Azure Resource Graph Query Essentials and Best Practices

Azure Resource Graph (ARG) is a powerful tool for querying and analyzing Azure resources. It allows you to write complex queries to gather insights and automate tasks.

To get started with ARG, you'll need to understand the basics of Kusto Query Language (KQL), which is used to write queries. KQL is a SQL-like language that's specifically designed for querying large datasets.

ARG queries can be written in the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell. To write an effective query, you need to understand the data model and the relationships between resources.

ARG provides a robust data model that includes entities, relationships, and calculated columns. Understanding this data model is crucial to writing efficient and effective queries.

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Azure Resource Graph queries can be run either in Azure Portal or via PowerShell. To run queries in Azure Portal, Azure Resource Graph Explorer can be used, which has a user interface where you can find supported Resource Graph tables that you can use in your queries.

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You can use the First and Skip parameters when you have more than 1000 resources to list. This is useful for managing large datasets.

Here are some sample queries that you can use with Resource Graph: Lists all resources with their default details, such as ID, name, subscriptionId, resourceGroup, etc.

Basic queries are a great place to start when working with Resource Graph. You can use them to explore and understand the data available in Resource Graph.

Some sample queries can be used with Resource Graph, as shown in examples. These queries can help you get familiar with the syntax and structure of Resource Graph queries.

Azure Resource Graph Queries is another blade in the portal where you can store and manage your saved queries. You can share them with other users if needed.

All of the Azure Resource Graph queries are stored in a JSON file, which can be opened in Visual Studio Code for further customization.

Azure Resource Graph allows you to query quickly and efficiently across one or many subscriptions to explore resources and their properties within your Azure environment. The Azure Portal's search bar and the 'All Resources' blade are all powered by Azure Resource Graph.

You can use the Azure Resource Graph Queries blade in the portal to store and share your saved queries with other users. The queries are stored in a JSON file, which you can open in Visual Studio Code to view and amend them.

Some useful basic queries include listing all resources, finding storage accounts with a specific tag, and listing public IP addresses along with their resource IDs. You can also use regular expressions to match virtual machines that meet certain criteria.

Here are some examples of simple Kusto queries:

Azure Resource Graph works by keeping a cached copy of your resources and their properties within a few Log Analytics tables, which are automatically created and updated without any additional configuration or cost.

These tables get updated by the Azure Resource Manager every time a resource is created, updated or deleted by yourself or others, which ensures that the data is always up-to-date.

Microsoft aims to get 95% of resource changes into Resource Graph within 1 minute of the change completion, which means you can rely on the data being current and accurate.

Resource Graph regularly performs full scans of your resources to ensure nothing is missed, so you can be confident that you're getting a complete picture of your Azure environment.

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Connecting to Azure Resource Graph is a crucial step before you can start querying resources. The provider for Azure Resource Graph is named ResourceGraph.

To authenticate, you'll need to use MSTICPy's Azure authentication features. You can provide a set of authentication methods when connecting, but by default, the provider will attempt to authenticate using credentials stored in msticpyconfig.yaml (or as environment variables) and an Azure CLI connection.

You can customize the authentication process with the 'auth_methods' keyword. Once successfully connected, you'll be presented with a "Connected" message.

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Removing columns from your query results can be a real game-changer, especially when you're dealing with a lot of data.

The `project-away` function is a great tool for this, as shown in Example 1. It allows you to remove unwanted columns from your results, making it easier to focus on what matters.

By using `project-away`, you can simplify your results and get straight to the point. This can be especially helpful when you're trying to identify patterns or trends in your data.

For example, the query in Example 1 uses `project-away` to remove some columns after joining with the `ResourceContainers` table. This helps to declutter the results and make them more manageable.

By removing unnecessary columns, you can also improve the performance of your queries, making them faster and more efficient. This is a win-win situation!

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Querying resources can be a bit overwhelming, but don't worry, I've got you covered. You can list all tag names by starting your query with the tag and building a JSON object that lists all unique tag names and their corresponding types.

This query is a great way to get a quick overview of all the tags in your system. It's especially useful if you're trying to organize your resources or identify patterns in your data.

The query is quite straightforward, and it's a good starting point for more complex queries. By listing all tag names, you can see what types of data you're working with and plan your next steps accordingly.

For example, if you're working with a large dataset, listing all tag names can help you identify the most common tags and focus on those first.

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The PowerShell Module is a powerful tool for querying Azure resources.

Az.ResourceGraph is the module used in PowerShell to run Resource Graph queries.

You can use a simple query in PowerShell to list all resources with a specific name, such as resources starting with "Network."

A Kusto query can be used to list all resources, and it's easy to customize the query to fit your needs.

The Az.ResourceGraph module allows you to run Resource Graph queries against Azure resources across the entire tenant or set of subscriptions.

You can use the module to list all Public IP addresses along with their Resource IDs.

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Regex Matching is a powerful tool for querying resources. It allows you to define a pattern that the resource must match in order to be included in the results.

You can use regex to match virtual machines, as shown in the example where the query looks for virtual machines that match the regex ^Contoso(.*)[0-9]+$.

This regex definition is broken down into several parts: ^ matches the start of the string, Contoso is a case-sensitive string, (.*), [0-9], and + are used to match a subexpression and numbers one or more times, respectively. $ matches the end of the string.

The regex definition can be summarized in a table:

This table helps to illustrate the different parts of the regex definition and how they work together to match the desired pattern.