Check missing summary-rule intervals before accepting a Log Analytics trend

Source facts

Summary rules periodically aggregate workspace logs into a custom table. Enabling the workspace’s Summary Logs diagnostic category sends execution outcomes to LASummaryLogs. A failed bin receives ten retry attempts within eight hours; after those attempts are exhausted, that bin is skipped. Microsoft also documents a hold after eight consecutive bin retries. Microsoft Learn.

The source provides a completeness query using successful runs and BinStartTime. A manually retried run is identified by its failed bin’s start time, not an arbitrary reporting timestamp. Microsoft Learn.

Applicability

Apply this review to Log Analytics workspaces using summary rules in the public cloud. Summary rules are unavailable outside that cloud scope. Microsoft Learn. Keep the rule’s configured bin size and the report’s time range in the review record. Treat completeness as a question to establish, not something implied by an attractive chart.

DSE recommendation

DSE recommends checking execution coverage before interpreting a drop in summarized activity. Assign missing intervals to a separate exception list, with their rule name and bin start. Ask the rule owner to investigate failed execution before requesting a rerun. Do not quietly replace unknown intervals with zero in a management report; label the uncertainty until evidence resolves it.

Verification

For an approved sample period, compare the expected interval sequence with successful execution records and the destination results. Preserve the missing-bin list, any retry request, and its observed outcome. Have a second reviewer confirm that the final trend distinguishes measured values from intervals that remain unverified.

Official references

Microsoft Learn: Aggregate data with summary rules.