---
title: Elastic Cloud Forwarder for Azure
description: Set up the Elastic Cloud Forwarder for Azure to bring your Azure telemetry data to Elastic Observability.
url: https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/opentelemetry/edot-cloud-forwarder/azure
products:
  - Elastic Cloud Forwarder
  - Elastic Cloud Forwarder for Azure
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless
  - Elastic Observability
applies_to:
  - Serverless Observability projects: Preview
  - Serverless Security projects: Preview
  - Elastic Cloud Forwarder for Azure: Preview since 0.7
---

# Elastic Cloud Forwarder for Azure
Elastic Cloud Forwarder (CF) for Azure allows you to stream telemetry data from Azure services to an Elasticsearch cluster.

## Supported signals

Elastic Cloud Forwarder for Azure supports the following telemetry signals. Each signal has its own page covering supported sources, collection methods, encoding, and the resulting documents in Elasticsearch.

| Signal  | Status       | Sources                      | Reference                                                                                                 |
|---------|--------------|------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Logs    | Tech Preview | Activity logs, Resource logs | [Logs](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/opentelemetry/edot-cloud-forwarder/azure/signals/logs)       |
| Metrics | Tech Preview | Platform metrics             | [Metrics](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/opentelemetry/edot-cloud-forwarder/azure/signals/metrics) |

<note>
  We are working to expand the list of supported sources and signals. Get in touch to let us know of any specific requirements that might influence our plans.
</note>

To deploy Elastic Cloud Forwarder for Azure quickly, you can use the following button:
[![Deploy to Azure](https://aka.ms/deploytoazurebutton)](https://portal.azure.com/#create/Microsoft.Template/uri/https%3A%2F%2Fedotcfazure5gdoxpg7d2rim.blob.core.windows.net%2Freleases%2Fv0.10.0%2Fecf.json/uiFormDefinitionUri/https%3A%2F%2Fedotcfazure5gdoxpg7d2rim.blob.core.windows.net%2Freleases%2Fv0.10.0%2Fecf.uiFormDefinition.json)
This opens the Azure portal with the Bicep template pre-filled, so you can configure parameters and deploy. For all deployment options and detailed steps, refer to [Deploy Elastic Cloud Forwarder for Azure](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/opentelemetry/edot-cloud-forwarder/azure/deploy).

## Prerequisites

To collect telemetry data using Elastic Cloud Forwarder for Azure, you need:
- An Azure subscription
- Azure CLI
- Bicep extension for Azure CLI
- An Elastic Managed OTLP endpoint and an API key


### Endpoint and API key

<important>
  Elastic Cloud Forwarder for Azure requires a Managed OTLP endpoint and an API key. Managed OTLP is available for Elastic Cloud Serverless and Elastic Cloud Hosted.For self-managed deployments, set up an EDOT Collector in [Gateway mode](https://docs-demo.elastic.dev/docs/reference/edot-collector/config/default-config-standalone#gateway-mode) that ingests OTel data from the edge setup into the self-managed Elastic Stack.
</important>

To retrieve your Elastic Cloud Managed OTLP Endpoint endpoint address and API key, follow these steps:
<applies-switch>
  <applies-item title="serverless:" applies-to="Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available">
    1. In Elastic Cloud, create an Observability project or open an existing one.
    2. Go to **Add data**, select **Applications** and then select **OpenTelemetry**.
    3. Copy the endpoint and authentication headers values.
    Alternatively, you can retrieve the endpoint from the **Manage project** page and create an API key manually from the **API keys** page.
  </applies-item>

  <applies-item title="ech:" applies-to="Elastic Cloud Hosted: Generally available">
    1. Log in to the Elastic Cloud Console.
    2. Find your deployment on the home page or on the **Hosted deployments** page, and then select **Manage**.
    3. In the **Application endpoints, cluster and component IDs** section, select **Managed OTLP**.
    4. Copy the public endpoint value.
  </applies-item>
</applies-switch>

<important>
  Trim the API key from `Authorization=ApiKey MYKEYVALUE...` to just `MYKEYVALUE...` before using it as the argument to the `elasticApiKey` parameter.
</important>


### Azure subscription

To use Elastic Cloud Forwarder for Azure, you need an Azure subscription with permissions to create resources.
The Bicep template for Elastic Cloud Forwarder creates the following resources:
- Function App
- App Service plan
- Event Hubs Namespace with two Event Hubs (logs and metrics)
- Storage account
- Application Insights workspace


### Azure CLI

You can use the Azure CLI to deploy and manage resources required for Elastic Cloud Forwarder.
To install Azure CLI, refer to the [official documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/install-azure-cli).

### Bicep extension

Elastic Cloud Forwarder for Azure uses Bicep to define all the necessary resources and their dependencies.
After you've installed Azure CLI, install Bicep by running the following command:
```bash
az bicep install
```