Create monitoring alerts for Azure Files

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Azure Monitor alerts proactively notify you when important conditions are found in your monitoring data. They allow you to identify and address issues in your system before your customers notice them. You can set alerts on metrics, logs, and the activity log.

This article shows you how to create alerts on throttling, capacity, egress, and high server latency. To learn more about creating alerts, see Create or edit an alert rule.

For more information about alert types and alerts, see Monitor Azure Files.

Applies to

File share type SMB NFS
Standard file shares (GPv2), LRS/ZRS Yes No
Standard file shares (GPv2), GRS/GZRS Yes No
Premium file shares (FileStorage), LRS/ZRS Yes Yes

Metrics to use for alerts

The following table lists some example scenarios to monitor and the proper metric to use for the alert:

Tip

If you create an alert and it's too noisy, adjust the threshold value and alert logic.

Scenario Metric to use for alert
File share is throttled. Metric: Transactions
Dimension name: Response type
Dimension name: FileShare (premium file share only)
File share size is 80% of capacity. Metric: File Capacity
Dimension name: FileShare (premium file share only)
File share egress has exceeded 500 GiB in one day. Metric: Egress
Dimension name: FileShare (premium file share only)
File share availability is less than 99.9%. Metric: Availability
Dimension name: FileShare (premium file share only)

How to create an alert if a file share is throttled

To create an alert that will notify you if a file share is being throttled, follow these steps.

  1. Open the Create an alert rule dialog box. For more information, see Create or edit an alert rule.

  2. In the Condition tab, select the Transactions metric.

  3. In the Dimension name drop-down list, select Response type.

  4. In the Dimension values drop-down list, select the appropriate response types for your file share.

    For standard file shares, select the following response types:

    • SuccessWithShareIopsThrottling
    • SuccessWithThrottling
    • ClientShareIopsThrottlingError

    For premium file shares, select the following response types:

    • SuccessWithShareEgressThrottling
    • SuccessWithShareIngressThrottling
    • SuccessWithShareIopsThrottling
    • ClientShareEgressThrottlingError
    • ClientShareIngressThrottlingError
    • ClientShareIopsThrottlingError

    Note

    If the response types aren't listed in the Dimension values drop-down, this means the resource hasn't been throttled. To add the dimension values, next to the Dimension values drop-down list, select Add custom value, enter the response type (for example, SuccessWithThrottling), select OK, and then repeat these steps to add all applicable response types for your file share.

  5. For premium file shares, select the Dimension name drop-down and select File Share. For standard file shares, skip to step 7.

    Note

    If the file share is a standard file share, the File Share dimension won't list the file share(s) because per-share metrics aren't available for standard file shares. Throttling alerts for standard file shares will be triggered if any file share within the storage account is throttled, and the alert won't identify which file share was throttled. Because per-share metrics aren't available for standard file shares, the recommendation is to have one file share per storage account.

  6. Select the Dimension values drop-down and select the file share(s) that you want to alert on.

  7. Define the alert parameters (threshold value, operator, lookback period, and frequency of evaluation).

    Tip

    If you're using a static threshold, the metric chart can help determine a reasonable threshold value if the file share is currently being throttled. If you're using a dynamic threshold, the metric chart will display the calculated thresholds based on recent data.

  8. Select the Actions tab to add an action group (email, SMS, etc.) to the alert. You can select an existing action group or create a new action group.

  9. Select the Details tab to fill in the details of the alert such as the alert name, description, and severity.

  10. Select Review + create to create the alert.

How to create an alert if the Azure file share size is 80% of capacity

  1. Open the Create an alert rule dialog box. For more information, see Create or edit an alert rule.

  2. In the Condition tab of the Create an alert rule dialog box, select the File Capacity metric.

  3. For premium file shares, select the Dimension name drop-down list, and then select File Share. For standard file shares, skip to step 5.

    Note

    If the file share is a standard file share, the File Share dimension won't list the file share(s) because per-share metrics aren't available for standard file shares. Alerts for standard file shares are based on all file shares in the storage account. Because per-share metrics aren't available for standard file shares, the recommendation is to have one file share per storage account.

  4. Select the Dimension values drop-down and select the file share(s) that you want to alert on.

  5. Enter the Threshold value in bytes. For example, if the file share size is 100 TiB and you want to receive an alert when the file share size is 80% of capacity, the threshold value in bytes is 87960930222080.

  6. Define the alert parameters (threshold value, operator, lookback period, and frequency of evaluation).

  7. Select the Actions tab to add an action group (email, SMS, etc.) to the alert. You can select an existing action group or create a new action group.

  8. Select the Details tab to fill in the details of the alert such as the alert name, description, and severity.

  9. Select Review + create to create the alert.

How to create an alert if the Azure file share egress has exceeded 500 GiB in a day

  1. Open the Create an alert rule dialog box. For more information, see Create or edit an alert rule.

  2. In the Condition tab of the Create an alert rule dialog box, select the Egress metric.

  3. For premium file shares, select the Dimension name drop-down list and select File Share. For standard file shares, skip to step 5.

    Note

    If the file share is a standard file share, the File Share dimension won't list the file share(s) because per-share metrics aren't available for standard file shares. Alerts for standard file shares are based on all file shares in the storage account. Because per-share metrics aren't available for standard file shares, the recommendation is to have one file share per storage account.

  4. Select the Dimension values drop-down and select the file share(s) that you want to alert on.

  5. Enter 536870912000 bytes for Threshold value.

  6. From the Check every drop-down list, select the frequency of evaluation.

  7. Select the Actions tab to add an action group (email, SMS, etc.) to the alert. You can select an existing action group or create a new action group.

  8. Select the Details tab to fill in the details of the alert such as the alert name, description, and severity.

  9. Select Review + create to create the alert.

How to create an alert for high server latency

To create an alert for high server latency (average), follow these steps.

  1. Open the Create an alert rule dialog box. For more information, see Create or edit an alert rule.

  2. In the Condition tab of the Create an alert rule dialog box, select the Success Server Latency metric.

  3. Select the Dimension values drop-down and select the file share(s) that you want to alert on.

    Note

    To alert on the overall latency experience, leave Dimension values unchecked. To alert on the latency of specific transactions, select the API Name in the drop-down list. For example, selecting the Read and Write API names with the equal operator will only display latency for data transactions. Selecting the Read and Write API name with the not equal operator will only display latency for metadata transactions.

  4. Define the Alert Logic by selecting either Static or Dynamic. For Static, select Average Aggregation, Greater than Operator, and Threshold value. For Dynamic, select Average Aggregation, Greater than Operator, and Threshold Sensitivity.

    Tip

    If you're using a static threshold, the metric chart can help determine a reasonable threshold value if the file share is currently experiencing high latency. If you're using a dynamic threshold, the metric chart will display the calculated thresholds based on recent data. We recommend using the Dynamic logic with Medium threshold sensitivity and further adjust as needed. To learn more, see Understanding dynamic thresholds.

  5. Define the lookback period and frequency of evaluation.

  6. Select the Actions tab to add an action group (email, SMS, etc.) to the alert. You can select an existing action group or create a new action group.

  7. Select the Details tab to fill in the details of the alert such as the alert name, description, and severity.

  8. Select Review + create to create the alert.

How to create an alert if the Azure file share availability is less than 99.9%

  1. Open the Create an alert rule dialog box. For more information, see Create or edit an alert rule.

  2. In the Condition tab, select the Availability metric.

  3. In the Alert logic section, provide the following:

    • Threshold = Static
    • Aggregation type = Average
    • Operator = Less than
    • Threshold value enter 99.9

  4. In the Split by dimensions section:

    • Select the Dimension name drop-down and select File Share.
    • Select the Dimension values drop-down and select the file share(s) that you want to alert on.

    Note

    If the file share is a standard file share, the File Share dimension won't list the file share(s) because per-share metrics aren't available for standard file shares. Availability alerts for standard file shares will be at the storage acount level.

  5. In the When to evaluate section, select the following:

    • Check every = 5 minutes
    • Lookback period = 1 hour

  6. Click Next to go to the Actions tab and add an action group (email, SMS, etc.) to the alert. You can select an existing action group or create a new action group.

  7. Click Next to go to the Details tab and fill in the details of the alert such as the alert name, description, and severity.

  8. Select Review + create to create the alert.

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