Press "Enter" to skip to content

Category: KQL

Building a Graph Visual with Fabric and KQL

Published 2024-08-21 by Kevin Feasel

Brian Sherwin builds a graph:

For quite a while, I have been extremely interested in data visualization. Over the last few years, I have been focused on ways to visualize graph databases (regardless of where the data comes from Using force directed graphs to highlight the similarities or “connected communities” in data is incredibly powerful. The purpose of this post is to highlight the recent work that the Kusto.Explorer team has done to visualize graphs in Azure Data Explorer database with data coming from a Fabric KQL Database.

Note: The Kusto.Explorer application used to visualize the graph is currently only supported on Windows.

I’ll just sit here in the corner with my Linux laptop, not jealous or anything.

Comments closed

Azure Data Explorer Web UI Updates for July 2023

Published 2024-08-16 by Kevin Feasel

Michal Bar has an update for us:

Welcome to the July 2024 update. We are excited to announce new features and improvements in ADX web UI.

Continue reading to learn more about:

  1. Copy query with syntax coloring and KQL IntelliSense improvements
  2. Ad-hoc visual data exploration
  3. Dashboards real time refresh rate
  4. Enhanced data interaction for dashboard tiles
  5. Resize and move dashboard tiles using keyboard only

Click through to continue reading.

Comments closed

Storing Images in Kusto and Visualizing in Power BI or Data Explorer

Published 2024-08-12 by Kevin Feasel

Hauke Mallow shares what is probably a bad idea:

Kusto is a fast and scalable database designed to ingest, store, and analyze large volumes of structured and semi-structured data. For non-structured data like images, Azure Storage is typically the best choice. Databases can reference image data on storage via a URL, meaning images are not directly stored in Kusto. However, there are scenarios where storing image data in Kusto is beneficial. In this blog post, we will explore when it makes sense to store images in Kusto, how to store them, and how to visualize this data using Azure Data Explorer dashboards or Power BI.

I suppose the main benefit would be displaying images in Azure Data Explorer, as that tool might not support loading in external images from a storage account or other sane location. But this feels more like a neat parlor trick than something I’d actively recommend.

Comments closed

Monitoring DirectQuery Connection Openings in Power BI

Published 2024-08-12 by Kevin Feasel

Chris Webb digs into the numbers:

In the past I have blogged about how important the number of connections from a Power BI DirectQuery semantic model to a data source is for performance. It’s also true that in some cases opening a connection, or some of the operations associated with opening a connection, can be very slow. As a result it can be useful to see when your semantic model opens connections to a data source, and you can do this with Log Analytics.

Click through to see how you can do this and some of the information it provides.

Comments closed

Building Real-Time Dashboards from Lakehouse Data in Microsoft Fabric

Published 2024-08-09 by Kevin Feasel

Dennes Torres gets around a limitation:

Real-Time dashboards are a great feature in Real Time Intelligence experience to monitor our data. However, by default it’s made to work only with Kusto Databases. The options to create a real time dashboard or to define its data source only accept Kusto Databases.

What if we would like to see in real time the information we have in a lakehouse as well? Let’s discover a solution for this.

Read on for the solution.

Comments closed

Ad Hoc Data Exploration with Azure Data Explorer

Published 2024-08-01 by Kevin Feasel

Michal Bar introduces a new feature:

We are excited to introduce the new Data Exploration feature, designed to enhance your ability to delve deeper into the data presented on any Dashboard.

If the information you’re seeking isn’t readily available on the dashboard, this feature allows you to extend your exploration beyond the data displayed in the tiles, potentially uncovering new insights.

Directly from a dashboard, you can refine your exploration using a user-friendly, form-like interface. This intuitive and dynamic experience is tailored for insights explorers seeking insights based on high volumes of data in near real time.

Click through to see the new feature in action.

Comments closed

Real-Time Intelligence in Microsoft Fabric

Published 2024-07-05 by Kevin Feasel

Dennes Torres takes a peek at a service with a new name:

When everyone starts to announce Real-Time Intelligence in Microsoft Fabric as something new, I need to double check what’s happening: Am I crazy or is everyone else? Wasn’t this already there?

Finally, I realize that Real-Time Intelligence is a new name for Real-Time Analytics, and they are doing this so fast we don’t even have time to notice the difference.

What’s Real-Time Intelligence and what’s the difference from Real-Time Analytics?

Read on for those answers.

Comments closed

Updating Records in a Kusto Database

Published 2024-06-18 by Kevin Feasel

Vincent-Philippe Lauzon has an announcement:

Kusto databases, either in Fabric (KQL Database) or in Azure (Azure Data Explorer), are optimized for append ingestion.

In recent years, we’ve introduced the .delete command, allowing you to selectively delete records.

In February, we introduced the .update command in public preview.  This command allows you to update records by deleting existing records and appending new ones in a single transaction.

Today, the .update is Generally Available (GA)!

Click through for more details, including a link to the documentation, where you can see several examples of the syntax.

Comments closed

Updating Records in a Kusto Database

Published 2024-02-21 by Kevin Feasel

Vincent-Philippe Lauzon shows off a feature now in public preview:

Kusto databases, either in Azure Data Explorer or in Fabric KQL Database, are optimize for append ingestion.

In recent years, we’ve introduce the .delete command allowing you to selectively delete records.

Today we are introducing the .update command.  This command allows you to update records by deleting existing records and appending new ones in a single transaction.

This command comes with two syntaxes, a simplified syntax covering most scenarios efficiently and an expanded syntax giving you the maximum of control.

Read on for more information and a pair of examples of how updating works.

Comments closed

Using KQL in Azure SQL DB Audits

Published 2023-12-27 by Kevin Feasel

Josephine Bush tracks what’s happening on that Azure SQL Database:

According to Microsoft, “Kusto Query Language (KQL) is a powerful tool to explore your data and discover patterns, identify anomalies and outliers, create statistical modeling, and more. The query uses schema entities that are organized in a hierarchy similar to SQLs: databases, tables, and columns.”

Note: KQL is case-sensitive for everything. Also, remember to refrain from querying everything just like you wouldn’t with SQL — don’t do the equivalent of SELECT * from gianttable.

Microsoft also has a lot of documentation with best practices and a quick reference guide to the Kusto commands. This blog post covers the ones I use the most.

Read on for a primer on the language, specifically some of the things you can do when reading Azure SQL Database audit information.

Comments closed