Scan Overview
Start new scans, watch them run, and see a snapshot of the most recent scan. Open Scans > Overview from the left sidebar.
On This Page
Prerequisites
Required Permissions
The StratoLens managed identity must be granted the Reader role at the tenant root, or equivalent coverage across every management group and subscription you want scanned. Without this, scans complete but results are incomplete.
- Managed identity role
- Reader at the tenant root (recommended) or on each management group and subscription individually.
- Registration
- StratoLens registration must be completed first. See the Installation Guide.
- First-scan access check
- Before your very first scan, StratoLens verifies the managed identity has enough access to gather complete data. If it doesn't, you see the Limited Azure Access Detected dialog.
Starting a Scan
Click Start New Scan in the Scan Controls card. The button label changes to Scan in Progress... while the scan is running, and a second button, Cancel Scan, becomes visible.
One scan at a time
Only one scan can run at a time. The Start New Scan button is disabled while a scan is active. Starting a second scan while one is running is not possible.
You don't need to watch it
You can navigate away to any other page in StratoLens, the scan continues in the background. The progress display catches up whenever you return to this page.
Cancelling a Running Scan
Click Cancel Scan to stop an in-progress scan at the next safe checkpoint. The scanner finishes the current step before exiting cleanly, so it may take several seconds to fully stop. No rollback is needed, just click Start New Scanagain when you're ready.
Clean up cancelled scans
It's recommended, but not required, to delete the cancelled scan from the Scan History page so it doesn't clutter the audit trail.
Real-Time Progress Display
While a scan runs, the Scan in Progress panel shows two progress bars and a status label:
- Overall progress
- Top progress bar. Reflects the scan's total completion across every phase.
- Current phase progress
- Bottom progress bar. Reflects progress inside the phase currently running, for example Inventory Discovery, Cost Analysis, or Activity Logs.
Quick Stats
Four stat cards at the top of the page summarize the current state of scanning in your environment.
Total Scans
Count of historical scans completed.
Latest Scan
Completion time of the most recent scan plus counts of Management Groups, Subscriptions, Resource Groups, and Resources discovered.
Next Scheduled Scan
When the next automated scan will run. Only shown to users with permission to manage schedules.
Retention
Current scan retention setting (from Settings > Schedules). Only shown to users with schedule permission.
Dialogs You May See
These dialogs only appear in specific error or first-run conditions. Under typical use you won't see them, scans start, run, and finish without interruption.
Registration Required
Appears if you try to run a scan before completing StratoLens registration. Go to Settings and finish registration first.
Limited Azure Access Detected
Appears only before your very first scan when the managed identity lacks subscription-level or management-group-level role assignments. Fix the role assignments before continuing if you want complete data, or Continue Anyway to scan with partial data.
Background Data Collection Started
Appears once, after your first completed scan. Confirms that historical Activity Log, Cost Data, and Resource Graph Changes backfill have kicked off. No action required.
First-Scan Behavior
First scans take longer
Your first scan on a new install takes noticeably longer than subsequent scans because it seeds the historical backfill queues. Plan for extra time on the initial run.
After the first scan completes, StratoLens automatically backfills historical data in the background:
- Activity Log Backfill
- Up to 80 days of historical Azure activity events.
- Cost Data Backfill
- Up to ~6 months of historical cost and usage data.
- Changes Backfill
- Up to 14 days of Azure Resource Graph change history.
Gap recovery
If StratoLens has been offline long enough to miss data, the next scan collects only the standard window and the rest is backfilled automatically. You don't need to trigger backfill manually.
Troubleshooting
"Scan failed"
What to do
An error banner appears at the top of the page with guidance. Review the error details, dismiss the banner, and start a new scan. If the issue persists, check your Azure permissions (Installation Guide) and network connectivity.
"Limited Azure Access Detected" on first run
What to do
The managed identity hasn't been granted the roles needed to read your Azure estate. Click Go Back, grant the Reader role at the tenant root (or across management groups and subscriptions), then start a new scan. Clicking Continue Anyway proceeds with partial data.
Scan appears stuck on cost data
What to do
Azure Cost Management APIs throttle aggressively. Spending extended time in the Cost Data phase on larger tenants is expected. Let it finish. If it stays stuck for hours with no progress update, cancel and start a new scan.
Scan was cancelled accidentally
What to do
No rollback is needed. Click Start New Scan again.