REST API to Enable AKS Container Insights Performance Metrics (K8SContainer) Programmatically

Hello Sree Aravind, thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Q&A platform.

We are looking into your issue and will keep you posted updates.

Thanks

Hello Sree Aravind, we understand that you have Created an AKS cluster, Enabled Azure Monitor / Container Insights and you Attempting to retrieve performance metrics using KQL query:

Perf
| where ObjectName == "K8SContainer"

As you mentioned these metrics are NOT available by default and they appear only after manually enabling Performance Metrics via Azure Portal (Customize view)

Your Requirement is to Automate this configuration using REST API / deployment to Avoid any manual portal intervention.

The "Performance Metrics" toggle in Azure Portal is NOT a separate API. It is internally implemented using Azure Monitor Data Collection Rules (DCR). By default Container Insights may NOT collect Microsoft-Perf stream. As a result Perf table exists but K8SContainer data is missing.

Here Is the steps for Automation Approach to enable the Performance metrics:

First, you need to create a Log Analytics Workspace (LAW). If you already have an existing LAW, you can reuse it.

1. Create AKS (REST API): Create a AKS cluster using Rest API for your required region and select the destination Log Analytics workspace. URL: [PUT] https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/<SubscriptionsID>/resourceGroups/<ResourceGroup-Name>/providers/Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters/<AKS-clusterName>?api-version=2024-02-01 Request Body:

{
  "location": "<Your region>",
  "identity": {
    "type": "SystemAssigned"
  },
  "properties": {
    "dnsPrefix": "<Your AKS Cluster Name>",
    "agentPoolProfiles": [
      {
        "name": "nodepool1",
        "count": 3,
        "vmSize": "Standard_D8ds_v5",
        "osType": "Linux",
        "mode": "System",
        "type": "VirtualMachineScaleSets"
      }
    ],
    "addonProfiles": {
      "omsagent": {
        "enabled": true,
        "config": {
          "logAnalyticsWorkspaceResourceID": "/subscriptions/<subscriptionsID>/resourceGroups/
<ResourceGroup-Name>/providers/Microsoft.OperationalInsights/workspaces/<LAW Name>"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

This will only create the AKS cluster in your resource group.

1. Create Data Collection Rule (DCR): In this API call you will create a new DCR to enable the insight metrics

URL: [PUT] https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/<SubscriptionsID>/resourceGroups/<ResourceGroup-Name>/providers/Microsoft.Insights/dataCollectionRules/<DCR Name>?api-version=2022-06-01

Request Body:

{
  "location": "<Your region>
",
  "properties": {
    "dataSources": {
      "extensions": [
        {
          "name": "ContainerInsightsExtension",
          "extensionName": "ContainerInsights",
          "streams": [
            "Microsoft-ContainerInsights-Group-Default"
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    "destinations": {
      "logAnalytics": [
        {
          "name": "ciworkspace",
          "workspaceResourceId": "/subscriptions/<subscriptionsID>/resourceGroups/<ResourceGroup-Name>
/providers/Microsoft.OperationalInsights/workspaces/<LAW name>"
        }
      ]
    },
    "dataFlows": [
      {
        "streams": [
          "Microsoft-ContainerInsights-Group-Default"
        ],
        "destinations": [
          "ciworkspace"
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

1. Associate DCR to AKS: In this step you have to associate the DCR to the newly created AKS using the Rest APIURL: [PUT] https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/<subscriptionID>/resourceGroups/<ResourceGroups-Name>/providers/Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters/<Yours AKS cluster name>/providers/Microsoft.Insights/dataCollectionRuleAssociations/aks-dcr-association?api-version=2022-06-01

Request Body:

{
  "properties": {
    "dataCollectionRuleId": "/subscriptions/<subscriptionID>/resourceGroups/<resourceGroupName>/providers/Microsoft.Insights/dataCollectionRules/<Your DCR Name>"
  }
}

After completing the previous steps, please verify the Data Collection Rule (DCR) and ensure that your AKS cluster is correctly associated with it under the Connected Resources section.

Once all the above steps are completed, wait for 10–15 minutes, and then verify the Perf logs in your Log Analytics workspace.

Perf
| where TimeGenerated > ago(10m)
| where ObjectName == "K8SContainer"
| where InstanceName contains "<Your Cluster Name>"
| project TimeGenerated, InstanceName, CounterName, CounterValue

Hope this helps, If you have any question or if you encounter any issues, please do let us know, thanks

Hello Sree Aravind, Just checking if the information shared was helpful. If so, please consider accepting the answer and giving it an upvote.

If you have any further questions or need additional clarification, feel free to reach out. Thanks!