Azure Resource Graph is a service in Azure that is designed to extend Azure Resource Management by providing efficient and performant resource exploration with the ability to query at scale across a given set of subscriptions so that you can effectively govern your environment. These queries provide the following features:
- Ability to query resources with complex filtering, grouping, and sorting by resource properties.
- Ability to iteratively explore resources based on governance requirements.
- Ability to assess the impact of applying policies in a vast cloud environment.
- Ability to detail changes made to resource properties (preview).
In this documentation, you’ll go over each feature in detail.
How does Resource Graph complement Azure Resource Manager
Resource Manager currently supports queries over basic resource fields, specifically – Resource name, ID, Type, Resource Group, Subscription, and Location. Resource Manager also provides facilities for calling individual resource providers for detailed properties one resource at a time.
With Azure Resource Graph, you can access these properties the resource providers return without needing to make individual calls to each resource provider. For a list of supported resource types, review the table and resource type reference. An alternative way to see supported resource types is through the Azure Resource Graph Explorer Schema browser.
With Azure Resource Graph, you can:
- Access the properties returned by resource providers without needing to make individual calls to each resource provider.
- View the last 14 days of change history made to the resource to see what properties changed and when. (preview)
How Resource Graph is kept current
When an Azure resource is updated, Resource Graph is notified by Resource Manager of the change. Resource Graph then updates its database. Resource Graph also does a regular full scan. This scan ensures that Resource Graph data is current if there are missed notifications or when a resource is updated outside of Resource Manager.
The query language
Now that you have a better understanding of what Azure Resource Graph is, let’s dive into how to construct queries.
It’s important to understand that Azure Resource Graph’s query language is based on the Kusto query language used by Azure Data Explorer.
First, for details on operations and functions that can be used with Azure Resource Graph, see Resource Graph query language. To browse resources, see explore resources.
Permissions in Azure Resource Graph
To use Resource Graph, you must have appropriate rights in Azure role-based access control (Azure RBAC) with at least read access to the resources you want to query. Without at least read permissions to the Azure object or object group, results won’t be returned.
Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell use subscriptions that the user has access to. When using REST API directly, the subscription list is provided by the user. If the user has access to any of the subscriptions in the list, the query results are returned for the subscriptions the user has access to. This behavior is the same as when calling Resource Groups – List – you get resource groups you’ve access to without any indication that the result may be partial. If there are no subscriptions in the subscription list that the user has appropriate rights to, the response is a 403 (Forbidden).
Throttling
As a free service, queries to Resource Graph are throttled to provide the best experience and response time for all customers. If your organization wants to use the Resource Graph API for large-scale and frequent queries, use portal ‘Feedback’ from the Resource Graph portal page. Provide your business case and select the ‘Microsoft can email you about your feedback’ checkbox in order for the team to contact you.
Resource Graph throttles queries at the user level. The service response contains the following HTTP headers:
x-ms-user-quota-remaining(int): The remaining resource quota for the user. This value maps to query count.x-ms-user-quota-resets-after(hh:mm:ss): The time duration until a user’s quota consumption is reset
For more information, see Guidance for throttled requests.
Running your first query
Azure Resource Graph Explorer, part of Azure portal, enables running Resource Graph queries directly in the Azure portal. Pin the results as dynamic charts to provide real-time dynamic information to your portal workflow. For more information, see First query with Azure Resource Graph Explorer.
Resource Graph supports Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, Azure SDK for Python, and more. The query is structured the same for each language. Learn how to enable Resource Graph with: