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· 2 min read

Materialized Views are now available in StackQL. Materialized Views can be used to improve performance for dependent or repetetive queries within StackQL provisioning or analytics routines.

Refresher on Materialized Views​

Unlike standard views that provide a virtual representation of data, a Materialized View physically stores the result set of a query. This implies that the data is pre-computed and stored, which can lead to performance gains as the data doesn't need to be fetched from the underlying resource(s) every time it is queried.

Benefits of Materialized Views in StackQL​

  1. Performance Boost: With data already stored and readily available, Materialized Views can substantially reduce StackQL query execution time, especially for complex and frequently-run queries.

  2. Data Consistency: Since Materialized Views provide a snapshot of the data at a specific point in time, it ensures consistent data is returned every time it is accessed until it is refreshed.

  3. Flexibility: You have the flexibility to refresh the Materialized View as needed usign the REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW lifecycle operation in StackQL. This is particularly useful when working with rapidly changing data.

Using Materialized Views in StackQL​

Here's a step-by-step guide on how you to use this new feature in StackQL:

  1. Create a Materialized View: 
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW vw_ec2_instance_types AS 
SELECT 
 memoryInfo, 
 hypervisor, 
 autoRecoverySupported, 
 instanceType, 
 SPLIT_PART(processorInfo, '\n', 3) as processorArch, 
 currentGeneration, 
 freeTierEligible, 
 hibernationSupported,
 SPLIT_PART(vCpuInfo, '\n', 2) as vCPUs, 
 bareMetal, 
 burstablePerformanceSupported, 
 dedicatedHostsSupported 
FROM aws.ec2.instance_types 
WHERE region = 'us-east-1';
  1. Refresh the Materialized View:
REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW vw_ec2_instance_types;
  1. Use the Materialized View in a StackQL Query: 
SELECT 
 i.instanceId, 
 i.instanceType, 
 it.vCPUs, 
 it.memoryInfo 
FROM aws.ec2.instances i 
 INNER JOIN vw_ec2_instance_types it 
 ON i.instanceType = it.instanceType 
WHERE i.region = 'us-east-1';
  1. Drop the Materialized View: 
DROP MATERIALIZED VIEW vw_ec2_instance_types;

More information on Materialized Views in StackQL can be found here.

· 2 min read

Many provider query responses include columns which are arrays, the iam policy related resources in google are a classic example of this. for example, this query:

select * 
from google.cloudresourcemanager.projects_iam_policies 
where projectsId = 'stackql';

produces..

|-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------|                               
| condition | members                                                                                                                                                                                    | role         |                               
|-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------|                               
| null      | ["serviceAccount:1234567890-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com","serviceAccount:1234567890@cloudservices.gserviceaccount.com","serviceAccount:stackql@appspot.gserviceaccount.com"] | roles/editor |                               
|-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------|                               
| null      | ["serviceAccount:1234567890-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com","serviceAccount:1234567890@cloudservices.gserviceaccount.com","serviceAccount:stackql@appspot.gserviceaccount.com"] | roles/editor |                               
|-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------|                               
| null      | ["serviceAccount:1234567890-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com","serviceAccount:1234567890@cloudservices.gserviceaccount.com","serviceAccount:stackql@appspot.gserviceaccount.com"] | roles/editor |                               
|-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------|

What you want to do is unnest each member in members for each role binding (and condition if applicable)

Enter the table valued function json_each.

The json_each function accepts a field (optionally with a json path expression) and returns a table object with fields that can be projected in your result set, for example (querying the same underlying resource as above), this...

select 
iam.role, 
SPLIT_PART(json_each.value, ':', 1) as member_type,
SPLIT_PART(json_each.value, ':', 2) as member 
from google.cloudresourcemanager.projects_iam_policies iam, json_each(members) 
where projectsId = 'stackql';

now provides something much more useful from an analytic perspective:

|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                 role                 |  member_type   |                                   member                                    |
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| roles/appengine.serviceAgent         | serviceAccount | service-1234567890@gcp-gae-service.iam.gserviceaccount.com                |
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| roles/cloudbuild.builds.builder      | serviceAccount | 1234567890@cloudbuild.gserviceaccount.com                                 |
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| roles/cloudbuild.serviceAgent        | serviceAccount | service-1234567890@gcp-sa-cloudbuild.iam.gserviceaccount.com              |
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| roles/compute.serviceAgent           | serviceAccount | service-1234567890@compute-system.iam.gserviceaccount.com                 |
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| roles/container.serviceAgent         | serviceAccount | service-1234567890@container-engine-robot.iam.gserviceaccount.com         |
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| roles/containerregistry.ServiceAgent | serviceAccount | service-1234567890@containerregistry.iam.gserviceaccount.com              |
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|                                                                                    
| roles/dataflow.serviceAgent          | serviceAccount | service-1234567890@dataflow-service-producer-prod.iam.gserviceaccount.com |                                                                                    
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|                                                                                    
| roles/dataproc.serviceAgent          | serviceAccount | service-1234567890@dataproc-accounts.iam.gserviceaccount.com              |                                                                                    
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|                                                                                    
| roles/editor                         | serviceAccount | 1234567890-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com                          |                                                                                    
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|                                                                                    
| roles/editor                         | serviceAccount | 1234567890@cloudservices.gserviceaccount.com                              |                                                                                    
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|                                                                                    
| roles/editor                         | serviceAccount | stackql@appspot.gserviceaccount.com                                         |                                                                                    
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|                                                                                    
| roles/firebaserules.system           | serviceAccount | service-1234567890@firebase-rules.iam.gserviceaccount.com                 |                                                                                    
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|                                                                                    
| roles/firestore.serviceAgent         | serviceAccount | service-1234567890@gcp-sa-firestore.iam.gserviceaccount.com               |                                                                                    
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|                                                                                    
| roles/owner                          | serviceAccount | stackql-provisioner@stackql.iam.gserviceaccount.com                         |                                                                                    
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|                                                                                    
| roles/owner                          | serviceAccount | t1-804@stackql.iam.gserviceaccount.com                                      |                                                                                    
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|                                                                                    
| roles/owner                          | user           | javen@stackql.io                                                            |                                                                                    
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|                                                                                    
| roles/owner                          | user           | krimmer@stackql.io                                                          |                                                                                    
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|                                                                                    
| roles/pubsub.serviceAgent            | serviceAccount | service-1234567890@gcp-sa-pubsub.iam.gserviceaccount.com                  |                                                                                    
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|                                                                                    
| roles/viewer                         | serviceAccount | testing-admin@stackql.iam.gserviceaccount.com                               |                                                                                    
|--------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

__json_each__is available from version 0.5.418 or stackql onwards, this function can also be used in StackQL GitHub Actions such as stackql-exec or stackql-assert and in Python and Pandas using pystackql.

· 3 min read
info

stackql is a dev tool that allows you to query, manage, and perform analytics against cloud and SaaS resources in real time using SQL, which developers and analysts can use for CSPM, assurance, user access management reporting, IaC, XOps and more.

The googleadmin StackQL provider is now available, which allows you to query, provision, or manage Google Workspace users, groups, devices, and more using StackQL. The googleadmin provider can be used with the google provider or other cloud providers to generate entitlements reports (or user access reviews) where Google Workspace identites are used in identity federation or IAM bindings.

The full documentation on how to use a Google service account for authentication to the googleadmin provider is available here. Information about the directory resources available and their fields and methods, is available in the StackQL Provider Registry Docs.

Simple Query​

A simple query using the googleadmin provider is shown here:

SELECT
 primaryEmail, 
 lastLoginTime 
FROM 
 googleadmin.directory.users 
WHERE domain = 'stackql.io'
AND primaryEmail = 'javen@stackql.io';

which would return the following results... 

|------------------|--------------------------|                                                                                                                                                   
|   primaryEmail   |      lastLoginTime       |                                                                                                                                                   
|------------------|--------------------------|                                                                                                                                                   
| javen@stackql.io | 2023-07-08T23:30:31.000Z |                                                                                                                                                   
|------------------|--------------------------|

Example Query Using Built-In Functions​

Here is an example using built-in functions in StackQL (more information about built-in functions is available in the StackQL docs): 

SELECT
 primaryEmail,
 json_extract(name, '$.fullName') as full_name, 
 lastLoginTime 
FROM 
 googleadmin.directory.users 
WHERE domain = 'stackql.io'
AND primaryEmail = 'javen@stackql.io';

which would return results like this... 

|------------------|--------------|--------------------------|                                                                                                                                    
|   primaryEmail   |  full_name   |      lastLoginTime       |                                                                                                                                    
|------------------|--------------|--------------------------|                                                                                                                                    
| javen@stackql.io | Jeffrey Aven | 2023-07-08T23:30:31.000Z |                                                                                                                                    
|------------------|--------------|--------------------------|

Example Query Using Aggregate Functions​

Here is an example of a summary query that could be useful:

SELECT
  isAdmin,
  COUNT(*) as num_admins
FROM 
 googleadmin.directory.users 
WHERE domain = 'stackql.io'
GROUP BY isAdmin

results in... 

|---------|------------|                                                                                                                                                                          
| isAdmin | num_admins |                                                                                                                                                                          
|---------|------------|                                                                                                                                                                          
| false   |          9 |                                                                                                                                                                          
|---------|------------|                                                                                                                                                                          
| true    |          2 |                                                                                                                                                                          
|---------|------------|

Entitlements Report Using a LEFT JOIN with the google provider​

Using the LEFT OUTER JOIN capability with StackQL, you can generate entitlements or user access management reports that span across Google Workspace as an Identity Provider (IdP) and a Google Cloud resource (including Organizations, Folders, Projects, and resources), such as: 

SELECT 
  split_part(json_extract(iam.members,'$[0]'), ':', 2) as member, 
  iam.role as role,
  users.lastLoginTime
FROM google.cloudresourcemanager.organizations_iam_bindings iam
LEFT OUTER JOIN googleadmin.directory.users users
ON split_part(json_extract(iam.members,'$[0]'), ':', 2) = users.primaryEmail
WHERE users.domain = 'stackql.io' 
AND iam.organizationsId = 141318256085
AND users.primaryEmail = 'javen@stackql.io';

which would return...

|------------------|------------------------------|--------------------------|                                                                                                                    
|      member      |             role             |      lastLoginTime       |                                                                                                                    
|------------------|------------------------------|--------------------------|                                                                                                                    
| javen@stackql.io | roles/bigquery.resourceAdmin | 2023-07-08T23:30:31.000Z |                                                                                                                    
|------------------|------------------------------|--------------------------|                                                                                                                    
| javen@stackql.io | roles/logging.admin          | 2023-07-08T23:30:31.000Z |                                                                                                                    
|------------------|------------------------------|--------------------------|

Let us know what you think!

· 3 min read
info

stackql is a dev tool that allows you to query, manage, and perform analytics against cloud and SaaS resources in real time using SQL, which developers and analysts can use for CSPM, assurance, user access management reporting, IaC, XOps and more.

We are pleased to announce the addition of support for OUTER JOIN operations in StackQL queries. This is a significant addition to the language, and we are excited to see what our users will do with it!

info

An OUTER JOIN is a type of JOIN operation that returns all records from one table (or StackQL resource) and only those records from a second table or resource where the joined fields are equal (i.e. the JOIN condition is met). If there is no match, the missing side of the JOIN is filled with NULL values.

OUTER JOIN operations are important because they allow you to combine data from two or more resources (within a StackQL provider or across StackQL providers), even when there is no match between the two resources. This is a common scenario when performing analytics and reporting on user access management (for example between an IdP (like Okta) and a resource provider like AWS or Google).

Using OUTER JOIN operations in StackQL​

If you wanted to find all users in your AWS account that have not logged in to their account in the last 20 days, and compare that to the same information for users in your Google Workspace account, you could use an OUTER JOIN operation to do this. The following query:

select 
   aws_users.UserName as aws_user_name
  ,aws_users.PasswordLastUsed as aws_last_Login_time
  ,CASE 
    WHEN aws_users.PasswordLastUsed = '' then 'false' 
    WHEN ( strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%SZ', aws_users.PasswordLastUsed) > ( datetime('now', '-20 days' ) ) ) then 'true' 
    else 'false' end as aws_is_active
  ,json_extract(google_users.name, '$.fullName') as google_user_name
  ,google_users.lastLoginTime as google_last_Login_time 
  ,CASE 
    WHEN google_users.lastLoginTime is null then 'false' 
    WHEN google_users.lastLoginTime = '' then 'false' 
    WHEN ( strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%SZ', google_users.lastLoginTime) > ( datetime('now', '-20 days' ) ) ) then 'true' 
    else 'false' end as google_is_active
from 
  aws.iam.users aws_users 
  LEFT OUTER JOIN 
  googleadmin.directory.users google_users 
  ON lower(substr(aws_users.UserName, 1, 5)) = lower(substr(json_extract(google_users.name, '$.fullName'), 1, 5)) 
WHERE aws_users.region = 'us-east-1' AND google_users.domain = 'stackql.io'
;

would produce a result like this:

|------------------------|----------------------|---------------|------------------|--------------------------|------------------|
|     aws_user_name      | aws_last_Login_time  | aws_is_active | google_user_name |  google_last_Login_time  | google_is_active |
|------------------------|----------------------|---------------|------------------|--------------------------|------------------|
| demo-stackql-cicd-user | null                 | false         | null             | null                     | false            |
|------------------------|----------------------|---------------|------------------|--------------------------|------------------|
| github_actions         | null                 | false         | null             | null                     | false            |
|------------------------|----------------------|---------------|------------------|--------------------------|------------------|
| jeffrey.aven           | 2023-06-30T04:29:14Z | true          | null             | null                     | false            |
|------------------------|----------------------|---------------|------------------|--------------------------|------------------|
| kieran.rimmer          | 2023-06-03T08:40:49Z | false         | Kieran Rimmer    | 2023-06-23T06:01:46.000Z | true             |
|------------------------|----------------------|---------------|------------------|--------------------------|------------------|
| ...                    | ...                  | ...           | ...              | ...                      | ...              |
|------------------------|----------------------|---------------|------------------|--------------------------|------------------|

Currently only LEFT OUTER JOIN sppport is available, but we will be adding support for RIGHT OUTER JOIN and FULL OUTER JOIN in the near future. Stay tuned!

· 4 min read
info

stackql is a dev tool that allows you to query and manage cloud and SaaS resources using SQL, which developers and analysts can use for CSPM, assurance, user access management reporting, IaC, XOps and more.

This quick start guide outlines how to create a superset + stackql dashboard on your laptop using docker desktop, helm, and kubernetes. We certainly do not want to go into depth on superset, a third-party application, so this guide is terse.

Supplying secrets​

In this example, we use:

All of the associated principals must be granted access using provider-specific access controls.

NOTE keep all of these values secret and certainly do not commit into source control. We have supplied examples for numerous providers, and we suggest that you configure only what you need.

Create a file helm/stackql-dashboards/secrets/secret-values.yaml, containing the following, replacing placeholders:

stackql:
  extraSecretEnv:
    AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: '<your aws access key id>'
    AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: '<your aws secret key>'
    AZURE_CLIENT_ID: '<your azure client id>'
    AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET: '<your azure client secret>'
    AZURE_TENANT_ID: '<your azure tenant id>'
    DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN: '<your digitalocean token>'
    STACKQL_GITHUB_TOKEN: '<your github personal access token>'
    GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS: '/opt/stackql/config/google-credentials.json'
  extraSecrets:
    google-credentials.json: |
      <full google json key>

superset:
  init:
    adminUser:
      password: 'mypassword'

Expand templates and deploy locally​

Here we will set up and expose a local dashboard using the local kubernetes cluster supplied with docker desktop.

These steps assume that your kubectl config is pointed at your local cluster (depending on your version of docker, something like kubectl config use-context docker-desktop should do the trick) and that you execute from the root directory of the stackql-cloud repository. We will let the system dynamically assign a local port.

helm dependency update  helm/stackql-dashboards

helm template --release-name v1 --namespace default --set superset.service.type=NodePort --set superset.service.nodePort.http="" -f helm/stackql-dashboards/secrets/secret-values.yaml helm/stackql-dashboards > helm/stackql-dashboards/out/stackql-demo-dashboards.yaml

kubectl apply -f helm/stackql-dashboards/out/stackql-demo-dashboards.yaml

Log into and set up superset​

Allow a minute or so for init actions to complete.

First, inspect the output of kubectl get svc and note the host port for the service v1-superset. In my case, I see (redacted):

$ kubectl get svc | grep NodePort      
v1-superset                  NodePort    ...    ...        8088:31930/TCP   ...

So, my local port is 31390 on this occasion. Hereafter let us refer to this port as <SUPERSET_LOCAL_PORT>.

Go to your browser address bar and punch in http://localhost:<SUPERSET_LOCAL_PORT>. Log in using admin / mypassword (or other if you reconfigured), and then you can begin using superset.

From the top RHS Settings dropdown, select Database Connections. Then, select the + DATABASE button (just below Settings) and do the following (the password does not matter in this context, add anything you want):

Initial database settings

Press "CONNECT"

Follow up database settings

Press "FINISH"

NOTE: we have enabled DML here so that meta queries like show and describe will work. You certainly do not have to do this if you don't want to.

Experiment​

Here we present a simple GCP scenario; you can follow the same pattern to create many charts and populate a dashboard...

Navigate to SQL > SQL Lab and then input the below, substituting <your gcp project> for whatever google project your service account can access:

select name, guestCpus from google.compute.machine_types where project = '<your gcp project>' and zone = 'australia-southeast1-a';

Press "RUN SELECTION"

A table of results should appear.

Press "Save" > "Save Dataset"

Give it whatever name you want.

You can click the option to create a chart immediately or navigate to your chart via the Charts menu item.

Once inside the UI for your new dataset, do something like this (we will leave it to your creativity)...

My First Chart

...and then...

Chart To Dashboard

Click on "SAVE & GO TO NEW DASHBOARD", and you have your first dashboard + stackql!

Dashboard