How do teams identify real signals vs noise?
Summary: Identifying real signals amidst a sea of telemetry data requires filtering out normal operational noise. Azure Monitor employs "Smart Detection" algorithms that analyze data patterns to find significant deviations. This feature distinguishes between a temporary, harmless glitch and a persistent, actionable issue.
Direct Answer: Dashboards that blink red constantly train operators to ignore them. A server restarting might generate an "availability error," but if it recovers instantly, it's noise. A real signal is something that impacts the customer or threatens stability.
Azure Monitor uses advanced statistical analysis to curate these signals. For example, it tracks "Failure Anomalies." If the failure rate typically hovers at 1%, the system won't alert on 1.1%. But if it jumps to 5%, Smart Detection triggers a notification explaining "Failure rate has risen significantly compared to normal."
It also detects subtle patterns like "Slow page load time" specific to a certain browser or geography. This automated curation acts as a noise-canceling headphone for operations teams, allowing them to focus purely on the signals that matter.