While exporting logs using PowerShell, I started to wonder: As we move toward a more serverless cloud environment, managing logs via scheduled PowerShell scripts means I still need to operate a VM, which increases management overhead.
If you’re only considering cost, scheduling PowerShell scripts on a VM and exporting to SharePoint or OneDrive can be cheaper. However, from a long-term perspective, I believe it’s time to move away from running scheduled PowerShell scripts on VMs and adopt a serverless approach.
Also, visualizing and managing logs with BI tools can provide valuable insights. With this in mind, I anticipate that connecting to Microsoft Fabric or similar platforms will eventually become necessary.
In this post, I’ll cover how to export logs to Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS) Gen2 and connect them to BI.
Data Lake Storage Gen2 is suitable for big data analytics and other data analysis scenarios.
4. Complete the creation and verify the storage account
Step 2. Create an Export Rule
1. Go to Log Analytics Workspace → Settings → Data Export → Create export rule
2. Name your rule
3. Select the tables to export
4. Set the destination to the storage account you created
5. Go to Data storage → Containers to check the exported tables
6. Navigate through subfolders to see that exports occur every 5 minutes
Step 3. Connect to Power BI
1. In Power BI Desktop, go to Get data → More
2. Select Azure → Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2
3. You’ll be prompted to enter a URL
4. Find the DFS URL using Azure Storage Explorer
Go to Storage Account → Storage browser → Download and install Azure Storage Explorer
Connect, navigate to the folder path, and open Properties
Copy the DFS URL
5. Paste the URL into Power BI
6. Enter your credentials (Account Key)
You can find the Account Key under Security + networking → Access keys
7. Connect and then Combine & Transform Data
Unlike saving to SharePoint, where you need to create queries manually, the native connector support makes this process much simpler.
Conclusion
By following these steps, you can export Microsoft 365 logs to Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 and easily visualize them in Power BI. If you’re considering a serverless environment and BI integration, this approach offers a more efficient and scalable way to manage your logs in the long run.
In the previous post, we explored how to enable Microsoft Sentinel and start collecting Microsoft 365 logs. This time, we’ll focus on integrating Microsoft Defender for Identity (MDI) logs into Sentinel and preparing them for Power BI visualization.
Check Sensor Activation: With the latest MDI v3, activation is much simpler—if your Domain Controller is already onboarded to Microsoft
Defender for Endpoint (MDE), MDI can be enabled without additional steps.
(A separate post will cover the new version once it’s officially released.)
Verify Signals: Go to Advanced Hunting and confirm that IdentityLogonEvents are being recorded.
→ If signals appear here, you can confirm that Sentinel is also receiving MDI logs.
Connector Setup: Navigate to Microsoft Defender XDR → Open connector page.
→ Enable Microsoft Defender for Identity and save.
After a short delay, you should be able to query MDI logs in Sentinel.
Step 2. Register an Enterprise App for Sentinel Log Export
Currently, Advanced Hunting and Sentinel have limitations when running large queries. Our ultimate goal is to visualize data in Power BI, so we’ll first store logs as CSV files in SharePoint.
To achieve this, we’ll use the Log Analytics API, which requires Enterprise App registration.
Registration Steps
1. Go to Entra Admin Center → App registrations → New registration
2. Name the app → Register
3. Navigate to API permissions → Add a permission
4. Select APIs my organization uses → Log Analytics API
5. Check Data.Read → Add permissions
6. Click Grant admin consent
7. Go to Certificates & secrets → New client secret → Add
8. Copy the generated Value and store it securely
9. In Log Analytics Workspaces → Access control (IAM), click Add role assignment
10. Assign Log Analytics Reader role
11. Grant the role to the newly created app
Step 3. Export Logs to CSV
Tenant ID & Client ID
Workspace ID
Client Secret
Once these values are ready, you can use a PowerShell script to call the Log Analytics API and export logs in chunks.
I created the following script to call the Log Analytics API using AI.
Tip: Adjust ChunkHours and MinIntervalSeconds to avoid hitting API throttling limits.
When everything is configured correctly, the export process will look like this:
Step 4. Connect Power BI (Load CSV from SharePoint)
From my perspective, the ideal approach would be for Sentinel to natively support BI integration.
Although it provides queries that allow you to connect Power BI as shown below, due to API call limitations, a separate storage layer is required for effective use in BI.
The Sentinel Data Lake feature is currently available in preview, but it appears that Power BI integration is not yet supported. For now, we’ll store the data in SharePoint Online, which is a cost-effective option, and then aggregate it in Power BI.
Upload CSV to SharePoint
Power BI Desktop Get Data Blank query
Advanced Editior
Paste the query below. (This was created with the help of AI.)
let
// ========== ① User Settings ==========
SiteUrl = "https://clim823.sharepoint.com/sites/Sentinel",
LibraryName = "Shared Documents",
TargetFolder = "IdentityLogonEvents",
FileNamePrefix = "IdentityLogonEvents",
KeepLastNMonths = 6,
// ========== ② File → Table Conversion Function ==========
ParseCsv = (fileContent as binary) as table =>
let
csv = Csv.Document(
fileContent,
[Delimiter = ",", Columns = null, Encoding = 65001, QuoteStyle = QuoteStyle.Csv]
),
promoted = Table.PromoteHeaders(csv, [PromoteAllScalars = true])
in
promoted,
// ========== ③ Navigate to Target Folder ==========
Source = SharePoint.Contents(SiteUrl, [ApiVersion = 15]),
Library = Source{[Name=LibraryName]}[Content],
Folder = Library{[Name=TargetFolder]}[Content], // DeviceLogonEvents
// ========== ④ Filter Files ==========
FilteredByName = Table.SelectRows(Folder, each Text.StartsWith([Name], FileNamePrefix)),
FilteredByExt = Table.SelectRows(FilteredByName, each Text.Lower([Extension]) = ".csv"),
// ========== ⑤ Load Files → Convert to Tables ==========
AddedData = Table.AddColumn(FilteredByExt, "Data", each ParseCsv([Content]), type table),
TablesList = List.RemoveNulls(List.Transform(AddedData[Data], each try _ otherwise null)),
// ========== ⑥ Align Schema & Merge ==========
AllCols = if List.Count(TablesList) = 0
then {}
else List.Distinct(List.Combine(List.Transform(TablesList, each Table.ColumnNames(_)))),
AlignedTables = List.Transform(TablesList, each Table.ReorderColumns(_, AllCols, MissingField.UseNull)),
Appended = if List.Count(AlignedTables) = 0
then #table(AllCols, {})
else Table.Combine(AlignedTables),
// ========== ⑦ Filter by Last N Months ==========
WithTimestampTyped = if List.Contains(Table.ColumnNames(Appended), "Timestamp")
then Table.TransformColumnTypes(Appended, {{"Timestamp", type datetime}})
else Appended,
FilteredByDate =
if List.Contains(Table.ColumnNames(WithTimestampTyped), "Timestamp")
then Table.SelectRows(WithTimestampTyped, each [Timestamp] >= Date.AddMonths(DateTime.LocalNow(), -KeepLastNMonths))
else WithTimestampTyped
in
FilteredByDate
Close & Apply
Using this data, you can build dashboards that provide valuable insights into identity-related activities, as shown below.
Why This Matters
By connecting MDI logs to Sentinel and then visualizing them in Power BI, you can:
Detect suspicious identity activities faster
Correlate identity signals with other security data
Build interactive dashboards for security insights
One of the biggest challenges I faced while managing Microsoft 365 was log management. Initially, message trace and audit logs were enough. But as I started incorporating security solutions like Microsoft Defender, the amount of data skyrocketed.
How We Used to Do It
Previously, I relied on PowerShell scripts to extract logs, store them in a separate repository, and later manage them via SQL Server for analysis. While this worked, it had several drawbacks:
Required a dedicated VM for log collection
Credential management was cumbersome and posed security risks
Didn’t align well with the SaaS-first approach
Frequent schema changes and new log types increased maintenance overhead
In short, the process became increasingly labor-intensive.
Why I Chose Microsoft Sentinel
To solve these issues, I turned to Microsoft Sentinel. Although Sentinel is primarily a SIEM solution, my initial goal is centralized log management. Here’s why Sentinel stood out:
Native integration with Microsoft 365
Automated log collection and schema updates
Easy integration with Defender, Entra, Intune, and more
The Role of AI
Thanks to AI, the barrier to entry for these technologies has dropped significantly. With Copilot, I can leverage the data stored in Sentinel more intelligently. Once logs are ingested into Sentinel, it’s like having a database ready for advanced analytics—and AI can answer questions based on that data.
This marks the beginning of a shift from manual log management to a more automated and intelligent approach.
What is Microsoft Sentinel?
Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-native SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) solution that collects and analyzes security logs and events from multiple sources. It supports threat detection, automated response, and security operations efficiency.
3. Add Microsoft 365 Data Connectors - Go to Content Hub
Currently, Sentinel is being integrated with the Defender page. If you go to Defender (Security.microsoft.com) and click on Microsoft Sentinel, you can confirm that it is being provisioned.
If you refresh in the Content hub within Sentinel on Azure, you will see the available Content that can be added as shown below.
For a simple connection test, search for Microsoft Entra ID and proceed with the installation.
Data Connectors → Microsoft Entra ID → Open connector page
Select the logs to import and apply changes.
4. Verify Log Collection - Wait for logs to populate
- Use KQL mode to query and validate data ingestion
What’s Next?
In the next post, I’ll cover enabling specific Microsoft 365 logs and, if needed, the E5 onboarding process.
Tip: If you’re planning to integrate Sentinel with Microsoft 365, start small—enable core connectors first, then expand gradually.
In order to reduce confusion between Azure AD and Windows Server AD, Microsoft changed Azure AD to Entra ID, marking the beginning of the Entra product family.
Microsoft renamed Azure AD (Azure Active Directory) to Microsoft Entra ID to convey the product's multi-cloud, multi-platform capabilities, alleviate confusion with Windows Server Active Directory, and integrate it into the Microsoft Entra product family.
This change makes sense because the AD people are familiar with is actually Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). To put it simply, Azure AD only manages identities, while policies for devices joined to Azure AD are managed by Intune's Configuration Profile. In other words, the cloud version of AD is a combination of Azure AD + Intune. It was difficult to explain this concept to those who have been accustomed to the traditional AD model for a long time.
By rebranding it as Entra, Microsoft is positioning it as a comprehensive identity and access management platform. When you access the Entra Management Center, you'll notice that it offers more features than when it was known as Azure AD.
Let's take a closer look at Verified ID. We will start with the following technical resource:
First, the background for the emergence of Verified ID is as follows:
In today’s world, our digital and physical lives are increasingly intertwined with the apps, services, and devices we use. This digital revolution opens up a world of possibilities, allowing us to connect with numerous companies and individuals in ways previously unimaginable.
However, with this increased connectivity comes a greater risk of identity theft and data breaches. These breaches can have significant impacts on both our personal and professional lives. But there is hope. Microsoft, in collaboration with various communities, has developed a decentralized identity solution that enables individuals to control their own digital identity, offering a secure and private way to manage identity data without relying on centralized authorities or intermediaries.
-> The key here is the Decentralized Identity solution. To be honest, the other concepts are a bit difficult for me to explain in more detail at my current level. Looking at this… if I had deep-dived into identity management alone, I probably wouldn’t have any trouble making a living.
I think I need to test how to use this practically and eventually gain a better understanding through hands-on experience.
Lead with open standards
Microsoft has implemented the following standards:
W3C Decentralized Identifier
W3C Verifiable Credentials
DIF Sidetree
DIF Well Known DID Configuration
DIF DID-SIOP
DIF Presentation Exchange
-> This suggests that it's not only something used in M365 but is a concept that can be integrated with other systems, similar to SSO or in a different capacity.
What is DID (Decentralized ID)?
DID is an identity management system where individuals, not central authorities or corporations, have direct control over the ownership and management of their identity information.
It ensures the integrity and security of identity information through a decentralized network rather than relying on central servers or institutions. Distributed ledger technologies, such as blockchain, are typically used, with the goal of giving individuals full control over their identity information.
So, what is Microsoft Verified ID? My understanding is that it plays the role of the issuer, verifier, and intermediary (Role Modeler).
The content explained by each item in the diagram is as follows:
1. W3C DID (Decentralized Identifier) Number
- A unique ID.
2. Trust System
- It verifies and authenticates to check DID documents.
3. MS Authenticate App
- Serves as a digital wallet. You can think of it like a wallet where the user stores their ID cards.
4. Microsoft Resolver
- An API that uses the did:web method to query and verify DIDs, returning the DDO (DID Document Object).
5. Microsoft Entra Verified ID API
- A REST API for issuing and verifying W3C Verifiable Credentials, signed using the did:web method, through Azure’s issuance and verification services.
In order to cover this flow in detail, it seems necessary to build a concrete sample environment to fully understand it.
Once I’ve built a sample, posted about it, and gained a reasonable understanding, I will update this post accordingly.
Continuing from the previous post, this time we will implement the functionality to compose and send emails using the Mail.Send permission of the Graph API.
We'll continue using the project created in the previous post.
The process pattern is somewhat established at this point:
Step 1: Add Mail.Send permission
Step 2: Create a ViewModel for sending emails
Step 3: Create a View for composing and sending emails
Step 4: Add the Action Method for sending emails
Step 1. Add Mail.Send permission
Appsettings.json
Add Mail.Send permission.
Step 2. Create a View Model for Sending Emails
Create the EmailSendViewModel to hold the data needed for sending emails. This model will include fields like recipient address, email subject, and email body.
Create the EmailSendViewModel class
public class EmailSendViewModel
{
public string To { get; set; } = string.Empty;
public string Subject { get; set; } = string.Empty;
public string Body { get; set; } = string.Empty;
}
Step 3. Create a View for Sending Emails
Create a view (SendEmail.cshtml) in the Views/Home directory, where users can compose and send emails. This view will use the EmailSendViewModel as its model.
Add the SendEmail action method to the HomeController. This method accepts EmailSendViewModel as a parameter and sends an email using the Microsoft Graph API.
Modify HomeController.cs.
Add the following content.
// GET action method to display the email sending form
[HttpGet]
public IActionResult SendEmail()
{
return View(new EmailSendViewModel()); // Pass an empty model to the view
}
// Sendemail
[HttpPost]
[AuthorizeForScopes(ScopeKeySection = "MicrosoftGraph:Scopes")]
public async Task<IActionResult> SendEmail(EmailSendViewModel model)
{
var message = new Message
{
Subject = model.Subject,
Body = new ItemBody
{
ContentType = BodyType.Text,
Content = model.Body
},
ToRecipients = new List<Recipient>()
{
new Recipient
{
EmailAddress = new EmailAddress
{
Address = model.To
}
}
}
};
await _graphServiceClient.Me.SendMail(message, null).Request().PostAsync();
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
Continuing from the previous post, this time we will use the Mail.Read permission in the Graph API to retrieve mail folders, subject lines, and content, and publish them on IIS.
We will continue using the project created in the previous post.
Add the //Email Titles section to the existing code as shown below.
using Identity.Models;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authorization;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using System.Diagnostics;
using Microsoft.Graph;
using Microsoft.Identity.Web;
namespace Identity.Controllers
{
[Authorize]
public class HomeController : Controller
{
private readonly GraphServiceClient _graphServiceClient;
private readonly ILogger<HomeController> _logger;
public HomeController(ILogger<HomeController> logger, GraphServiceClient graphServiceClient)
{
_logger = logger;
_graphServiceClient = graphServiceClient;
}
[AuthorizeForScopes(ScopeKeySection = "MicrosoftGraph:Scopes")]
public async Task<IActionResult> Index()
{
var user = await _graphServiceClient.Me.Request().GetAsync();
ViewData["GraphApiResult"] = user.DisplayName;
return View();
}
// Email Titles
[AuthorizeForScopes(ScopeKeySection = "MicrosoftGraph:Scopes")]
public async Task<IActionResult> EmailTitles()
{
var messages = await _graphServiceClient.Me.Messages
.Request()
.Select(m => new { m.Subject })
.GetAsync();
var titles = messages.Select(m => m.Subject).ToList();
return View(titles);
}
public IActionResult Privacy()
{
return View();
}
[AllowAnonymous]
[ResponseCache(Duration = 0, Location = ResponseCacheLocation.None, NoStore = true)]
public IActionResult Error()
{
return View(new ErrorViewModel { RequestId = Activity.Current?.Id ?? HttpContext.TraceIdentifier });
}
}
}
Create the View.
Views -> Home -> Add -> View
Razor View -> Empty -> Add
EmailTitles.cshtml -> Add
It will be generated as shown below.
Modify the content as follows.
@model List<string>
<h2>Email Titles</h2>
<ul>
@foreach (var title in Model)
{
<li>@title</li>
}
</ul>
Start Debuging -> Log in -> Verify permissions and click Accept.
When you navigate to the Home/emailtitles URL, it will be displayed as shown below.
When compared with OWA (Outlook Web App), you can see that only the email subjects have been retrieved.
This time, let's create a page that retrieves and displays emails in the following structure: Folder -> Subject -> Body.
Step2. Action Method
Action Methods in the controller handle HTTP requests and retrieve data by calling the Microsoft Graph API. We will implement Action Methods such as MailFolders, EmailTitles, and EmailDetails to fetch the list of mail folders, the list of emails in a specific folder, and the detailed content of an email, respectively.
Modify the HomeController.cs file
Remove the existing Email Titles code.
Insert the code for Mail Folders, Titles, and Details respectively.
//MailFolders
public async Task<IActionResult> MailFolders()
{
var mailFolders = await _graphServiceClient.Me.MailFolders
.Request()
.GetAsync();
return View(mailFolders.CurrentPage.Select(f => new MailFolderViewModel { Id = f.Id, DisplayName = f.DisplayName }).ToList());
}
//EmailTitles
public async Task<IActionResult> EmailTitles(string folderId)
{
var messages = await _graphServiceClient.Me.MailFolders[folderId].Messages
.Request()
.Select(m => new { m.Subject, m.Id })
.GetAsync();
var titles = messages.CurrentPage.Select(m => new EmailViewModel { Id = m.Id, Subject = m.Subject }).ToList();
return View(titles);
}
//EmailDetails
public async Task<IActionResult> EmailDetails(string messageId)
{
var message = await _graphServiceClient.Me.Messages[messageId]
.Request()
.Select(m => new { m.Subject, m.Body })
.GetAsync();
var model = new EmailDetailsViewModel
{
Subject = message.Subject,
BodyContent = message.Body.Content
};
return View(model);
}
Step3. View model
A View Model is a model used to pass data to the View and is used to define the data retrieved from the Action Method. For example, the EmailViewModel includes the email's ID and subject. This allows the data needed in the view to be structured and managed efficiently.
Right-Click on the Models folder -> Add -> Class
MailFolderViewModel.cs -> Add
It will be generated as shown below.
Modify it as shown below.
namespace Identity.Models
{
public class MailFolderViewModel
{
public string Id { get; set; }
public string DisplayName { get; set; }
}
}
Similarly, go to Models -> Add -> Class.
EmailViewModel.cs -> Next
Modify it as shown below -> Save.
namespace Identity.Models
{
public class EmailViewModel
{
public string Id { get; set; }
public string Subject { get; set; }
}
}
Add EmailDetailsViewModel.cs in the same way.
Modify it as shown below -> Save.
public class EmailDetailsViewModel
{
public string Subject { get; set; }
public string BodyContent { get; set; }
}
Step 4. View
Finally, the View constructs the user interface and displays the data received from the View Model. Create corresponding view files for each action in the Views/Home directory.
Authentication type -> Microsoft identity platform -> Create
Next
Sign in -> Microsoft
Log in with the administrator account.
Create new
A browser window pops up. Log in with the administrator account.
Authentication complete.
Specify the Display name. -> Register
Confirm that the creation is successful.-> Next
Add Microsoft Graph permissions -> Next
Save the Client secret value in a notepad.-> Next
Finish
Close
Close
Service is registered, and verify that Secrets.json (Local) has been created.
Double-click on the Appsettings.json file.
The information for the created app is displayed.
The same information is confirmed in Entra ID.
Start Debugging
After accessing localhost, you're redirected directly to the login page -> Log in with the administrator account.
Upon first access, the permissions are displayed as shown below -> Click Accept. -> Accept
Display the logged-in account information.
When you sign out, the following message is displayed.
When you log in with a different account, it displays the information of that account.
Build -> Identity
Web Server (IIS) -> Next
Web Deploy Package -> Next
Specify the location to export the package -> Set the Site Name -> Click Finish.
Close
Publish
Once completed, copy the package file to the IIS Server.
As done in the previous post, after extracting the files, copy the essential folders and files, such as wwwroot, to the root directory as shown below.
Launch IIS Manager
Righ-Click on Sites -> Add Website
Specify the settings as shown below.
When testing on localhost, an Error 500 occurs as shown below. The cause is that the ClientSecret value is not included during publishing, which leads to this issue.
Open the Appsettings.json file using Notepad.
Add the previously saved Secret Value in the following format -> Save the file:
IISRESET
Confirm the login process.
Proceed with testing by accessing the published URL.
A Redirect URI error has occurred.
Entra ID Admin center -> Applications -> App registration -> Authentication -> Add the following to Redirect URIs as shown below.
In this post, we will cover the process of publishing an ASP.NET Sample Page to IIS. Since most Microsoft solutions are based on ASP.NET, I thought this would be a necessary step before testing Graph.
ASP.NET Core Web App (Model-View-Controller) -> Next
Next
Verify that the Framework is set to .NET 8.0 -> Click "Create" (You will need to install the Runtime and SDK version 8.0 on IIS to match this setting.)
Solution Explorer -> Controllers -> Add -> Controller
MVC Controller - Empty -> Add
Name the controller as HelloWorldController. -> Add
Right-Click on Views -> Add -> New Folder
Name it HelloWorld.
Right-click on HelloWorld.-> Add -> New Item
If the following options appear, select Show All Templates.
Razor View - Empty -> Confirm the name as Index.cshtml. -> Add
Verify that it has been created under the HelloWorld folder.
다음과같이입력합니다.
ViewData["Title"] = "Index";
<h2>Index</h2>
<p>Hello from the HelloWorld view!</p>
Debug -> Start Debugging
If any messages related to SSL certificates appear, click "Yes" for all of them.
Yes
Yes
Yes
The sample page is now accessible in Edge.
When you access /HelloWorld, it is displayed as follows:
Now, let's proceed with creating the sample page as a site in IIS.
Build -> Publish [Project Name]
Web Server (IIS) -> Next
Web Deploy Package -> Next
Specify the location. -> Site name 지정 -> Finish
Click Publish.
It will be generated as shown below. Now, copy the files to the IIS server.
After copying, extract the files.
After extracting, move the files to a subfolder as shown below -> Copy the folder and files to the root directory (C:\Sample).
Copy completed.
Launch IIS Manager.
Sites -> Add Website
Proceed with the creation process as shown below. (For the certificate, specify the one that was previously created.)
Confirm that the creation is successful.
Application Pools -> Double-click on **Sample**.
.NET CLR version -> Change the setting to **No Managed Code**.
IISRESET
Access localhost to verify the setup.
Once DNS registration and certificate binding are completed, test the published URL.
