Enable the .NET Profiler for Azure App Service apps in Linux

Using Application Insights Profiler for .NET, you can track how much time is spent in each method of your live ASP.NET Core web apps that are hosted in Linux on Azure App Service. This article focuses on web apps hosted in Linux. You can also experiment by using Windows and Mac development environments.

In this article, you:

Set up an ASP.NET Core web application hosted on Linux on your local computer.
Create an App Service using the Azure portal.
Deploy your local ASP.NET Core project to Azure using local Git.
Add the Profiler to the ASP.NET Core web application.

Note

Review the Application Insights SDK support guidance for our Classic API SDK support policy.

Caution

We recommend the Azure Monitor OpenTelemetry Distro for new applications or customers to power Azure Monitor Application Insights. The Azure Monitor OpenTelemetry Distro delivers a similar functionality and experience as the Application Insights SDK. It's possible to migrate from the Application Insights SDK using the migration guides for .NET, Node.js, and Python, but we are still working to add a few more features for backwards compatibility.

Install the latest .NET Core SDK.
Install Git by following the instructions at Getting started: Installing Git.
Review the Enable Azure Monitor Profiler for an ASP.NET Core Web API sample for context.

Set up the project locally

Open a command prompt window on your machine.
Create an ASP.NET Core MVC web application:
```
dotnet new mvc -n LinuxProfilerTest
```
Change the working directory to the root folder for the project.

Add the NuGet packages to collect the Profiler traces:

OpenTelemetry Profiler
Application Insights SDK (legacy)

dotnet add package Azure.Monitor.OpenTelemetry.AspNetCore --prerelease
dotnet add package Azure.Monitor.OpenTelemetry.Profiler --prerelease

dotnet add package Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.Profiler.AspNetCore

Enable the .NET Profiler

OpenTelemetry Profiler
Application Insights SDK (legacy)

In your preferred code editor, verify the two packages for the Azure Monitor OpenTelemetry Profiler for .NET were added to Program.cs. Add custom Profiler settings, if applicable.

In your project's .csproj file, verify the following lines have been added:

<ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Azure.Monitor.OpenTelemetry.AspNetCore" Version="[1.*-*, 2.0.0)" />
    <PackageReference Include="Azure.Monitor.OpenTelemetry.Profiler" Version="[1.*-*, 2.0.0)" />
</ItemGroup>

In your Program.cs file, verify the following lines have been added:

using Azure.Monitor.OpenTelemetry.AspNetCore;
using Azure.Monitor.OpenTelemetry.Profiler;

///

builder.Services.AddOpenTelemetry()
    .UseAzureMonitor()          // Enable Azure Monitor OpenTelemetry distro for ASP.NET Core
    .AddAzureMonitorProfiler(); // Add Azure Monitor Profiler

Save and commit your changes to the local repository:
```
git init
git add .
git commit -m "first commit"
```

In your preferred code editor, verify Application Insights and the .NET Profiler have been added using the SDK in Program.cs. Add custom Profiler settings, if applicable.

For WebAPI

// Add services to the container.
builder.Services.AddApplicationInsightsTelemetry();
builder.Services.AddServiceProfiler();

For Worker

IHost host = Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
    .ConfigureServices(services =>
    {
        services.AddApplicationInsightsTelemetryWorkerService();
        services.AddServiceProfiler();

        // Assuming Worker is your background service class.
        services.AddHostedService<Worker>();
    })
    .Build();

await host.RunAsync();

Save and commit your changes to the local repository:
```
git init
git add .
git commit -m "first commit"
```

Create the Linux web app to host your project

In the Azure portal, create a web app environment by using App Service on Linux.
Go to your new web app resource and select Deployment Center > FTPS credentials to create the deployment credentials. Make a note of your credentials to use later.
Select Save.
Select the Settings tab.
In the dropdown, select Local Git to set up a local Git repository in the web app.
Select Save to create a Git repository with a Git clone URI.

Deploy your project

While you can deploy code to Azure App Service a variety of ways, the simplest way is deploy via local Git. Learn more about how to deploy from a Git repository to Azure.

In your command prompt window, browse to the root folder for your project. Add a Git remote repository to point to the repository on App Service:
```
git remote add azure https://<username>@<app_name>.scm.chinacloudsites.cn:443/<app_name>.git
```
- Use the username that you used to create the deployment credentials.
- Use the app name that you used to create the web app by using App Service on Linux.
Deploy the project by pushing the changes to Azure:
```
git push azure main
```

Add Application Insights to monitor your web app

You can enable Application Insights while creating an App Service, which sets the connection string automatically.

OpenTelemetry Profiler
Application Insights SDK (legacy)

Copy and paste your connection string from your Application Insights resource to monitor your web app.

You have three options to add Application Insights to your web app. Expand the option you want to use.

Application Insights pane

In your web app on the Azure portal, select Application Insights on the left pane.
Select Turn on Application Insights.
Under Application Insights, select Enable.
Under Link to an Application Insights resource, either create a new resource or select an existing resource. For this example, we create a new resource.
Select Apply > Yes to apply and confirm.

Environment variables pane

Create an Application Insights resource in the same Azure subscription as your App Service instance.
Go to the Application Insights resource.
Copy the Connection String.
In your web app in the Azure portal, select Environment variables on the left pane, then Add.
Add your connection string as a new setting in the Add/Edit application setting pane:

Name Value

APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_CONNECTION_STRING [YOUR_CONNECTION_STRING]
Select OK.
Select Save.

Name	Value
APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_CONNECTION_STRING	[YOUR_CONNECTION_STRING]

Web app settings (appsettings.json)

Create an Application Insights resource in the same Azure subscription as your App Service instance.
Go to the Application Insights resource.
Copy the Connection String.
In your preferred code editor, go to your ASP.NET Core project's appsettings.json file.

Add the following code and paste your connection string:

"ApplicationInsights":
{
  "ConnectionString": "<your-connection-string>"
}

Save appsettings.json to apply the settings change.

Troubleshooting

OpenTelemetry Profiler
Application Insights SDK (legacy)

If you are unable to find traces from your app, consider following the steps in this troubleshooting guide.

Next steps

Generate load and view the .NET Profiler traces

Last updated on 2026-03-20