MODULE 1 — INTRODUCTION TO KQL

1.1 What is Kusto Query Language? KQL is a read-only, columnar, distributed query language optimized for:

• high-volume logs time-series metrics
• observability and diagnostics
• real-time root-cause analysis

It powers:

• Azure Monitor Logs
• Log Analytics Workspaces
• Application Insights
• Azure Data Explorer
• Microsoft Sentinel

Key Characteristics

| Property | Description | | | ———————————- | ———————————————- | — | | Read-only | You cannot update or delete records. | | | Optimized for logs and metrics | High-ingestion, low-latency analysis. | | | Columnar | Efficient scanning of specific columns. | | | Functional style | Piped transformations ( ). | | | Stateless per query | No session context; every query is standalone. | |