Network Requirements

Ports

As Alation needs to communicate with various systems, open the following firewall ports.

Outbound implies outbound from Alation. Inbound implies inbound into Alation.

Service	Direction	Ports	Destination
DNS	outbound	TCP, UDP 53	DNS Servers
Email (default)	outbound	TCP, UDP 25	0.0.0.0/0
Email using corporate server	outbound	Corp. email server port	Corp. email server
SSH	inbound only	TCP 22	Alation server
HTTP/HTTPS	inbound only	TCP 80, 443	Alation server
LDAP	outbound	TCP 389	AD/LDAP server
LDAPS	outbound	TCP 636	AD/LDAP server
Alation Catalog packages	outbound	TCP 443	customerportal.alationdata.com (52.4.59.229), duuv98zqs3fvx.cloudfront.net (dynamic IP)
Alation Analytics packages	outbound	TCP 443	d1ux0t996cs7v5.cloudfront.net (dynamic IP)
Docker Compose download	outbound	TCP 443	github.com
Usage Stats	outbound	TCP 443	jidb.alationdata.com (52.4.59.229)

Alation Analytics procedure requires Docker Compose download from github.com repository (12MB). Please consider whitelisting github.com if there is no other means to bring files to the VM.

Email Server Configuration Prerequisites

In Alation, users can share and receive information using email. They can subscribe to email notifications about specific events: scheduled query runs, updates to articles, or user mentions in conversations. In order for the email-based functionality to work, you will need to set up an email server. There are several setup options:

Parameter	Description
Built-in	Alation uses Postfix as its built-in SMTP server. This option will be available during installation. You can use it as is, without any additional configuration; however, using the built-in SMTP server is prone to issues as the emails may be blocked by your company’s receiving server. Alation recommends to select this option during installation to move through the installation steps and to later fine-tune the email server configuration in the Alation UI.
Corporate SMTP Server	It is possible to use a corporate SMTP server to send emails from Alation. This option is available both during installation and in Admin Settings > Email Server.
Built-in SMTP Server with a separate relay server	This option allows utilizing the built-in SMTP server in combination with a relay server (Postfix, Sendmail, or other) outside the Alation chroot. Such a configuration cannot be performed during installation or in the UI as it requires changes to the main configuration file of the Postfix service on the Alation host server. The use of a separate relay server may help avoid email blocking issues by the receiving server.
Microsoft (MS) modern authentication	Available from version 2022.1 It is possible to configure email notifications using MS modern authentication and an MS email account. This option is available in the Alation UI only, in Admin Settings > Email Server.

Built-in SMTP Server

Required ports:

Service	Direction	Ports	Destination
DNS	outbound	TCP, UDP 53	DNS Servers
Email (default)	outbound	TCP 25	0.0.0.0/0

Corporate SMTP Server

Required ports:

Service	Direction	Ports	Destination
DNS	outbound	TCP, UDP 53	DNS Servers
Email using corporate server	outbound	Corporate email server port	Corporate email server

To use the corporate email server, you will need the following information:

1. Confirm connectivity to the corporate email server.

   telnet <EMAIL_SERVER_IP> <EMAIL_SERVER_PORT>
   

   Example:

   telnet smtp.google.com 25
   

2. Check if your network configuration requires that the Alation server IP should be whitelisted, and if so, whitelist it.

3. Confirm that the corporate email server allows SMTP authentication.

4. Confirm that Alation has a dedicated account with Send privileges on the corporate email server and obtain the credentials.

5. Obtain information on which port the corporate SMTP server is running.

6. Obtain information on whether the SMTP server uses SSL/TLS.