Selecting the correct ADX cluster SKU

We learned in Chapter 1, Introducing Azure Data Explorer, that ADX clusters consist of two VM clusters—the engine cluster, which is primarily responsible for querying our data, and the data management cluster, which is primarily responsible for data ingestion. When we build ADX clusters and specify the cluster size, we are specifying the VM SKU for our engine and data management clusters. The question is: How do we select the right SKU?

Azure provides several configurations, each optimized for different use cases. For instance, if you are ingesting huge volumes of data, then perhaps the storage-optimized SKUs are a better fit for your requirements. On the other hand, if you will be running a lot of jobs and queries, then one of the compute-optimized SKUs might be the right choice.

Before we explore the different SKUs, it is important to know Azure provides clusters with two different service levels. The first is dev/test, which is...