup/workbook.json
Conclusion
Azure Workbooks are a powerful tool for managing your Azure environment. These Workbooks can not only be used for data analysis but also for reporting, collaboration, and all kinds of operational tasks, like cost optimization.
I hope that by reading this blog post, you can implement and start using some of them in your own environment.
If you have any questions related to Azure Workbooks, feel free to contact me through my Twitter handle (@wmatthyssen) or just leave a comment.
About the Author
Worked in IT for over 15 years, mostly with Microsoft technologies.
Reference
Matthyssen, W., 2023, How to import and use community Azure Workbooks into your Azure environment, wmatthyssen.com, Available at: https://wmatthyssen.com/2023/05/08/how-to-import-and-use-community-azure-workbooks-into-your-azure-environment/ [Accessed on 5 July 2023]
