Configure Alation Search on Customer-Managed Instances¶

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

This topic covers administrator-level configuration options for Alation Search on Customer-Managed instances. All configuration is performed by a Server Admin using alation_conf. For instructions on using alation_conf, see Use alation_conf.

Enable or Disable Search Autocomplete¶

Parameter: alation.search.enable_autocomplete

Search Autocomplete is a Search feature that displays keyword suggestions as users type in the Search box. Clicking a suggestion uses it as the search keyword and opens the corresponding search results page.

Search Autocomplete is enabled by default.

Set this parameter to True to enable it or False to disable it. For additional details, see Enable or Disable Search Autocomplete.

Enable Combined Field Search¶

Parameter: alation.search.enable_combined_field_search

Available from version 2025.1.1.

By default (set to False), a search for multiple keywords returns results where any one keyword appears in the object name, title, or description. Setting this parameter to True changes this behavior so that all keywords must be present across those fields, returning more precise, targeted results. The search engine will also search the rich text fields (RTF) and custom field values on catalog objects, except the picker field values.

Note

This parameter is not available for Japanese text.

Enable Custom Field Search¶

Available from version 2023.3.

Enabling Custom Field Search allows users to find objects by their custom field values directly from the search bar, without relying on search filters. For the parameter name and instructions, see Enable or Disable Custom Field Search.

Important

Enabling Custom Field Search overrides Field Permissions for most custom field types, making those values searchable even if their visibility has been restricted. If you have restricted custom field visibility, keep this feature disabled.

Rich text field (RTF) content remains unsearchable when field permissions are set, even if Custom Field Search is enabled.

Configure Dot-Separated Search Behavior¶

Parameter: alation.search.enable_search_with_literals

By default (set to False), dot-separated search strings (for example, apple.orange) are interpreted as hierarchical catalog paths, where the first part is an ancestor of the second (such as a schema containing a table). Set this parameter to True to allow each part of a dot-separated string to be independently searchable instead.

Configure Search Ranking¶

Search ranking can be tuned in two ways:

Ranking by object type — controls the relative boost applied to different object types. By default, Data Sources, Terms, Articles, and Tags receive the highest boost. See Set Search Ranking by Object Type for the relevant parameters.
Ranking by trust flags — controls how much Endorsement boosts and Deprecation penalizes an object’s rank. See Set Search Ranking for the Endorsement and Deprecation Flags for the relevant parameters.

Enable Lexicon Search¶

Available from version 2023.3.2.

Parameter: alation.search.enable_lexicon_search

Lexicon Search is enabled by default. It treats confirmed Lexicon abbreviation-expansion pairs as search synonyms. To enable or disable it, see Enable or Disable Lexicon Search.

Manage Search Synonyms¶

Available from version 2023.3.2.

Custom search synonyms can be created, viewed, and deleted via the Search Synonym API. Synonyms allow users to find objects using alternative terms — for example, defining msft as a synonym for Microsoft.