Deploy Datadog Agent to AKS clusters with Datadog Azure Native ISV Service

Having clear visibility and monitoring into your Kubernetes environment is crucial for maintaining the health and performance of your applications. Effective monitoring helps detect issues early, optimize resource usage, and ensure your applications run smoothly. In complex environments, the sheer volume of containers being orchestrated can make monitoring cluster health challenging, which can in turn slow response times to critical incidents and create bottlenecks around long-term optimizations.

Enter Datadog, which is a cloud-scale monitoring and security platform that aggregates data across the application stack. With over 850 integrations, it enables customers to monitor the performance of a wide range of technologies, providing a unified platform with centralized visibility for faster troubleshooting on dynamic architectures.

To offer a more seamless experience for customers, the Datadog Azure Native ISV Service is a powerful integration between Microsoft Azure and Datadog which allows you to  monitor your Azure workloads with Datadog to deliver comprehensive insights into the performance of your tech stack.  This native offering is available on both Azure Marketplace and Azure portal and enables you to set up, configure, and deploy a Datadog resource on Azure similarly to creating any other native Azure resources like VMs, App Services etc. It allows you to quickly monitor and diagnose issues with your Azure resources by automatically sending logs and metrics to your Datadog organization. This year, Datadog also announced the availability of the . 

For Kubernetes environments specifically, Datadog’s integration with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) provides complete visibility into your AKS clusters. Once you’ve enabled the integration and deployed the Datadog Agent to your clusters, Datadog automatically begins collecting metrics and logs from your entire AKS setup and organizing them into high-level visualizations. Datadog also provides an out-of-the-box dashboard for AKS that enables customers to immediately visualize the health and performance of their AKS clusters. This dashboard organizes and highlights the most critical information from standard AKS metrics, while also incorporating log data to provide observability into the control plane.

Datadog Agent on Kubernetes Apps Marketplace

The Datadog Agent can be deployed to AKS using Kubernetes Apps, an offering on Azure Marketplace that features our partners, like Datadog, in the cloud native space. As a user, you can choose from a rich catalog of validated partner and open-source Kubernetes solutions which you can deploy to your AKS and Arc-connected clusters with integrated Azure billing and easy lifecycle management capabilities. You can quickly procure Kubernetes solutions through the trusted procurement channels of Azure Marketplace, with eligible purchases contributing 100% toward your Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC), helping you optimize your committed spend.

 

To take the partnership between Microsoft and Datadog further, the Datadog agent can now be installed on AKS resources via Datadog Azure Native ISV Service.

 

How to deploy Datadog Agent on AKS via native integration

Datadog Azure Native ISV Service provides out of the box Azure monitoring with seamless flow of observability data from your Azure workloads which you can monitor in real time on the Datadog portal. Once the Datadog resource is deployed on Azure, logs and metrics start to flow almost immediately.

Another plus of this integration is that it makes it frictionless to deploy Datadog agent on to several Azure resources directly from Azure portal. We are now happy to extend this capability to your Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) clusters through Azure portal which makes it easy to automate the process of agent deployment. Now you can install and un-install the Datadog extension on multiple AKS clusters via Azure portal in a few clicks.

Follow this step-by-step guide below to deploy the Datadog extension on AKS resources via Azure Native Datadog Service.

1. Create a Datadog resource

You can create a Datadog resource in Azure by purchasing Datadog or setting up a trial environment. Once the resource is deployed, the Datadog environment is automatically setup.

2. Deploy the Datadog Agent through Azure portal

The Azure Kubernetes Service blade is available on the left panel of the Datadog resource. By clicking on it, you can view a list of all AKS resources in your subscription.

 

 

 

 

Select all the resources you want to deploy the Datadog AKS extension to manually or use the filters that suit your needs. You can also select all the resources by clicking on select all checkbox. There is no need to go to each cluster and install manually.

 

 

 

 

Once selected, click on Install Extension and wait for successful deployment. When the agent is successfully installed, the agent status and version will be displayed against the AKS resource.

 

 

 

 

You can uninstall the extension by clicking on the Uninstall Extension button.

3. Monitor your Azure Kubernetes Service clusters with Datadog

There you have it – an easy method to deploy Datadog Agent on your AKS cluster. Now you can use the single sign on link present on the overview blade to access your Datadog environment or just continue to install Agent on other Azure services. Once on the Datadog portal, you can view the detailed insights of your Kubernetes clusters with the help of dedicated dashboards.

 

 

 

 

 

Why use Datadog Azure Native ISV?

1. Integrated onboarding: Customers can create a Datadog resource and manage the integration through the Azure portal.
2. Unified billing: Datadog costs are reported through Azure monthly bill.
3. Single sign-on to Datadog: Customers don't need a separate authentication for the Datadog portal.
4. Log forwarder: Automated forwarding of subscription activity and resource logs to Datadog.
5. Metrics collection: Automatically send all Azure resource metrics to Datadog.
6. Datadog agent deployment: Provides unified management experience of Datadog agents. Install and uninstall Datadog agents as extensions on Virtual Machines and Azure App

 

Practical Use cases for Datadog + AKS

Datadog helps Azure customers make sense of telemetry data across their technology stack. The top use cases that Azure customers rely on Datadog to solve are: migration, modernization, and tool/cost optimization.

Migration: Datadog provides deep visibility into complex Azure environments. Further, Datadog is cloud-agnostic and can ingest data from on-prem and hybrid cloud environments. Datadog tracks and secures every stage of your cloud migration, helping customers migrate with confidence and ease

Modernization: Datadog helps Azure customers modernize their stack via Azure capabilities like Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). Datadog provides full visibility into modern and legacy applications in one place. Azure customers report an improvement in performance, agility, and resilience with Datadog.

Tool/Cost Optimization: Many organizations turn to Datadog because their teams are experiencing tool sprawl and total cost of ownership challenges from multiple siloed monitoring tools. Datadog addresses both challenges by enabling customers to view all of their data in a single, unified platform. Azure customers can also use Datadog to analyze and optimize their cloud spend.

 

Additional Links

Azure Blog: Explore the latest features for Datadog–An Azure Native ISV Service: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/explore-the-latest-features-for-datadog-an-azure-native-isv-s...

Azure Marketplace: Datadog: https://azuremarketplace.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/apps/datadog1591740804488.dd_liftr_v2?tab=o...

Benefits of Kubernetes Apps on the Marketplace: Deploy Smarter, Scale Faster – Secure, AI-Ready, Cost-Effective Kubernetes Apps at Your Fingertips! ...

 

Get Started with Datadog - An Azure Native ISV Service: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/partner-solutions/datadog/overview

Datadog Blog: Datadog-Microsoft Partnership: Azure Native ISV Service

https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/azure-datadog-partnership/

Datadog’s AKS Integration: https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/azure-kubernetes-service-cluster-visibility-with-aks-dashboard/

Datadog agent ok AKS Marketplace: https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/datadog-aks-cluster-extension/

 

Leave a feature request on our feedback forum

We value customer feedback and plan feature suggestions into our roadmap. Let us know how we can enhance the value you get from Datadog Azure Native ISV by requesting a feature on the Developer Community. Alternatively, you can utilize “suggest a feature” option available on the Azure portal.