Which component of Azure Monitor helps in storing and analyzing log data?

Log Analytics is the component of Azure Monitor specifically designed for storing and analyzing log data. It allows users to collect, analyze, and visualize data generated by various sources, including virtual machines, applications, and other Azure resources. Through query language capabilities, users can run complex queries to extract meaningful insights from the log data, making it a powerful tool for monitoring system performance and troubleshooting issues.

Log Analytics can also integrate data from different sources, allowing for a unified analysis approach. This capability is critical for organizations looking to gain comprehensive insights into their environments and use the data for operational intelligence, security analysis, and compliance monitoring. The storage of log data within this service underpins many functionalities within Azure Monitor, enabling users to create dashboards and alerts based on the insights derived.

Other components like Azure Diagnostics primarily focus on collecting diagnostic data from Azure resources, while Application Insights is geared toward application performance monitoring. Network Watcher is targeted at monitoring and diagnosing network issues. Each of these services plays a vital role in the overall monitoring strategy but does not specialize in log data storage and analysis like Log Analytics.