Note: This question is part of a series of questions that present the same scenario.

Azure Monitor metrics such as Network In and Network Out only provide aggregated performance data — i.e., the total volume of bytes entering or leaving a network interface card (NIC). These metrics are useful for monitoring throughput, trends, or network utilization but do not capture or inspect packet-level data between two virtual machines.

To inspect network traffic between two Azure VMs (such as between VM1 and VM2), you must use Azure Network Watcher’s Packet Capture or Connection Monitor feature.

According to the Microsoft Azure Administrator study guide and official documentation:

“Use Azure Network Watcher to monitor, diagnose, and view metrics for resources in a virtual network. The Packet Capture feature enables you to capture network traffic to and from a virtual machine and save it to an Azure Storage account for analysis.”

Therefore, simply creating metrics in Azure Monitor on Network In/Out will not meet the goal, because metrics do not provide detailed traffic inspection, only summary statistics.

To fulfill the requirement (“inspect all the network traffic from VM1 to VM2 for three hours”), the correct approach would be to use Network Watcher → Packet Capture, specifying VM1 as the target, capturing outbound traffic to VM2’s IP, and setting the session duration for 3 hours.

Hence, the given solution does not meet the goal.