Snowflake Data Shares Extraction

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 Alation version 2026.4.0.0 and Snowflake OCF Connector version 2.10.0 onwards.

Snowflake Data Shares enable secure, real-time sharing of data across Snowflake accounts without copying data. A producer publishes schemas, tables, and views, while a consumer accesses these objects in a read-only manner as if they were local.

The Snowflake OCF Connector can discover and catalog shared objects from inbound Data Shares, enabling complete visibility into shared datasets for governance and discovery.

Prerequisites

Before configuring Snowflake Data Shares extraction, ensure that you have completed the following:

  1. Set up the Snowflake account.

  2. Granted the required permissions.

  3. Met the connector requirements.

Snowflake Account Requirements

Ensure that:

  • Your Snowflake account has access to inbound Data Shares from other Snowflake accounts.

  • The shared databases are available (not revoked by the producer).

For more information on Snowflake Data Sharing, see Introduction to Secure Data Sharing.

Service Account Permissions

Grant the following permissions to the Snowflake service account for each shared database:

-- Replace <shared_database_name> with the actual shared database name
-- Replace <service_account_role> with your Alation service account role

-- Grant usage on the shared database
GRANT USAGE ON DATABASE <shared_database_name> TO ROLE <service_account_role>;

-- Grant imported privileges on the share
GRANT IMPORTED PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE <shared_database_name> TO ROLE <service_account_role>;

Connector Requirements

Ensure that:

  • The Snowflake OCF Connector version is 2.10.0 or higher.

  • The Alation version is 2026.4.0.0 or higher.

For complete prerequisite information, see Prerequisites.

Producer Data Source Configuration

On the producer side, enabling Data Shares extraction tells the connector to extract information about outbound shares and how they map to producer objects. Alation catalogs the databases if they are not already present, or enriches them with metadata if they are. This information is needed to build cross-account lineage to consumers.

Configure your Snowflake data source as follows:

Enable Data Shares Extraction

  1. Go to the Settings page of your Snowflake producer data source.

  2. In the Metadata Extraction tab, go to the Customize extraction scope (optional) section.

  3. Turn on the Extract Data Shares toggle. This enables the connector to extract and publish Data Share metadata during metadata extraction.

Perform Metadata Extraction

  1. Go to the Metadata Extraction tab of your Snowflake producer data source.

  2. Click Run extraction. For detailed information, see Configure Metadata Extraction.

After extraction completes, the shared databases and their objects (schemas, tables, views, columns) will be cataloged in Alation. The Data Share mapping information is also extracted, which enables cross-account lineage resolution with consumer data sources.

Consumer Data Source Configuration

On the consumer side, enabling Data Shares extraction tells the connector to include shared databases in metadata extraction, alongside regular databases in the consumer account. In Alation, shared databases appear as Snowflake databases under the consumer data source, and you can browse their schemas and tables like any other database. When you also configure an upstream connection from the consumer data source to the corresponding producer data source, Alation uses the extracted share mapping to create cross-account lineage edges between producer objects and their shared counterparts in the consumer account.

Complete the following steps in order:

  1. Configure Lineage Extraction — Set up the upstream connection to the producer data source.

  2. Enable Data Shares Extraction — Turn on the Data Shares extraction toggle.

  3. Perform Metadata Extraction — Run metadata extraction.

Configure Lineage Extraction

  1. Go to the Settings page of your Snowflake consumer data source.

  2. In the Lineage Settings tab, go to the Manage Connections section.

  3. Click Add Upstream Connection, then select the Snowflake data source containing the producer database from the dropdown.

  4. Click Save.

Enable Data Shares Extraction

  1. In the Metadata Extraction tab, go to the Customize extraction scope (optional) section.

  2. Turn on the Extract Data Shares toggle. This enables the connector to discover and extract metadata from inbound shared databases.

Note

The upstream connection configuration is required to properly map lineage relationships between the producer’s shared objects and your account’s usage.

Perform Metadata Extraction

  1. Go to the Metadata Extraction tab of your Snowflake consumer data source.

  2. Click Run extraction. For detailed information, see Configure Metadata Extraction.

The extraction process will automatically include both your account’s database and any inbound shared databases.

Limitations

Metadata Extraction

  • Read-Only Access: Shared databases are inherently read-only in Snowflake. No Data Definition Language (DDL) operations can be performed on shared objects.

  • Limited Advanced Metadata: Some advanced metadata, such as stored procedures and user-defined functions, may not be available in shared databases, depending on what the producer has shared.

  • Share Dependency: If the producer revokes share access, shared objects become inaccessible during the next metadata extraction. The connector will log warnings but continue extracting other databases.

Lineage

  • Cross-Account Visibility: Lineage shows relationships within your account’s usage of shared data, but does not provide visibility into the producer’s internal processes.

Troubleshooting

For troubleshooting Data Shares extraction issues, see Troubleshooting.