Lots of n/a critical trace message in Azure application insights

Question

I have dotnet core web application hosted in Azure and using application insights for logging. I found I have abnormal amount of n/a critical trace message, like around 11k in just 1 min. Anyone has encountered this issue in application insights?

library:

• Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.AspNetCore Version=2.15.0
• Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.DependencyCollector Version=2.15.0
• Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.DiagnosticSourceListener Version=2.15.0
• Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.EventSourceListener Version=2.15.0
• Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.TraceListener Version=2.15.0
• Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.WindowsServer Version=2.15.0
• Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting Version=2.2.7

dotnet runtime: netcoreapp3.1

I have configured application insights at below.

public static IWebHostBuilder UseLoggingWithAppInsights(this IWebHostBuilder builder)
{
    builder.ConfigureServices((context, services) =>
    {
        services.AddApplicationInsightsTelemetry(applicationInsightsInstrumentKey);
    });

    var provider = services.BuildServiceProvider();
    IWebHostEnvironment host = provider.GetService<IWebHostEnvironment>();
    IHttpContextAccessor context = provider.GetService<IHttpContextAccessor>();

    TelemetryConfiguration.Active.EnableTelemetry(applicationInsightsInstrumentKey, appName, telemetryDetails, telemetrySettings, context, host);

    TelemetryConfiguration config = provider.GetService<TelemetryConfiguration>() ?? TelemetryConfiguration.CreateDefault();

    TelemetryConfiguration.Active.FireTraceToSeeIfActive();
    config.FireTraceToSeeIfActive();

    builder.ConfigureServices((context, services) =>
    {
        var instrumentationKey = context.Configuration.GetValue<string>("ApplicationInsights:InstrumentationKey");
        
        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(TelemetryConfiguration.Active.InstrumentationKey)
            || TelemetryConfiguration.Active.InstrumentationKey != instrumentationKey)
        {
            TelemetryConfiguration.Active.InstrumentationKey = instrumentationKey;
        }

        var provider = services.BuildServiceProvider();
        Util.StaticApplicationLogging.LoggerFactory = provider.GetRequiredService<ILoggerFactory>();
    });

    builder.ConfigureLogging((builderContext, loggingBuilder) =>
    {
        loggingBuilder.AddConfiguration(builderContext.Configuration.GetSection("Logging"));
    });

    return builder;
}

Answer 1

Lots of n/a critical trace message in Azure application insights

The reason for this issue can be the incorrect configuration in appsettings.json file.

And the code which you have used is not recommended in .NET Core Applications.

 TelemetryConfiguration.Active.EnableTelemetry(applicationInsightsInstrumentKey, appName, telemetryDetails, telemetrySettings, context, host);

• Reduce the severity level of the messages, this can be done by setting only the log levels which are required.

My Initial appsettings.json file.

{
  "Logging": {
    "LogLevel": {
      "Default": "Information",
      "Microsoft": "Warning",
      "Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime": "Information"
    }
  },
  "AllowedHosts": "*",
  "ApplicationInsights": {
    "ConnectionString": "AppInsightsConnString"
  }
}

• With the above appsettings only Error,Critical and Warning messages are shown.
• To Log Information ,Debug and Exception messages few changes have to be done in appsettings.json file.

appsettings.json file:

{
  "Logging": {
    "ApplicationInsights": {
      "LogLevel": {
        "Default": "Debug",
        "Microsoft": "Error"
      }
    },
    "LogLevel": {
      "Default": "Information",
      "Microsoft": "Warning",
      "Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime": "Information"
    }
  },
  "AllowedHosts": "*",
  "ApplicationInsights": { 
    "ConnectionString": "InstrumentationKey=a******;IngestionEndpoint=https://*******8.in.applicationinsights.azure.com/;LiveEndpoint=https://*******.livediagnostics.monitor.azure.com/"
  }
}

• Make sure all the packages are latest and updated.

.csproj file:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.1</TargetFramework>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.AspNetCore" Version="2.21.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.DependencyCollector" Version="2.21.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.DiagnosticSourceListener" Version="2.15.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.EventSourceListener" Version="2.15.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.TraceListener" Version="2.15.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.WindowsServer" Version="2.21.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting" Version="2.2.7" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

Startup.cs file:

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting;

namespace WebApplication1
{
    public class Startup
    {
        public Startup(IConfiguration configuration)
        {
            Configuration = configuration;
        }

        public IConfiguration Configuration { get; }
        public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
        {
           services.AddApplicationInsightsTelemetry();
            services.AddControllersWithViews();
        }
       
        public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IWebHostEnvironment env)
        {
            if (env.IsDevelopment())
            {
                app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
            }
            else
            {
                app.UseExceptionHandler("/Home/Error");          
                app.UseHsts();
            }
            app.UseHttpsRedirection();
            app.UseStaticFiles();
            app.UseRouting();
            app.UseAuthorization();
            app.UseEndpoints(endpoints =>
            {
                endpoints.MapControllerRoute(
                    name: "default",
                    pattern: "{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}");
            });
        }
    }
}

Application Insights Traces: