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Nectus to Azure Integration: A Comprehensive Guide

Sign in to Azure Portal

Open your web browser, navigate to https://portal.azure.com, and sign in with your Azure account credentials.

Get Your Subscription ID

In the Azure Portal, search for “Subscriptions” in the top search bar and select your subscription. On the Overview page,

copy the Subscription ID (format: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012) – you’ll need this for Nectus configuration.

Get Your Tenant ID (Directory ID)

In the Azure Portal, search for “Microsoft Entra ID” in the search bar. On the overview page, locate the “Basic information”

section and copy the Tenant ID (also called Directory ID, format: 87654321-4321-4321-4321-210987654321).

Create Service Principal (App Registration)

In Azure Portal, search for ” Microsoft Entra ID “, click “App registrations” under Manage, then click “+ New registration”.

Enter name “Nectus-Monitoring-SP”, select “Accounts in this organizational directory only”, leave Redirect URI blank, and click “Register”.

Get the Client ID (Application ID)

After registration, you’ll be on the app’s Overview page. Locate “Application (client) ID“,

click the copy icon to copy this value (format: abcd1234-5678-90ab-cdef-1234567890ab), and save it as your Client ID.

Create Client Secret

In the app registration page, click “Certificates & secrets” under Manage, then click “+ New client secret”.

Enter description “Nectus Integration Key”, choose expiration duration (6 months or 1 year recommended), and click “Add”.

IMPORTANT: Immediately copy the “Value” (not Secret ID) as you won’t be able to see it again

(format: 8Q8~XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX), and save it securely.

Assign Reader Role to Service Principal

Navigate to Subscription IAM Go back to “Subscriptions” (search bar), click on your subscription name,

then click “Access control (IAM)” in the left menu.

Add Role Assignment Click “+ Add” button at the top, then select “Add role assignment”.

Select Reader Role In the “Role” tab, search for “Reader”, select the “Reader” role, and click “Next”.

Assign to Service Principal In the “Members” tab, select “User, group, or service principal” for “Assign access to”, click “+ Select members”,

search for “Nectus-Monitoring-SP”, click on it when it appears, click “Select”, then click “Next”.

Review and Assign Review the assignment (Role: Reader, Scope: Your subscription, Members: Your service principal),

then click “Review + assign” twice to confirm.

Verify Everything is Set Up

Go to Subscriptions > Your Subscription > Access control (IAM) > Role assignments tab to verify your service principal is listed with Reader role.

Access Nectus Azure Integration

Log in to the Nectus web console, click on Settings in the top navigation bar, select General Settings, then click on Azure Integration.

Add Azure Subscription in Nectus

In the Azure Integration console, click on the Subscriptions tab, then click Create. Enter a descriptive name (e.g., “Subscription1”)

and your Azure Subscription ID, then click OK to save.

Add Azure Credentials in Nectus

Click on the Credentials tab, then click Create. Enter a descriptive name, select the subscription from the dropdown,

and fill in the Client ID, Client Secret, and Tenant ID from the service principal created in Step 4-6.

Test and Validate Credentials

Click Test to validate the credentials. The test authenticates with Azure Active Directory, verifies subscription access, checks API connectivity,

and validates permissions. If successful, you’ll see a Test Success message. Click OK to save.

Verify Azure Resource Discovery

Navigate to Azure > Default in the left sidebar. The system will automatically discover and display your Azure resources including Virtual Machines.

Configure VM Group Properties

Right-click on Default under Azure in the left sidebar and select Properties. In the General Info tab, enter the group name,

check Enable Monitoring, select the polling agent (typically “Default”), and configure optional settings like ICMP monitoring profile and alert notifications. Click OK to save.

Configure Monitoring Settings

Click on Monitoring in the top navigation menu, then select Azure Monitoring Settings. Configure the following metrics for your Azure resources:

CPU Monitoring: Enable CPU Credits Consumed, CPU Credits Remaining, and CPU Utilization.

Configure thresholds, enable history, and set up email/SMS alerts as needed.

RAM Monitoring: Enable RAM Utilization monitoring, set alert thresholds (e.g., warning at 80%, critical at 90%), and configure alert destinations.

Network Monitoring: Enable Network Rx (Receive) and Network Tx (Transmit) to monitor inbound and outbound traffic.

Track bandwidth utilization and set alerts for unusual network activity.

Disk Monitoring: Enable Disk Read/Write Transactions and Disk Read/Write Rate to monitor IOPS and throughput.

Configure appropriate thresholds based on your workload requirements.

Status Monitoring: Enable VM Availability monitoring to track uptime and set alerts for VM state changes or downtime events.

ICMP Monitoring: Enable ICMP IPv4 Latency and Reachability to verify network connectivity.

Set latency thresholds and configure packet loss alerts.

How to configure HTTP Application monitoring in Nectus

Step 1: Login to Nectus portal. In the home page, click on Applications. Under Applications, we’ll get HTTP, TCP, UDP options.

Step2: First, right click on the HTTP and select on the Add Group.

Step 3: Now, provide unique Group name and check the Enable monitoring & Alerting options.

Click on Ok to create the new application group.

Step 4: Again, right click on the created group and select the Add New Application.

Step 5: Now, provide a valid URL, name, and select the appropriate group, distributed polling agent. Additionally, GPS latitude and longitude gets autogenerated from the given address.

Step 6: Next, click on the Metrics tab, then select the required metrics which has to be monitored. In our case, we are monitoring all the key metrics of HTTP application. Further, we can also edit the global alert template by clicking the Global Alert Template icon. Lastly, click Ok button to add new HTTP application.

Step 6(a): Set the alert template using available variables. Click on the Send Test Email to get the sample email with select subject and email body patterns. Then, click Ok button to apply and close the window.

Step 7: Now, let’s create the type of method [GET, PUT, POST, PATCH, etc.] to monitor in the added HTTP Application. Right click on the HTTP Application (User Info) -> Select HTTP Method

Step 8: Provide the unique and valid name, HTTP method with Path URL. Click on Test button to check

Step 8(a): We have got the Test Success message

Step 9: Next, right click on the created method and select View HTTP Method Info to get the performance information.

Step 10: This window provides the overall performance graphs and status of the URL method.

Step 11: To get the specific metrics graphs, Right click on created method -> Graphs -> Availability Graph, Connection Time Graph, etc.

Step 12: Graphical View based on the selected metrics.

Step 13: Alternatively, we can also enable the HTTP application monitoring metrics from Monitoring -> Application Monitoring Settings -> HTTP.

Congrats! We have successfully enabled the application monitoring for HTTP apps.