Non-Production Environments in the Cloud

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Available only for Alation Cloud Service customers on the cloud native architecture

Alation can provide non-production environments to Alation Cloud Service customers for testing, development, and training purposes. With a non-production environment, you can:

  • Test out connecting to a new data source, from installing the connector to extracting metadata.

  • Try out API calls without any risk to your production environment.

  • Enable and try out previously unused features without any disruption to users in your main Alation instance.

  • Train your users and let them try features in a safe way.

Non-production instances are available 52 weeks a year and are administered by Alation, just like your production Alation instance.

Non-Production Offerings

We offer two non-production plans:

  • Cloud Developer Pro

  • Cloud Developer Pro Plus

Features

Cloud Developer Pro

Cloud Developer Pro Plus

# of Objects

< 50,000

Same as your production instance

Refresh data from production to non-production

No

Yes

PrivateLink support

No

Yes

Cloud Developer Pro

Number of Objects

With Cloud Developer Pro, your non-production instance can have up to 50,000 objects.

Data Refresh

Data will not be synced with your production instance, so you’ll have to manage the data on your Cloud Developer Pro instance separately.

Cloud Developer Pro Plus

Number of Objects

With Cloud Developer Pro Plus, your non-production instance can have as many objects as your production environment, so you can see exactly how changes you make will affect production.

Data Refresh

In addition, you can sync data from your production environment to non-production to ensure non-production is up to date. You can refresh your non-production instance up to once per quarter. To schedule a refresh, submit a request to Alation Support.

When you refresh your non-production data, all existing data and configuration in the non-production instance will be overwritten with whatever is currently in your production environment. All data and settings in your non-production instance should be identical to your production instance, with the following exceptions:

  • Query schedules will be turned off

  • Email notifications will be turned off

  • Licensing for your non-production instance is handled separately

Everything else will be carried over, including users, identity provider configuration, connection settings, curated content, etc. If your production configurations are not applicable to your non-production instance, you’ll need to make appropriate changes after the data is refreshed.

Note

When SAML or OIDC are set up, authentication on the non-production instance will use the same SAML or OIDC app that’s used for production. See below for additional configuration steps to make sure authentication will work correctly on the non-production instance.

SAML and OIDC Configuration

SAML and OIDC configurations in Alation will be copied over to your non-production instance, but in order for authentication to work properly, you’ll need to add the non-production instance URL to your identity provider.

SAML

For SAML, add the non-production instance sign-on URL in your identity provider’s SAML application. The SAML application should include both the production and non-production sign-on URLs. In Okta, for example, you would add the URLs to the Other Requestable SSO URLs field.

OIDC

For OIDC, add the non-production instance’s callback URL in your identity provider’s OIDC application. The OIDC application should include both the production and non-production callback URLs. In Auth0, for example, you would add the URLs to the Allowed Callback URLs field.

Alation Agent with Non-Production Instances

An Alation Agent can only be associated with a single Alation instance at a time. If you use the Alation Agent, you’ll need a separate Agent for your non-production instance. You’ll have to install and configure the non-production Agent separately. You can use the non-production Agent to connect your non-production Alation instance to the same data sources as your production instance.