.show operations command

Applies to: ✅ Azure Data Explorer

Kusto maintains an internal log of running and historic operations that it processes, such as ingestion operations and data management operations. Entries are appended to the log when operations start and change their state, including when operations reach their terminal state. Users can view the ongoing and past operations they started by using the .show operations command. Database administrators can view all operations that apply to the databases they administer.

The .show operations command returns general details about all operations running on the cluster. Some of the operations also support retrieving the operation's results by using the .show operation details command.

Syntax

.show operations [ OperationId ]

.show operations ( OperationId [, ... ] )

Parameters

Name Type Required Description
OperationId guid The operation ID for which to show details.

Returns

When an operation ID is omitted, the command returns a table displaying all administrative operations executed in the last two weeks, whether ongoing or completed. It includes entries accessible to the user, with multiple records possible for a single operation. Only one record indicates the terminal state of 'Completed' or 'Failed.' This mode is for checking the history of operations. Records may take a short time to appear in the historical log. You can use arg_max() over the results of the historical log to view the latest state for each operation ID (see examples).

When one or more operation IDs are provided, the command returns the latest update for each ID, given the user's access and the record being less than 6 hours old. This mode helps quickly check the latest status of recently executed operations.

The output table contains the following information:

Output parameter Type Description
OperationId string Operation Identifier
Operation string Admin command alias
NodeId string If the command has a remote execution (for example, DataIngestPull) - NodeId will contain the ID of the executing remote node
StartedOn datetime Date/time (in UTC) when the operation started
LastUpdatedOn datetime Date/time (in UTC) when the operation last updated (can be either a step inside the operation, or a completion step)
Duration datetime TimeSpan between LastUpdateOn and StartedOn
State string Command state, as listed in the State table
Status string Additional help string that contains errors of failed operations

State table

The following table describes the possible values for the result table's State column:

Value Description
InProgress The operation is still running
Completed The operation completed (successfully)
Failed The operation completed (unsuccessfully)
PartiallySucceeded The operation completed (parts of it successfully and part of it not)
Abandoned The operation was abandoned before completion
BadInput The operation didn't start executing as there was bad input
Scheduled The operation is scheduled for execution
Throttled The operation has been aborted due to throttling
Canceled The operation has been canceled by the user
Skipped The operation was skipped (due to some logical condition provided as the operation input)

Example

The following command returns the latest state per operation ID for operations that started after 2026-01-05:

.show operations 
| where StartedOn > datetime(2026-01-05)
| summarize arg_max(LastUpdatedOn, *) by OperationId
| project OperationId, Operation, StartedOn, LastUpdatedOn, Duration, State
OperationId Operation StartedOn LastUpdatedOn Duration State
62e40fad-516c-4133-814f-f509e889d006 DataIngestPull 2026-01-05 18:57:10.4234023 2026-01-05 18:57:53.4074572 00:00:42.9840549 Completed
989b527f-20da-48fe-ae22-deba91e20764 OperationsShow 2026-01-05 18:57:54.1959438 2026-01-05 18:57:54.2036051 00:00:00.0076613 Completed
1671b635-b42c-45c6-928c-ad3f3436cb75 TableAppend 2026-01-05 18:58:13.3479575 2026-01-05 18:58:13.3974038 00:00:00.0494463 InProgress
55bc427e-d576-40dc-bd38-58f9df34d357 DatabasesShow 2026-01-05 18:58:49.4693980 2026-01-05 18:58:49.4697805 00:00:00.0003825 Completed

The following command returns the entire log (not only latest state) for operation with ID b152f9da-616a-40a7-8cde-f2390cfc8064:

.show operations 
| where LastUpdatedOn >  ago(1h)
| where OperationId == "b152f9da-616a-40a7-8cde-f2390cfc8064"
| project OperationId, Operation, StartedOn, LastUpdatedOn, Duration, State, Status
OperationId Operation StartedOn LastUpdatedOn Duration State Status
b152f9da-616a-40a7-8cde-f2390cfc8064 DataIngestPull 2026-01-06 09:33:36.8136476 2026-01-06 09:33:36.8136477 00:00:00.0000758 InProgress
b152f9da-616a-40a7-8cde-f2390cfc8064 DataIngestPull 2026-01-06 09:33:36.8136476 2026-01-06 09:33:36.8143127 00:00:00.0006764 InProgress Assigned
b152f9da-616a-40a7-8cde-f2390cfc8064 DataIngestPull 2026-01-06 09:33:36.8136476 2026-01-06 09:33:36.8146015 00:00:00.0009574 InProgress Assigned
b152f9da-616a-40a7-8cde-f2390cfc8064 DataIngestPull 2026-01-06 09:33:36.8136476 2026-01-06 09:33:40.2102817 00:00:03.3966431 InProgress Extent(s) created; metadata updated; cluster map updated
b152f9da-616a-40a7-8cde-f2390cfc8064 DataIngestPull 2026-01-06 09:33:36.8136476 2026-01-06 09:33:40.2103713 00:00:03.3967237 Completed Extent(s) created; metadata updated; cluster map updated

The following command returns only the latest state for the same operation. Operations that completed over 6 hours ago will not be returned using this method. Use the options above to query for entries that are older than 6 hours.

.show operations b152f9da-616a-40a7-8cde-f2390cfc8064
| project OperationId, Operation, StartedOn, LastUpdatedOn, Duration, State, Status
OperationId Operation StartedOn LastUpdatedOn Duration State Status
b152f9da-616a-40a7-8cde-f2390cfc8064 DataIngestPull 2026-01-06 09:33:36.8136476 2026-01-06 09:33:40.2103713 00:00:03.3967237 Completed Extent(s) created; metadata updated; cluster map updated