Alation Connector for Azure Data Explorer RDBMS OCF

The Azure Data Explorer RDBMS OCF Connector, developed by Logan Data, enables Alation users to automatically extract and catalog metadata from Azure Data Explorer (ADX) clusters, bringing Databases, Tables, and Columns into Alation's unified data intelligence platform as fully searchable, trusted data assets.

Azure Data Explorer is Microsoft Azure's fully managed, high-performance analytics service built for real-time analysis of large volumes of streaming and batch data. It uses the Kusto Query Language (KQL) and is widely used for log analytics, IoT telemetry, application monitoring, and business intelligence. By connecting ADX to Alation through this OCF connector, data analysts, business analysts, and data stewards gain the ability to find, understand, and trust ADX data assets from within Alation's catalog, without needing direct access to the ADX Web UI or writing KQL.

Built on Alation's Open Connector Framework (OCF) with a containerized SDK, this connector uses two distinct Azure REST API tiers to extract metadata accurately and completely:

• Azure Resource Manager APIs (management.azure.com) for Cluster and Database-level metadata including connection URIs and storage configuration
• Kusto REST APIs (api.kusto.windows.net) for Table and Column metadata via KQL management queries (.show tables, .show table schema)

Object mapping - what gets extracted and how it appears in Alation:

• Cluster.Database mapped to Alation Schema: with database name, PersistentStorage value (mapped to Alation Description), and Connection URI (e.g. https://.eastus.kusto.windows.net)
• Table mapped to Alation Table: with table name
• Column mapped to Alation Column: with column name and data type

Authentication and security:

• Azure Trusted Authentication (recommended): Azure Entra ID OAuth 2.0 client credentials flow using client_id and client_secret, the Microsoft-recommended approach for service-to-service connectivity to ADX
• SSL/TLS enforced: ADX accepts HTTPS connections exclusively, ensuring all metadata extraction traffic is encrypted in transit

Extraction capabilities:

• Selective extraction: apply filters at the Cluster or Database level to scope catalog updates to specific ADX resources, configured via the toggle in Alation's connector settings page
• Full extraction: catalog all Databases and their Tables and Columns across all accessible ADX clusters in a single run
• Known limitation: the Azure Clusters List API returns all clusters within one Azure subscription per tenant, clusters from different Azure organizations require separate connector configurations. Use selective extraction to filter to the clusters in use.

Near real-time synchronisation between Azure Data Explorer and Alation ensures analysts are always working with current schema information. A log view of extraction status is visible directly on the connector settings page in Alation.

Compatibility: Alation On-Premise and Alation Cloud Service. Azure subscription with Kusto cluster access and Azure Entra ID service principal required.