Azure Web Apps troubleshooting: Issue with Always On

Problem

You installed New Relic's .NET agent through Microsoft Azure Web Apps and are using Azure's Always On setting. After generating some traffic and waiting a few minutes for data collection to start for your app, data still does not appear in the APM user interface.

Solution

Beginning with .NET agent version 8.22.181.0, Azure's Always On setting may be enabled without interfering with the agent. If you'd like to use Always On, simply update the agent.

.NET Framework 4.0 or lower workarounds

If your application targets .NET Framework 4.0 or lower, Azure's Always On setting will interfere with the agent. This feature is only available in Azure's Basic and Standard modes.

The Always On setting prevents the environment variable APP_POOL_ID from being set. New Relic's .NET agent needs this environment variable to get the app name. If the agent cannot determine an application name, then it won't start up.

If you are still using .NET Framework 4.0 or lower, try the following workarounds:

If you are using Microsoft's Standard or Basic tiers with the Azure Portal, ensure that the Always On setting is disabled.

In the Azure Portal, select (your app) > Settings > Application Settings.
Set the Always On toggle to Off.

Here are some other options you can try. If these do not work, you must turn off the Always On setting.

To name your application in the local newrelic.config using Kudu:

From the Microsoft Azure Portal, select (your app) > Tools > Kudu, then select Go.
Select Debug Console > CMD.
Select Site > wwwroot > newrelic.
Select the edit icon for newrelic.config, and add:
```
<application>
  <name>Your app's name</name>
</application>
```
Save and restart your application.

Important

This option has been found to only be a temporary fix. The .NET agent may stop reporting intermittently.

To name your application in its app/web.config file:

Add the following key to appSettings:

<appSettings>
  <add key="NewRelic.AppName" value="Your app's name" />
</appSettings>

Restart your instance.

Depending on your usage of Always On, you can try using Synthetic monitoring to keep your website active.

If you are not using the Always On setting, you can try using our synthetic monitoring free pinger monitor.
If you are using the Always On setting, synthetic monitoring needs to be able to reach an endpoint for your worker roles. If it can't, you can try using a synthetic scripted monitor to run on your site.

Azure Web Apps troubleshooting: Issue with Always On

Problem

Solution

.NET Framework 4.0 or lower workarounds

Use Kudu to name your app.

Use app/web.config to name your app.

Important

Use Synthetic monitoring to monitor your website.

Azure Web Apps troubleshooting: Issue with Always On

Problem.css-21sua1{background:none;border:none;width:0;padding:0;}

Solution

.NET Framework 4.0 or lower workarounds

Use app/web.config to name your app.

Use Synthetic monitoring to monitor your website.

Problem