Must Learn KQL Part 1: Tools and Resources (2024)

This post is part of an ongoing series to educate about the simplicity and power of the Kusto Query Language (KQL). If you’d like the 90-second post-commercial recap that seems to be a standard part of every TV show these days…

The full series index (including code and queries) is located here:

https://aka.ms/MustLearnKQL

The book version (pdf) of this series is located here:

https://github.com/rod-trent/MustLearnKQL/tree/main/Book_Version

The book will be updated when each new part in this series is released.

After hearing that our customers’ largest barrier to using things like Defender, Microsoft Sentinel and even reporting for Intune is KQL, the query language, that was a wake-up call for me. And, of course, (if you know me) I want to do something about it. KQL is a beautifully simple query language to learn. And, believe me – if I can learn it, there’s no question that you can learn it. I feel bad that there’s just not enough knowledge around it because I’ve taken for granted that everyone already had the proper resources to become proficient. But, that’s not the case.

Internally, plans are being developed now to make KQL learning a bigger focus and you’ll see new education around this query language start to take shape in various areas on the Microsoft properties and elsewhere. So, that’s good news for everyone.

There’s bits and pieces already scattered about the Internet, but they are seemingly now difficult to identify and locate.

So, as a first step in a series that I’ll be writing called “Must Learn KQL“, I want to supply some good resources that can be used to accomplish the other things I’ll talk about going forward. Some of these I use everyday. Some I use only when the need arises, but they’re valuable nonetheless. This is a working document, so expect updates over time. This is not a definitive list by any means, so if you have other resources not listed here that you find valuable and believe others would benefit, let me know and I’ll add them in.

Stay tuned as I map out this series. Of course, since my area of forte at Microsoft is security, the series will be security focused. So, the knowledge you gain will help you with our security platforms but also anything data centric that utilizes KQL.

One last tidbit of a tip… I use Microsoft Edge’s Collections feature quite a bit. This is an extremely useful tool for capturing and grouping topics. If you find any of the links below valuable, I suggest using Edge Collections so you can always come back to them later.

Reference

The code repository for this series (GitHub)

Kusto Query Language Reference Guide

Azure Monitor Logs table reference

Marcus Bakker’s Kusto Query Language (KQL) – cheat sheet

SQL to Kusto cheat sheet

Splunk to Kusto Query Language map

Kusto Query Language in Microsoft Sentinel

Useful resources for working with Kusto Query Language in Microsoft Sentinel

Practice Environments

Write your first query with Kusto Query Language (Learn module)

KQL Playground – only need a valid Microsoft account to access.

Data Explorer – not security focused. Contains things like geographical data and weather patterns. Exercises for this can be found in the Learn Azure Sentinel book below.

Actual Books

Learn Azure Sentinel: Integrate Azure security with artificial intelligence to build secure cloud systems – this book uses Data Explorer (see above) for hands-on exercises.

Microsoft Sentinel in Action: Architect, design, implement, and operate Microsoft Sentinel as the core of your security solutions – this book is the next edition of the one just above and also used Data Explorer for hands-on examples.

Tools

Kusto.Explorer – a rich desktop application that enables you to explore your data using the Kusto Query Language in an easy-to-use user interface.

Kusto CLI – a command-line utility that is used to send requests to Kusto, and display the results.

Visual Studio Code with the Kusto extensions pack

Real-Time KQL – eliminates the need to ingest data first before querying by processing event streams with KQL queries as events arrive, in real-time

getschema operator – As I noted in Part 5 of this series: this is the Rosetta stone of KQL operators. When used, getschema displays the Column Name, Column Ordinal, Data Type, and Column Type for a table. This is important information for filtering data. Part 5 talks about this.

Blogs, Websites, and Social

#MustLearnKQL – the official Twitter hashtag of this series

The #KQL hashtag on Twitter

The #365daysofkql hashtag on Twitter

Kusto King

The KQL Cafe = podcast and community

Video

TeachJing’s KQL Tutorial Series

Recon your Azure resources with Kusto Query Language (KQL)

How to start with KQL?

Azure Sentinel webinar: KQL part 1 of 3 – Learn the KQL you need for Azure Sentinel

Azure Sentinel webinar: KQL part 2 of 3 – KQL hands-on lab exercises

Azure Sentinel webinar: KQL part 3 of 3 – Optimizing Azure Sentinel KQL queries performance

Querying Azure Log Analytics (with KQL)

GitHub Query Examples

My GitHub repo for Microsoft Sentinel KQL

The official Microsoft Sentinel repo

Wortell’s KQL queries

Clive Watson’s KQL queries and workbooks

Matt Zorich’s (the originator of the #365daysofkql Twitter hashtag) KQL queries

Must Learn KQL Part 1: Tools and Resources (2024)

FAQs

Is KQL easy to learn? ›

KQL is a simple yet powerful language to query structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. The language is expressive, easy to read and understand the query intent, and optimized for authoring experiences.

Why use KQL instead of SQL? ›

Advantages of KQL Over SQL

Ease of Use for Time Series Analysis: KQL's built-in functions and syntax make it particularly well-suited for time-series data analysis tasks, such as analyzing telemetry data or logs.

What is the difference between limit and take in KQL? ›

Note: take and limit are synonyms. Adds a condition statement, similar to if/then/elseif in other systems. Returns the time offset relative to the time the query executes.

Does Azure use KQL? ›

Kusto Query Language (KQL) is used to write queries in Azure Data Explorer, Azure Monitor Log Analytics, Azure Sentinel, and more. This tutorial is an introduction to the essential KQL operators used to access and analyze your data.

What is the difference between KQL and AQL? ›

The Ariel Query Language (AQL) is a structured query language that you use to query and manipulate event and flow data from the Ariel database in IBM QRadar. The Kusto Query Language (KQL) is a query language that you can use to query the QRadar data lake.

Does log analytics use KQL? ›

Azure Monitor Logs is based on Azure Data Explorer, and log queries are written by using the same Kusto Query Language (KQL). This rich language is designed to be easy to read and author, so you should be able to start writing queries with some basic guidance.

What are the limitations of KQL? ›

KQL limitations

Since the transformation is applied to each record individually, it can't use any KQL operators that act on multiple records. Only operators that take a single row as input and return no more than one row are supported.

Does Splunk use Kusto? ›

In the following examples, the Splunk field rule maps to a table in Kusto, and Splunk's default timestamp maps to the Logs Analytics ingestion_time() column.

How do I write a KQL query? ›

Building KQL queries
  1. Go to Menu > Data Explorer > Search. Tip: You can also click Start searching in the home page.
  2. From the query type drop-down list, select Logs/Alerts (KQL).
  3. In the query text field, enter your query.

What is the maximum length of a KQL query? ›

The length limit of a KQL query varies depending on how you create it. If you create the KQL query by using the default SharePoint search front end, the length limit is 2,048 characters. However, KQL queries you create programmatically by using the Query object model have a default length limit of 4,096 characters.

What is extend in KQL? ›

The extend operator adds a new column to the input result set, which does not have an index. In most cases, if the new column is set to be exactly the same as an existing table column that has an index, Kusto can automatically use the existing index.

What is the use of take command in KQL? ›

take is a simple, quick, and efficient way to view a small sample of records when browsing data interactively, but be aware that it doesn't guarantee any consistency in its results when executing multiple times, even if the dataset hasn't changed.

Who invented KQL? ›

Why Microsoft invented KQL rather than using SQL for Azure Data Explorer - Stack Overflow.

Why is KQL called Kusto? ›

Kusto was the original codename for the Azure Application Insights platform that Azure Monitor is now based on. If you're wondering where the name comes from, it's named after Jacques Cousteau – a French undersea explorer – and you'll see some cheeky references to Jacques in the Kusto documentation.

Is KQL a programming language? ›

Kusto Query Language, or KQL, is a read-only request language used to write queries for Azure Data Explorer (ADX), Azure Monitor Log Analytics, Azure Sentinel, and more. The request is stated in plain text, using a data-flow model that is easy to read, author, and automate.

Is it easy to learn Azure Data Engineer? ›

Becoming an Azure Data Engineer with no experience can be a steep climb, but it's not out of reach. Start by gaining a solid understanding of data engineering principles and Azure's cloud services through online courses and certifications like Microsoft's Azure Data Engineer Associate.

Is Azure easy to learn for beginners? ›

As we'll see, learning Microsoft Azure isn't necessarily difficult, but it is going to be filled with challenges. You're going to learn new things, you're going to challenge some of your old assumptions, and you're going to become acquainted with technologies and approaches you never would have considered otherwise.

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