---
title: Azure Monitor OpenTelemetry Distro
category: concept
applies-to: 3.x
---

# Azure Monitor OpenTelemetry Distro

**Category:** Concept  
**Applies to:** 3.x

## Overview

The Azure Monitor OpenTelemetry Distro (`Azure.Monitor.OpenTelemetry.AspNetCore`) is a batteries-included package that configures OpenTelemetry with sensible defaults for Azure Monitor/Application Insights.

## What It Provides

One line of code enables:

```csharp
builder.Services.AddOpenTelemetry().UseAzureMonitor();
```

### Automatic Instrumentation
- **ASP.NET Core** - HTTP requests (traces)
- **HttpClient** - Outgoing HTTP calls (dependencies)
- **SQL Client** - Database calls
- **Azure SDK** - Azure service calls

### Automatic Export
- Traces → Application Insights (requests, dependencies)
- Metrics → Application Insights (performance counters, custom metrics)
- Logs → Application Insights (traces, exceptions)

### Automatic Enrichment
- Cloud role name detection
- Kubernetes metadata
- Azure App Service metadata

## Configuration

### Connection String (Required)

Option 1: Environment variable (recommended)
```bash
APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_CONNECTION_STRING=InstrumentationKey=xxx;IngestionEndpoint=https://...
```

Option 2: appsettings.json
```json
{
  "AzureMonitor": {
    "ConnectionString": "InstrumentationKey=xxx;IngestionEndpoint=https://..."
  }
}
```

Option 3: Code
```csharp
builder.Services.AddOpenTelemetry().UseAzureMonitor(options =>
{
    options.ConnectionString = "InstrumentationKey=xxx;...";
});
```

### Optional Configuration

```csharp
builder.Services.AddOpenTelemetry().UseAzureMonitor(options =>
{
    // Sampling
    options.SamplingRatio = 0.1f; // 10% sampling
    
    // Disable specific auto-instrumentation
    options.EnableLiveMetrics = false;
    
    // Custom resource attributes
    options.Resource = ResourceBuilder.CreateDefault()
        .AddService("MyService", "1.0.0");
});
```

## Package Reference

```xml
<PackageReference Include="Azure.Monitor.OpenTelemetry.AspNetCore" Version="1.4.0" />
```

## When to Use

| Scenario | Recommendation |
|----------|----------------|
| New ASP.NET Core app | ✅ Use Distro |
| Existing AI SDK 2.x app | ✅ Migrate to Distro |
| Need custom exporters | Consider manual OpenTelemetry setup |
| Non-ASP.NET Core | Use `Azure.Monitor.OpenTelemetry.Exporter` directly |

## See Also

- OpenTelemetry Pipeline(see in opentelemetry-pipeline.md)
- UseAzureMonitor API(see in api-reference/dotnet/UseAzureMonitor.md)
- Basic Setup Example(see in examples/dotnet/aspnetcore-distro-setup.md)