Create an Azure Data Explorer cluster and database

Article
05/17/2023

Azure Data Explorer is a fast, fully managed data analytics service for real-time analysis on large volumes of data streaming from applications, websites, IoT devices, and more. To use Azure Data Explorer, you first create a cluster, and create one or more databases in that cluster. Then, you can ingest (load) data into a database and run queries against it.

In this article, you'll learn how to create a cluster and a database using either C#, Python, Go, the Azure CLI, PowerShell, or an Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template. To learn how to create a cluster and database using the Azure portal, see Quickstart: Create an Azure Data Explorer cluster and database.

For code samples based on previous SDK versions, see the archived article.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites by method of cluster and database creation:

An Azure subscription. Create a free Azure account.
Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition. Turn on Azure development during the Visual Studio setup.
Install the Microsoft.Azure.Management.Kusto NuGet package.
A Microsoft Entra application and service principal that can access resources. Save the Directory (tenant) ID, Application ID, and Client Secret.

An Azure subscription. Create a free Azure account.
You can use Azure Cloud Shell to run the code in this article without having to install anything on your local environment.
If you choose to install and use the Azure CLI locally, follow the steps in Configure parameters. This article requires the Azure CLI version 2.0.4 or later. Run az --version to check your version. If you need to install or upgrade, see Install the Azure CLI.

Configure the CLI parameters

The following steps aren't required if you're running commands in Azure Cloud Shell. If you're running the CLI locally, follow these steps to set up the environment:

Install extension to use the latest Kusto CLI version:
```
az extension add -n kusto
```
Run the following command to sign in to Azure:
```
az login
```
Set the subscription where you want your cluster to be created. Replace MyAzureSub with the name of the Azure subscription that you want to use:
```
az account set --subscription MyAzureSub
```
Set the resource group where you want your cluster to be created. Replace testrg with the name of the resource group that you want to use:
```
az group create --name testrg --location westus
```

Create an Azure Data Explorer cluster

This section guides you through the process of creating an Azure Data Explorer cluster. Choose the relevant tab for your preferred method to create the cluster.

Create your cluster by using the following code:

var tenantId = "xxxxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx"; //Directory (tenant) ID
var clientId = "xxxxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx"; //Application ID
var clientSecret = "PlaceholderClientSecret"; //Client Secret
var subscriptionId = "xxxxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx";
var credentials = new ClientSecretCredential(tenantId, clientId, clientSecret);
var resourceManagementClient = new ArmClient(credentials, subscriptionId);
var resourceGroupName = "testrg";
var subscription = await resourceManagementClient.GetDefaultSubscriptionAsync();
var resourceGroup = (await subscription.GetResourceGroupAsync(resourceGroupName)).Value;
var clusters = resourceGroup.GetKustoClusters();    
var clusterName = "mykustocluster";
var skuName = KustoSkuName.StandardE8adsV5;
var skuTier = KustoSkuTier.Standard;
var capacity = 5;
var clusterData = new KustoClusterData(
    location: AzureLocation.CentralUS,
    sku: new KustoSku(skuName, skuTier) { Capacity = capacity }
);
await clusters.CreateOrUpdateAsync(WaitUntil.Completed, clusterName, clusterData);

Setting	Suggested value	Field description
clusterName	mykustocluster	The desired name of your cluster.
skuName	Standard_E8ads_v5	The SKU that will be used for your cluster.
tier	Standard	The SKU tier.
capacity	number	The number of instances of the cluster.
resourceGroupName	testrg	The resource group name where the cluster will be created.

Note

Create a cluster is a long running operation, so it's highly recommended to use CreateOrUpdateAsync, instead of CreateOrUpdate.

Run the following command to check whether your cluster was successfully created:
```
clusterData = (await clusters.GetAsync(clusterName)).Value.Data;
```
Confirm the successful creation of the cluster by verifying the result contains provisioningState as Succeeded.

Create your cluster by using the following command:

from azure.mgmt.kusto import KustoManagementClient
from azure.mgmt.kusto.models import Cluster, AzureSku
from azure.common.credentials import ServicePrincipalCredentials

#Directory (tenant) ID
tenant_id = "xxxxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx"
#Application ID
client_id = "xxxxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx"
#Client Secret
client_secret = "xxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
subscription_id = "xxxxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx"
credentials = ServicePrincipalCredentials(
    client_id=client_id,
    secret=client_secret,
    tenant=tenant_id
)

location = 'Central US'
sku_name = 'Standard_E8ads_v5'
capacity = 5
tier = "Standard"
resource_group_name = 'testrg'
cluster_name = 'mykustocluster'
cluster = Cluster(location=location, sku=AzureSku(name=sku_name, capacity=capacity, tier=tier))

kusto_management_client = KustoManagementClient(credentials, subscription_id)

cluster_operations = kusto_management_client.clusters

poller = cluster_operations.begin_create_or_update(resource_group_name, cluster_name, cluster)
poller.wait()

Setting	Suggested value	Field description
cluster_name	mykustocluster	The desired name of your cluster.
sku_name	Standard_E8ads_v5	The SKU that will be used for your cluster.
tier	Standard	The SKU tier.
capacity	number	The number of instances of the cluster.
resource_group_name	testrg	The resource group name where the cluster will be created.

Note

Create a cluster is a long running operation. Method begin_create_or_update returns an instance of LROPoller, see LROPoller class to get more information.

Run the following command to check whether your cluster was successfully created:

cluster_operations.get(resource_group_name = resource_group_name, cluster_name= cluster_name, custom_headers=None, raw=False)

Confirm the successful creation of the cluster by verifying the result contains provisioningState as Succeeded.

The following code shows how to create a cluster. To clone the code repository, see Manage an Azure Data Explorer cluster using Azure Go SDK.

Set the required environment variables including service principal information from the prerequisites. Enter your subscription ID, resource group, and region where you want to create the cluster.

export AZURE_CLIENT_ID="<enter service principal client ID>"
export AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET="<enter service principal client secret>"
export AZURE_TENANT_ID="<enter tenant ID>"

export SUBSCRIPTION="<enter subscription ID>"
export RESOURCE_GROUP="<enter resource group name>"
export LOCATION="<enter azure location e.g. Southeast Asia>"

export CLUSTER_NAME_PREFIX="<enter prefix (cluster name will be [prefix]-ADXTestCluster)>"
export DATABASE_NAME_PREFIX="<enter prefix (database name will be [prefix]-ADXTestDB)>"

Tip

Use auth.NewAuthorizerFromCLIWithResource if you have Azure CLI installed and configured for authentication. In that situation, you don't need to create a service principal.

Run the following code to create the cluster:

import (
 "context"
 "log"
 "os"
 "strconv"

 "github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-go/sdk/azcore/to"
 "github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-go/sdk/azidentity"
 "github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-go/sdk/resourcemanager/kusto/armkusto"
 "github.com/olekukonko/tablewriter"
)

const (
 subscriptionEnvVar      = "AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"
 resourceGroupEnvVar     = "AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP"
 locationEnvVar          = "AZURE_LOCATION"
 clusterNamePrefixEnvVar = "CLUSTER_NAME_PREFIX"
 dbNamePrefixEnvVar      = "DATABASE_NAME_PREFIX"

 clusterName  = "ADXTestCluster"
 databaseName = "ADXTestDB"
)

func init() {
 subscription = os.Getenv(subscriptionEnvVar)
 if subscription == "" {
  log.Fatalf("missing environment variable %s", subscriptionEnvVar)
 }

 rgName = os.Getenv(resourceGroupEnvVar)
 if rgName == "" {
  log.Fatalf("missing environment variable %s", resourceGroupEnvVar)
 }

 location = os.Getenv(locationEnvVar)
 if location == "" {
  log.Fatalf("missing environment variable %s", locationEnvVar)
 }

 clusterNamePrefix = os.Getenv(clusterNamePrefixEnvVar)
 if clusterNamePrefix == "" {
  log.Fatalf("missing environment variable %s", clusterNamePrefixEnvVar)
 }

 dbNamePrefix = os.Getenv(dbNamePrefixEnvVar)
 if dbNamePrefix == "" {
  log.Fatalf("missing environment variable %s", dbNamePrefixEnvVar)
 }
}

func getClustersClient(subscription string) *armkusto.ClustersClient {
 cred, err := azidentity.NewDefaultAzureCredential(nil)
 if err != nil {
  log.Fatal(err)
 }

 client, err := armkusto.NewClustersClient(subscription, cred, nil)
 if err != nil {
  log.Fatal(err)
 }

 return client
}

// 1 instance, Basic tier with compute type Dev(No SLA)_Standard_D11_v2
func createCluster(sub, name, location, rgName string) {
 ctx := context.Background()

 numInstances := int32(1)
 client := getClustersClient(sub)
 result, err := client.BeginCreateOrUpdate(
  ctx,
  rgName,
  name,
  armkusto.Cluster{
   Location: &location,
   SKU: &armkusto.AzureSKU{
    Name:     to.Ptr(armkusto.AzureSKUNameDevNoSLAStandardD11V2),
    Capacity: &numInstances,
    Tier:     to.Ptr(armkusto.AzureSKUTierBasic),
   },
  },
  nil,
 )
 if err != nil {
  log.Fatal("failed to start cluster creation ", err)
 }

 log.Printf("waiting for cluster creation to complete - %s\n", name)
 r, err := result.PollUntilDone(ctx, nil)
 if err != nil {
  log.Fatal(err)
 }

 log.Printf("created cluster %s\n", *r.Name)
}

createCluster(subscription, clusterNamePrefix+clusterName, location, rgName)

List the clusters to ensure successful creation:

func listClusters(sub, rgName string) {
 log.Printf("listing clusters in resource group %s\n", rgName)
 ctx := context.Background()

 result := getClustersClient(sub).NewListByResourceGroupPager(rgName, nil)

 data := [][]string{}

 for result.More() {
  temp, err := result.NextPage(ctx)
  if err != nil {
   log.Fatal(err)
  }
  for _, c := range temp.Value {
   data = append(data, []string{*c.Name, string(*c.Properties.State), *c.Location, strconv.Itoa(int(*c.SKU.Capacity)), *c.Properties.URI})
  }
 }

 table := tablewriter.NewWriter(os.Stdout)
 table.SetHeader([]string{"Name", "State", "Location", "Instances", "URI"})

 for _, v := range data {
  table.Append(v)
 }
 table.Render()
}

listClusters(subscription, rgName)

Create your cluster by using the following command:

az kusto cluster create --cluster-name azureclitest --sku name="Standard_E8ads_v5" tier="Standard" --resource-group testrg --location westus

Setting	Suggested value	Field description
name	azureclitest	The desired name of your cluster.
sku	Standard_E8ads_v5	The SKU that will be used for your cluster. Parameters: name - The SKU name. tier - The SKU tier.
resource-group	testrg	The resource group name where the cluster will be created.
location	westus	The location where the cluster will be created.

There are other optional parameters that you can use, such as the capacity of the cluster.

Run the following command to check whether your cluster was successfully created:
```
az kusto cluster show --cluster-name azureclitest --resource-group testrg
```
Confirm the successful creation of the cluster by verifying the result contains provisioningState as Succeeded.

Create your cluster by using the following command:

 New-AzKustoCluster -ResourceGroupName testrg -Name mykustocluster -Location westus2 -SkuTier Standard -SkuCapacity 2 -SkuName 'Standard_E8ads_v5'

Setting	Suggested value	Field description
Name	mykustocluster	The desired name of your cluster.
Sku	Standard_E8ads_v5	The SKU that will be used for your cluster.
ResourceGroupName	testrg	The resource group name where the cluster will be created.

There are other optional parameters that you can use, such as the capacity of the cluster.

Run the following command to check whether your cluster was successfully created:
```
Get-AzKustoCluster -Name mykustocluster -ResourceGroupName testrg
```
Confirm the successful creation of the cluster by verifying the result contains provisioningState as Succeeded.

To learn how to deploy the following ARM template using PowerShell, see Use the ARM template. Alternatively, you can deploy the template in the Azure portal by selecting Deploy to Azure.

ARM template

You can use this template for your own deployments, or customize it to meet your requirements. For the JSON syntax and properties to use in a template, see Microsoft.Kusto resource types.

{
    "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
    "parameters": {
        "clusters_kustocluster_name": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "[concat('kusto', uniqueString(resourceGroup().id))]",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "Name of the cluster to create"
            }
        },
        "databases_kustodb_name": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "kustodb",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "Name of the database to create"
            }
        },
        "location": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "[resourceGroup().location]",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "Location for all resources."
            }
        }
    },
    "variables": {},
    "resources": [
        {
            "name": "[parameters('clusters_kustocluster_name')]",
            "type": "Microsoft.Kusto/clusters",
            "sku": {
                "name": "Standard_E8ads_v5",
                "tier": "Standard",
                "capacity": 2
            },
            "apiVersion": "2022-12-29",
            "location": "[parameters('location')]",
            "tags": {
                "Created By": "GitHub quickstart template"
            },
            "properties": {
                "trustedExternalTenants": [],
                "optimizedAutoscale": {
                    "version": 1,
                    "isEnabled": true,
                    "minimum": 2,
                    "maximum": 10
                },
                "enableDiskEncryption": false,
                "enableStreamingIngest": false,
                "virtualNetworkConfiguration": {
                    "subnetId": "<subnet resource id>",
                    "enginePublicIpId": "<Engine service's public IP address resource id>",
                    "dataManagementPublicIpId": "<Data management's service public IP address resource id>"
                },
                "keyVaultProperties": {
                    "keyName": "<Key name>",
                    "keyVaultUri": "<Key vault uri>",
                    "userIdentity": "<ResourceId of user assigned managed identity>"
                },
                "enablePurge": false,
                "enableDoubleEncryption": false,
                "engineType": "V3"
            },
            "identity": {
                "type": "SystemAssigned, UserAssigned",
                "userAssignedIdentities": {
                    "<ResourceId of managed identity>": {}
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "[concat(parameters('clusters_kustocluster_name'), '/', parameters('databases_kustodb_name'))]",
            "type": "Microsoft.Kusto/clusters/databases",
            "apiVersion": "2022-12-29",
            "location": "[parameters('location')]",
            "dependsOn": [
                "[resourceId('Microsoft.Kusto/clusters', parameters('clusters_kustocluster_name'))]"
            ],
            "properties": {
                "softDeletePeriodInDays": 365,
                "hotCachePeriodInDays": 31
            }
        }
    ]
}

Use the ARM template

The following steps explain how to deploy the ARM template using PowerShell.

Open Azure Cloud Shell, and follow the instructions to sign in.

Select Copy to copy the PowerShell script.

$projectName = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter a project name that is used for generating resource names"
$location = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter the location (i.e. centralus)"
$resourceGroupName = "${projectName}rg"
$clusterName = "${projectName}cluster"
$parameters = @{}
$parameters.Add("clusters_kustocluster_name", $clusterName)
$templateUri = "https://azure.microsoft.com/resources/templates/kusto-cluster-database/"
New-AzResourceGroup -Name $resourceGroupName -Location $location
New-AzResourceGroupDeployment -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -TemplateUri $templateUri -TemplateParameterObject $parameters
Write-Host "Press [ENTER] to continue ..."

Right-click the shell console, and then select Paste.

Note

It takes a few minutes to create an Azure Data Explorer cluster and database.

To verify the deployment, use the following Azure PowerShell script. If the Cloud Shell is still open, you don't need to copy/run the first line (Read-Host).

$projectName = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter the same project name that you used in the last procedure"

Install-Module -Name Az.Kusto
$resourceGroupName = "${projectName}rg"
$clusterName = "${projectName}cluster"

Get-AzKustoCluster -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Name $clusterName
Write-Host "Press [ENTER] to continue ..."

Create an Azure Data Explorer database

In this section, you'll create a database within the cluster created in the previous section.

Create your database by using the following code:

var cluster = (await clusters.GetAsync(clusterName)).Value;
var databases = cluster.GetKustoDatabases();
var databaseName = "mykustodatabase";
var softDeletePeriod = TimeSpan.FromDays(3650);
var hotCachePeriod = TimeSpan.FromDays(3650);
var databaseData = new KustoReadWriteDatabase
{
    Location = clusterData.Location, SoftDeletePeriod = softDeletePeriod, HotCachePeriod = hotCachePeriod
};
await databases.CreateOrUpdateAsync(WaitUntil.Completed, databaseName, databaseData);

Note

If you are using C# version 2.0.0 or below, use Database instead of ReadWriteDatabase.

Setting	Suggested value	Field description
clusterName	mykustocluster	The name of your cluster where the database will be created.
databaseName	mykustodatabase	The name of your database.
resourceGroupName	testrg	The resource group name where the cluster will be created.
softDeletePeriod	3650:00:00:00	The amount of time that data will be kept available to query.
hotCachePeriod	3650:00:00:00	The amount of time that data will be kept in cache.

Run the following command to see the database that you created:

databaseData = (await databases.GetAsync(databaseName)).Value.Data as KustoReadWriteDatabase;

Create your database by using the following command:

from azure.mgmt.kusto import KustoManagementClient
from azure.common.credentials import ServicePrincipalCredentials
from azure.mgmt.kusto.models import ReadWriteDatabase
from datetime import timedelta

#Directory (tenant) ID
tenant_id = "xxxxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx"
#Application ID
client_id = "xxxxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx"
#Client Secret
client_secret = "xxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
subscription_id = "xxxxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx"
credentials = ServicePrincipalCredentials(
    client_id=client_id,
    secret=client_secret,
    tenant=tenant_id
)

location = 'Central US'
resource_group_name = 'testrg'
cluster_name = 'mykustocluster'
soft_delete_period = timedelta(days=3650)
hot_cache_period = timedelta(days=3650)
database_name = "mykustodatabase"

kusto_management_client = KustoManagementClient(credentials, subscription_id)

database_operations = kusto_management_client.databases
database = ReadWriteDatabase(location=location,
      soft_delete_period=soft_delete_period,
      hot_cache_period=hot_cache_period)

poller = database_operations.begin_create_or_update(resource_group_name = resource_group_name, cluster_name = cluster_name, database_name = database_name, parameters = database)
poller.wait()

Note

If you are using Python version 0.4.0 or below, use Database instead of ReadWriteDatabase.

Setting	Suggested value	Field description
cluster_name	mykustocluster	The name of your cluster where the database will be created.
database_name	mykustodatabase	The name of your database.
resource_group_name	testrg	The resource group name where the cluster will be created.
soft_delete_period	3650 days, 0:00:00	The amount of time that data will be kept available to query.
hot_cache_period	3650 days, 0:00:00	The amount of time that data will be kept in cache.

Run the following command to see the database that you created:

database_operations.get(resource_group_name = resource_group_name, cluster_name = cluster_name, database_name = database_name)

The following code shows how to create a database. The package imports and environment variable initiation is the same as in the previous section. To clone the code repository, see Manage an Azure Data Explorer cluster using Azure Go SDK.

Run the following code to create the database:

func createDatabase(sub, rgName, clusterName, location, dbName string) {
 ctx := context.Background()

 client := getDBClient(sub)
 future, err := client.BeginCreateOrUpdate(ctx, rgName, clusterName, dbName, &armkusto.ReadWriteDatabase{Kind: to.Ptr(armkusto.KindReadWrite), Location: &location}, nil)

 if err != nil {
  log.Fatal("failed to start database creation ", err)
 }

 log.Printf("waiting for database creation to complete - %s\n", dbName)
 resp, err := future.PollUntilDone(ctx, nil)
 if err != nil {
  log.Fatal(err)
 }

 kdb := resp.GetDatabase()
 log.Printf("created DB %s with ID %s and type %s\n", *kdb.Name, *kdb.ID, *kdb.Type)
}

createDatabase(subscription, rgName, clusterNamePrefix+clusterName, location, dbNamePrefix+databaseName)

List the databases to ensure successful creation:

func listDatabases(sub, rgName, clusterName string) {
 log.Printf("listing databases in cluster %s\n", clusterName)

 ctx := context.Background()
 result := getDBClient(sub).NewListByClusterPager(rgName, clusterName, nil)

 data := [][]string{}

 for result.More() {
  temp, err := result.NextPage(ctx)
  if err != nil {
   log.Fatal(err)
  }
  for _, db := range temp.Value {
   if *db.GetDatabase().Kind == armkusto.KindReadWrite {
    data = append(data, []string{*db.GetDatabase().Name, string(*db.GetDatabase().Kind), *db.GetDatabase().Location, *db.GetDatabase().Type})
   }
  }
 }

 table := tablewriter.NewWriter(os.Stdout)
 table.SetHeader([]string{"Name", "State", "Location", "Type"})

 for _, v := range data {
  table.Append(v)
 }
 table.Render()
}

listDatabases(subscription, rgName, clusterNamePrefix+clusterName)

Create your database by using the following command:

az kusto database create --cluster-name azureclitest --database-name clidatabase --resource-group testrg --read-write-database soft-delete-period=P365D hot-cache-period=P31D location=westus

Setting	Suggested value	Field description
cluster-name	azureclitest	The name of your cluster where the database will be created.
database-name	clidatabase	The name of your database.
resource-group	testrg	The resource group name where the cluster will be created.
read-write-database	P365D P31D westus	The database type. Parameters: soft-delete-period - Signifies the amount of time the data will be kept available to query. See retention policy for more information. hot-cache-period - Signifies the amount of time the data will be kept in cache. See cache policy for more information. location -The location where the database will be created.

Run the following command to see the database that you created:

az kusto database show --database-name clidatabase --resource-group testrg --cluster-name azureclitest

Create your database by using the following command:

New-AzKustoDatabase -ResourceGroupName testrg -ClusterName mykustocluster -Name mykustodatabase -SoftDeletePeriod 3650:00:00:00 -HotCachePeriod 3650:00:00:00

Setting	Suggested value	Field description
ClusterName	mykustocluster	The name of your cluster where the database will be created.
Name	mykustodatabase	The name of your database.
ResourceGroupName	testrg	The resource group name where the cluster will be created.
SoftDeletePeriod	3650:00:00:00	The amount of time that data will be kept available to query.
HotCachePeriod	3650:00:00:00	The amount of time that data will be kept in cache.

Run the following command to see the database that you created:

Get-AzKustoDatabase -ClusterName mykustocluster -ResourceGroupName testrg -Name mykustodatabase

Next step

Create a table

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Create an Azure Data Explorer cluster and database

Prerequisites

Configure the CLI parameters

Configure parameters

Create an Azure Data Explorer cluster

ARM template

Use the ARM template

Create an Azure Data Explorer database

Next step

Feedback

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