Werk #19467: Azure special agent v2: enhanced performance and improved monitoring structure designed for multi-subscription monitoring
| Component | Checks & agents | ||||
| Title | Azure special agent v2: enhanced performance and improved monitoring structure designed for multi-subscription monitoring | ||||
| Date | Mar 18, 2026 | ||||
| Level | Trivial Change | ||||
| Class | New Feature | ||||
| Compatibility | Incompatible - Manual interaction might be required | ||||
| Checkmk versions & editions |
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Introducing the new Azure special agent v2, which delivers significant improvements in performance, reliability, and service coverage.
Key features:
- Asynchronous architecture: The special agent now utilizes asynchronous API calls, enabling concurrent data collection. This improves data collection speed, especially for large Azure environments.
- New monitoring structure: One piggyback host is created per Azure resource, allowing for more granular monitoring and easier identification of issues. Hosts also get new labels with Azure metadata (e.g., subscription, resource group, type) for better filtering.
- Multi-subscription monitoring: It is now possible to monitor multiple subscriptions with a single Azure agent configuration. You can monitor all subscriptions in a tenant, select specific subscriptions to monitor, or filter them using Azure tags.
- Handling duplicate resource names: The unique host name computation mechanism in the special agent addresses potential naming conflicts for Azure objects across different resource groups or subscriptions. When enabled, Checkmk enriches the piggyback host’s Azure name with the object type and a unique ID to ensure global uniqueness.
- Improved inventory plug-ins: now provide more detailed information about Azure resources, including tags, locations, and resource group associations for every monitored resource.
- New Azure checks: Azure Firewall monitoring is now available in all Checkmk editions. Additionally, Azure Cosmos DB (with database-level and container-level metrics), Azure Cache for Redis, and Azure NAT Gateways monitoring is shipped with Checkmk Ultimate and Cloud editions. For details refer to the Check Plug-ins Catalog.
Configuration
- The Azure special agent rule can be found under Setup > VM, Cloud, Container. However, it is recommended to use the Azure quick setup configuration available under 'Cloud' in the main navigation.
Migration
Manual migration required
- The new Azure special agent v2 is a standalone implementation and manual migration from the old agent is required.
Monitoring history from the legacy Azure special agent will not be transferred to the new Azure special agent v2, given the architectural differences and data handling methods between the two agents.
Deprecation plans
- While the new agent is designed to eventually replace the older version, the old agent will not be immediately removed in order to give you time to plan your migration. In Checkmk 2.5, the new Azure special agent v2 is shipped alongside the old one. This means that your monitoring is not impacted upon update to the 2.5 version.
- The rules to configure the old special agent and monitoring plug-ins have now been marked as deprecated on UI, but you can still create new rules as needed and deprecation is not enforced.
- Deprecation of the old special agent and its related plug-ins is planned for the next major release and will be announced with an official dedicated werk once it has been done.