This utility allows you to execute queries against an Azure Data Explorer (ADX) database and output the results in various formats directly to stdout. The script is written in Python and uses the azure-kusto-data package to interact with the ADX cluster.

This utility is a simple and short demonstration of using the Azure Python SDK for querying data from ADX.

A much better and far more complete option is the Kusto CLI available at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/data-explorer/kusto/tools/kusto-cli.

This script authenticates using the Azure CLI. You must be logged in to the Azure CLI with an account that has access to the Azure Data Explorer cluster you are querying.

If you wish to run the script natively on your machine, you can follow the instructions below. If you prefer to run the script in a Docker container, see the next section.

Before you begin, ensure you have Python installed on your system. This script was developed with Python 3.8, but it should work with Python 3.6 and above. You also need pip for installing Python packages.

Under macOS and Linux, Python is usually pre-installed. You can check the version of Python installed on your system by running the following command in your terminal:

python3 --version

Under macOS, if you want a more recent version of Python than what is provided by your OS, you can install it using Homebrew. See https://docs.brew.sh/Homebrew-and-Python for instructions.

Under Windows, it's possible to install Python and pip from the Microsoft Store. Open the Microsoft Store and search for Python. Install the latest version of Python 3.

To set up your environment to run the script, follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository or download the project
   If you have git installed, you can clone the repository using:
   git clone <repository-url>

2. Configure a Python Virtual Environment Navigate to the root of the project directory and run the following commands:

   macOS / Linux / Windows with WSL

   python3 -m venv ./venv
   source ./venv/bin/activate

   Windows

   python -m venv venv
   .\venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install dependencies
   After configuring a virttual environment and activating it, navigate to the directory containing requirements.txt and run the following command:
   pip install -r requirements.txt
   This will install the necessary Python packages listed in requirements.txt, but inside the virtual environment you created above instead of global for your installation of Python.

4. Install the Azure CLI Install the Azure CLI for your environment. Instructions here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/

If you're having trouble getting the script to run under Windows, you could try running under Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). This is a feature of Windows that allows you to run a Linux environment directly on Windows. You can install WSL by following the instructions here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install. Form within WSL, you can follow the instructions above for macOS and Linux.

Using this script is simple but requires a few steps.

To use the script, first authenticate using the Azure Cli

az login

Login with an account that has access to the Azure Data Explorer cluster you want to query.

Navigate to the script's directory in your terminal or command prompt and activate the Python virtual environment you created earlier. You only need to do this once per terminal window or command prompt.

macOS / Linux / Windows with WSL

source ./venv/bin/activate

Windows

.\venv\Scripts\activate

Still in the script's directory in your terminal or command prompt, run the command that corresponds to the output format you want:

macOS / Linux / Windows with WSL

# Output to CSV
python k2csv.py --queryFile "/path/to/query/file" --database "name-of-database-to-query" --adxUrl "https://<cluster-address>"

# Output to JSON
python k2json.py --queryFile "/path/to/query/file" --database "name-of-database-to-query" --adxUrl "https://<cluster-address>"

Windows

# Output to CSV
python k2csv.py --queryFile "C:\path\to\query\file" --database "name-of-database-to-query" --adxUrl "https://<cluster-address>"
# Output to JSON
python k2json.py --queryFile "C:\path\to\query\file" --database "name-of-database-to-query" --adxUrl "https://<cluster-address>"

Note: The first time you run the script, it might take a few seconds for authentication to complete. Subsequent runs within a reasonable time of each other should be faster.

When the script runs, it will output the results of the query to the terminal in the format you specified. If you would like to save the output to a file, you can redirect the output to a file using the > operator. For example:

macOS / Linux / Windows with WSL

python k2csv.py --queryFile "/path/to/query/file" --database "name-of-database-to-query" --adxUrl "https://<cluster-address>" > output.csv

Windows

python k2csv.py --queryFile "C:\path\to\query\file" --database "name-of-database-to-query" --adxUrl "https://<cluster-address>" > output.csv

If you prefer to run the script in a Docker container, you can use the provided Dockerfile to build an image and run a container. This is a good option if you don't want to install Python and the Azure CLI on your machine.

Before you begin, ensure you have Docker installed on your system. You can download Docker Desktop from https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop.

To build the Docker image, navigate to the root of the project directory in your terminal or command prompt and run the following command:

macOS / Linux / Windows with WSL

docker compose build

Windows

docker compose build

To use the script, first authenticate using the Azure Cli

docker compose run -rm kusto-query-cli az login

Login with an account that has access to the Azure Data Explorer cluster you want to query.

Authentication will be persisted in the Docker container using a Docker volume. This means you only need to authenticate once per container (until the volume is removed or your credentials expire).

To force dropping the active login:

docker compose run -rm kusto-query-cli az logout

You can also force the container to forget your credentials by removing the volume. To do this, run the following command:

docker compose down --volumes

Note: For the docker version, all queries you run must be placed in the ./queries directory. The script will look for the query file in that directory exclusively!

To run the script via the Docker container, use the following command:

macOS / Linux / Windows with WSL

# JSON
docker compose run -rm kusto-query-cli python k2json.py --queryFile "./queries/query-file" --database "name-of-database-to-query" --adxUrl "https://<cluster-address>"
# CSV
docker compose run -rm kusto-query-cli python k2csv.py --queryFile "./queries/query-file" --database "name-of-database-to-query" --adxUrl "https://<cluster-address>"

Windows

# JSON
docker compose run -rm kusto-query-cli python k2json.py --queryFile ".\queries\query-file" --database "name-of-database-to-query" --adxUrl "https://<cluster-address>"
 CSV
docker compose run -rm kusto-query-cli python k2csv.py --queryFile ".\queries\query-file" --database "name-of-database-to-query" --adxUrl "https://<cluster-address>"

Note: The first time you run the script, it might take a few seconds for authentication to complete. Subsequent runs within a reasonable time of each other should be faster.

The output of the script will be printed to the terminal. If you would like to save the output to a file, you can redirect the output to a file using the > operator. For example:

macOS / Linux / Windows with WSL

docker compose run -rm kusto-query-cli python k2json.py --queryFile "./queries/query-file" --database "name-of-database-to-query" --adxUrl "https://<cluster-address>" > output.csv

Windows

docker compose run -rm kusto-query-cli python k2json.py --queryFile ".\queries\query-file" --database "name-of-database-to-query" --adxUrl "https://<cluster-address>" > output.csv

This script can be tested against the free and public Help cluster provided by Microsoft. The URL of that cluster is https://help.kusto.windows.net. This cluster is available to all. Although you'll still need to log in with the Azure CLI, this cluster accepts connections from anyone.

A database in that cluster is called FindMyPartner, and it has a table called Partner that can be queried with the following query:

Partner
| project Partner, PartnerType, Website, Contact, Logo 
| limit 10

To run this command against the Help cluster, use the following command:

python k2json.py --queryFile "./queries/example-find-my-partner-simple-query.kql" --database "FindMyPartner" --adxUrl "https://help.kusto.windows.net"