Quickstart: Create an Azure Data Explorer cluster and database

Azure Data Explorer is a fast and highly scalable data exploration service for log and telemetry data. To use Azure Data Explorer, you first create a cluster and then create one or more databases in that cluster. This article covers how to create a free cluster and database or create a full cluster and a database. To decide which is right for you, check the feature comparison.

In this article, the full cluster is created in the Azure portal. You can also create a full cluster and database using C#, Python, Go, the Azure CLI, PowerShell, or an Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template. For more information, see Create a cluster and database.

For information on cluster subscription limits, see Azure Data Explorer limits.

Prerequisites

The prerequisites vary whether creating a free or full cluster. Select the relevant tab.

A Microsoft account or a Microsoft Entra user identity to create a free cluster. You don't need an Azure subscription or credit card.

Create a cluster

Select the relevant tab to learn how to create a free or full cluster.

To create a free cluster:

  1. Go to My Cluster and select Create cluster.

    Screenshot of My Cluster page, showing the Create cluster option.

  2. In the Create a free cluster dialog, fill out the cluster details using the following information.

    Screenshot of Create a free cluster dialog, showing the details for creating the cluster.

    Setting Suggested value Description
    Cluster display name MyFreeCluster The display name for your cluster. A unique cluster name will be generated as part of the deployment and the domain name [region].kusto.windows.net is appended to it.
    Database name MyDatabase The name of database to create. The name must be unique within the cluster.
    Select location Europe The location where the cluster will be created.
  3. Review the terms of service and accept them by selecting the corresponding checkbox.

  4. Select Create to provision the cluster. Provisioning typically takes a few minutes.

Create a database

Select the relevant tab to learn how to create a database within your cluster.

To create a database in your free cluster:

  1. Open the Azure Data Explorer web UI.

  2. From the left menu, select My cluster.

  3. Under Actions, find the Create database panel. Then, select Create.

    Screenshot of panel with option to create free cluster.

  4. Enter a name for the database. Select Next: Create Database.

    Screenshot of area to add name for free cluster database.

Run commands in the database

After you created the cluster and database, you can run queries and commands. The database doesn't have data yet, but you can still see how the tools work.

  1. Under Actions, find the Query data panel. Then, select Query. Paste the command .show databases into the query window, then select Run. The result set shows TestDatabase, the only database in the cluster.

    Screenshot of quick action to query data.

  2. Paste the command .show tables into the query window and select Run. This command returns an empty result set because you don't have any tables yet. You'll add a table in the next article in this series.

Stop and restart the cluster

You can't stop and restart a free cluster.

Clean up resources

To delete a database in a free cluster:

  1. Open the Azure Data Explorer web UI.

  2. From the left menu, select My cluster.

  3. Under Databases, select the trash icon next to the database you'd like to delete.

Next step