---
title: "Troubleshoot metrics collection | Grafana Cloud documentation"
description: "Common issues and solutions for collecting metrics from Azure resources with Cloud Provider Observability."
---

# Troubleshoot metrics collection

This page provides solutions to common issues when configuring Azure monitoring with Cloud Provider Observability.

## Verify Azure service principal permissions

If you receive errors when creating a credential or metrics aren’t being collected, verify that your Azure service principal has the correct permissions.

### Symptoms

- Error message examples: “Unable to authenticate with Azure”, “Insufficient permissions to access Azure resources”
- Metrics aren’t appearing in Grafana Cloud
- Status shows “Authentication failed”

### Solution

To verify and correct service principal permissions:

1. Open a terminal or Azure Cloud Shell.
2. Log in to your Azure account:
   
   Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```bash
   az login
   ```
3. List the role assignments for your service principal.
   
   Replace `<app-id>` with your service principal’s Client ID:
   
   Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```bash
   az role assignment list --assignee <app-id> --output table
   ```
4. Verify that the service principal has the **Monitoring Reader** role assigned for the subscriptions you want to monitor.
5. If the role is missing or incorrect, assign the Monitoring Reader role:
   
   Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```bash
   az role assignment create --assignee <app-id> --role "Monitoring Reader" --scope "/subscriptions/<subscription-id>"
   ```
6. Return to Grafana Cloud and test the connection again.

### Additional considerations

- Ensure the service principal hasn’t been deleted or disabled in Azure Active Directory
- Verify that the client secret hasn’t expired (Azure service principal secrets expire after a set period)
- Check that you’re using the correct Tenant ID for your Azure organization

For more information about Azure role assignments, refer to [Assign Azure roles using Azure CLI](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/role-based-access-control/role-assignments-cli) in the Azure documentation.

## Check Azure subscription access

If some Azure resources aren’t appearing or you’re not collecting metrics from all expected subscriptions, verify that your service principal has access to all relevant subscriptions.

### Symptoms

- Some Azure resources don’t appear in the Services tab
- Metrics are collected from some subscriptions but not others
- Error message: “No resources found in subscription”

<!--THE END-->

- Expected services aren’t listed in Autodiscovery step

### Solution

To verify and grant subscription access:

1. Open a terminal or Azure Cloud Shell.
2. Log in to your Azure account:
   
   Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```bash
   az login
   ```
3. List all subscriptions in your Azure account:
   
   Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```bash
   az account list --output table
   ```
4. For each subscription you want to monitor, verify the service principal has access:
   
   Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```bash
   az role assignment list --assignee <app-id> --scope "/subscriptions/<subscription-id>" --output table
   ```
5. If the service principal doesn’t have access to a subscription, grant the Monitoring Reader role:
   
   Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```bash
   az role assignment create --assignee <app-id> --role "Monitoring Reader" --scope "/subscriptions/<subscription-id>"
   ```
6. In Grafana Cloud, edit your Azure credential to verify the subscription IDs are correctly configured.

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1. Wait up to one hour for autodiscovery to detect resources in newly accessible subscriptions.

### Additional considerations

- Verify that the subscriptions contain Azure resources that are running and active
- Check that resources have been tagged appropriately if you’re using tag-based filtering
- Ensure the subscription isn’t disabled or expired in Azure

For more information about Azure subscriptions, refer to [Azure subscription management](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/manage/manage-azure-subscription-policy) in the Azure documentation.