Automatic stop of inactive Azure Data Explorer clusters

Azure Data Explorer clusters that have been inactive for a specified time interval are automatically stopped. Inactivity is defined by having no data ingestion or queries, and cluster average CPU below a certain threshold (1% of capacity).

Automatic stop (Auto-Stop) happens on the following schedule:

First, you'll receive several days of recommendations to stop the cluster through Azure Advisor. For more information about these recommendations, see Cost recommendations.

  • If the inactive cluster has a small amount or no data, it's stopped after five days.
  • If the inactive cluster has data ingested, it's stopped after 10 days.

Cluster behavior isn't automatically resumed. To restart the cluster, do so manually.

Note

Leader clusters aren't automatically stopped. For more information, see follower databases.

Manage Automatic stop behavior on your cluster

Azure Data Explorer clusters are created by default with the cluster property of enableAutoStop = true. This property can be set or altered either on cluster creation or post creation.

Set this property using one of the following methods, our using the Azure portal:

For more information, see Azure Data Explorer cluster request body.

Azure portal

Set Auto-Stop settings while creating a new cluster

  1. Follow the steps in Create an Azure Data Explorer cluster and database.
  2. In the Configurations tab, select Auto-Stop cluster > On.

Screenshot of auto-stop configuration.

Modify settings on an existing cluster

To enable/disable Auto-Stop cluster after cluster was created:

  1. Sign into the Azure portal.
  2. Browse to your Azure Data Explorer cluster.
  3. In Settings, select Configurations.
  4. In the Configurations pane, select On/Off to enable/disable Auto-Stop cluster.
  5. Select Save.

Screenshot of auto-stop configuration in Azure portal.

Verify Auto-Stop using the Activity log

When a cluster is automatically stopped, an Activity log is sent. To verify when and how the cluster was stopped, use the following steps:

  1. Sign into the Azure portal.
  2. Browse to Azure Data Explorer cluster.
  3. On the left pane, select Activity log.
  4. Choose a timespan.
  5. Under Operation name, look for Stop Clusters.

Screenshot of activity log.

Examples

REST example

Update the cluster using the following operation:

PATCH https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789098/resourceGroups/kustorgtest/providers/Microsoft.Kusto/clusters/kustoclustertest?api-version=2021-08-27

Request body to disable Auto-Stop

{
    "properties": { 
        "enableAutoStop": false 
    }
}

Request body to enable Auto-Stop

{
  "properties": {
    "enableAutoStop": true
  }
}