How to disable the "Create a free cluster" redirect on first Data Explorer login?

42726446 60 Reputation points
2024-07-08T12:17:05.3666667+00:00

I teach my students how to use KQL to search in Data Explorer and Sentinel. To accomplish that, I have the following workflow:

  1. Create a database in a Data Explorer cluster I own
  2. Create a new Azure user
  3. Assign that new Azure user permission to read the database
  4. Send my client the details they need to access the database:
    1. Azure username and password
    2. Link to the database, e.g. https://dataexplorer.azure.com/clusters/myclustername.northeurope/databases/client-database-1234abcd

The problem is that when my student clicks on the link and logs in, they are brought to https://dataexplorer.azure.com/publicfreecluster, as shown below.

User's image

This completely breaks my flow because:

  1. If they choose to create their own cluster, then they aren't interacting with the database I created for them in my cluster
  2. If they choose "Skip and sign in", then they are not properly redirected to the link I gave them. Consequently, the database I have given them access to does not show up in their list of connections because they haven't accessed my link and chosen to trust the database connection yet (pop-up shown below that normally prompts you to trust the connection)

An annoying pop-up the user has to accept in order for the database to show up in Data Explorer

Currently, the way my students access the database I have assigned them is:

  1. Click on the link I send them
  2. Sign in
  3. Close the tab when they get the "Create a free cluster" page (and optionally sign out)
  4. Click on my link again (and sign in again if needed)
  5. This time the "Create a free cluster" page is no longer shown and they are correctly brought to the correct location

This isn't very pleasant. Can I somehow turn off the "Create a free cluster" page for the user I create?

Azure Data Explorer
Azure Data Explorer
An Azure data analytics service for real-time analysis on large volumes of data streaming from sources including applications, websites, and internet of things devices.
525 questions
Accepted answer
  1. Sander van de Velde | MVP 32,641 Reputation points MVP
    2024-07-08T16:39:53.4566667+00:00

    Hello @42726446,

    welcome to this moderated Azure community forum.

    I expect you see the normal behavior.

    You can share your idea here , Microsoft is checking these ideas regularly.

    Still, letting students have a free Azure Data Explorer is a good thing, I think.

    This way they can do a lot of experiments without burning Azure credits.

    Why not have them create and then add your database as a connection?

    So what about this flow (from the top of my mind):

    1. let them go to the free cluster page and sign up for the free cluster using the same email address at https://dataexplorer.azure.com/freecluster.
    2. Let them go to the Query tab page:

    User's image

    1. Let them add a connection:

    User's image

    1. Let them fill in the URI of your cluster:

    User's image

    1. I expect the database is shown.

    Can you check if this works for your students too?

    If the response helped, do "Accept Answer". If it doesn't work, please let us know the progress. All community members with similar issues will benefit by doing so. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

0 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest

Your answer

Answers can be marked as Accepted Answers by the question author, which helps users to know the answer solved the author's problem.