MySQL Connector: Overview

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

Core Connector Core connectors are included with all Alation platform tiers (subject to each tier’s connector limits) and are fully supported by Alation.

Applies from release 2021.4

Overview

You can install and upgrade the connector using one of the following methods, depending on your Alation deployment type:

  • On-premise instances: Download the latest connector package from the Alation Customer Portal (Customer Portal > Connectors), then upload and install it in Alation.

  • Alation Cloud Service: Install and upgrade the connector directly from your instance without downloading the package. Any connector available on the Alation Customer Portal (Customer Portal > Connectors) can be installed and upgraded this way. See Install Connectors (Cloud-Native Architecture). You can also download the connector package from the Alation Customer Portal and install or upgrade it manually by uploading the Zip file.

This connector should be used to catalog MySQL as a data source in Alation. The connector catalogs MySQL objects such as tables, columns, views, primary keys, foreign keys, functions, and function def fields. It enables end-users to search, find, and curate MySQL objects from the Alation user interface.

Team

The following administrators are required to install this connector:

  • Alation Administrator:

    • Installs the connector

    • Creates and configures a MySQL data source in the Catalog

  • MySQL Objects Administrator:

    • Creates a Service Account with the Enterprise authentication type

    • Provides the JDBC URI to access metadata

    • Provides access to public schemas to extract metadata.

Scope

The table below shows what features are covered by the connector. For version support information, refer to Support Matrix.

Browser

MySQL (EC2)

MySQL (RDS)

Core Capabilities

Automated Metadata Extraction (MDE)

Query-based MDE

Search

Catalog page curation

Catalog Sets

Propagation of Data Quality Flags

Compose

On-prem Alation instances

Alation Cloud Service instances*

* Compose for data sources connected via Alation Agent is supported from connector version 11.2.7.2455.

QLI

Query based

Filters

Popularity

Lineage

Sampling and Profiling

Table Sampling

Custom Query Based Table Sampling

Custom Query Based Column Profiling

x

x

Dynamic Profiling

Authentication

Basic (username and password)

SSL

Kerberos

x

Keytab

x

x

LDAP

x

HashiCorp Vault (Dynamic Secrets)**

Technical Metadata

Tables

Attributes

Primary Key

Foreign Key

Views

Schemas

Source Comments

Synonyms

x

x

Stored Procedures

** Dynamic secrets support via the HashiCorp Vault database secrets engine is available from Alation version 2026.2.1.0 and connector version 2.2.0. For details, see Integrate with HashiCorp Vault.