Release Notes 2024.3 (General Availability)¶
Note
The release notes on this page reflect changes to the Alation application. If you’re looking for OCF connector release notes, jump to OCF Connector Release Notes.
PATCH RELEASE 2024.3.1.1¶
build 19.1.1.89401
Released October 11, 2024
Note
This patch release is available for Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture. This patch release doesn’t apply to customer-managed (on-premise) instances and Alation Cloud Service instances that haven’t been migrated to the cloud-native architecture.
Addressed an issue where Server Admins of Alation Cloud Service instances were receiving excessive email notifications for missed Celery jobs, occurring every 30 minutes. We’ve introduced a feature flag Enable Email Alerts for Celery Jobs under Admin Settings > Feature Configuration to manage such email notifications. This feature flag is disabled by default and can be enabled as needed. When enabled, it triggers hourly and daily checks, notifying admins of critical issues like missed jobs and task queue backlogs in the Celery queues
['default', 'ingestion', 'run_scheduling', 'stewardship']
. (AL-174801)Fixed an issue where the watchdog process responsible for backing up site data files failed to start during the provisioning of new tenants. (AL-174982 )
RELEASE 2024.3.1¶
build 19.1.0.88821
Released October 03, 2024
Note
This release is available for all Alation instance types: customer-managed (on-premise) and Alation Cloud Service.
In this release:
New User Experience Updates¶
Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture
Additional customization options for Server Admins:
Ability to configure primary and secondary application colors in Admin Settings > Customize Branding
Ability to hide the Switch to New Experience/Switch to Classic Experience button using the new feature configuration flag Remove the Back to Classic button in the new UI in Admin Settings > Feature Configuration
More enhancements to the wayfinder (the left-side navigation panel):
Automatically hiding the objects that haven’t been fully configured for non-administrator users to prevent confusion
NoSQL objects have been incorporated under the Data Sources hierarchy
Stability improvements across several object types
Miscellaneous other updates:
ALLIE-generated titles can be reviewed from the parent object pages
Mentions within rich text fields are now easier to trigger
Object set field values in the main panel now support pagination
The Filters tab now indicates if a filter is required or not
The Source Comments field formatting is now in parity with the Classic Experience
The data type
STRUCT
on the column catalog page is now includedThe About this Instance page now displays the Frontend build number reflecting the current version of the New User Experience
Find more details in New User Experience.
Lineage¶
Custom Field Metadata Layers (Beta)¶
Server Admins and Catalog Admins can now configure custom fields to appear as metadata layers in lineage charts. Users can select custom field metadata layers on the Compound Layout lineage chart view from the Metadata Layer list. When applied to the chart, the layer displays the corresponding custom field value for the lineage nodes that have this field. Custom field metadata layers can be created in Admin Settings > Lineage Settings > Custom Field Label. (AL-165274)
Note
The feature is controlled by the alation_conf parameter alation.feature_flags.dev_enable_lineage_custom_field_metadata
and is enabled by default.
Bulk-Import Lineage Information (Beta)¶
The issues with this beta feature that were identified in version 2024.3 have now been addressed:
The upload template can now be downloaded on Alation Cloud Service instances.
On newly created instances, there are no more issues with uploading the template.
The feature is enabled by default on the Alation Cloud Service instances. On customer-managed instances, the feature can be enabled by setting the alation_conf parameter alation_conf alation.feature_flags.dev_enable_lineage_bulk_upload
to true
.
Lineage between RDBMS, BI, and file system objects can be uploaded using the template. External objects are currently not supported. The row limit for uploading is 200
.
Deprecation Warning Propagation Worker Functionality¶
Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture
We’ve refactored the legacy deprecation warning propagation service for lineage actions into a new service. This update enhances the handling of deprecation-specific propagation events. Key improvements include:
Automatic adjustment of deprecation propagation when view definitions change. If a view definition changes for a particular downstream object that was along the deprecation path from an upstream object, then deprecation propagation will adjust to not highlight the view.
Consistent addition and removal of propagated deprecation warnings across table, column, data source, and schema-level objects.
Dynamic updates to the lineage chart when dataflows are added or removed, reflecting accurate deprecation warning paths. (AL-154463)
Compose¶
Queuing in Compose with Query Service¶
For data sources where Query Service is enabled, we’ve implemented a concurrency control queue for query executions done within the same connection. This ensures that for a particular connection, we can queue multiple query executions without the Concurrent queries cannot be executed error. Currently, this feature is disabled by default, and will be enabled by default in a later release. To activate it now, append the JVM flag -Dconnector.use_concurrent_execution_per_connection=true
preceded by a space to the existing values of the parameter connector.extra_flags
in alation_conf. Previously, users would encounter an error in the results pane when attempting to run multiple queries on the same connection while another was still processing. With the new concurrency control, users can submit several queries simultaneously. These queries will be queued and executed serially in the background, similar to how queries are managed when exceeding the maximum concurrent query limit.(AL-166099)
Note
Alation Cloud Service customers can request server configuration changes through Alation Support.
Search¶
Exact Search Without Double Quotes¶
For search strings without double quotes, whether they contain underscores or not, titles or names that exactly match the search query will now appear at the top of the search results. Previously, search strings with underscores were broken into tokens and ranked based on the scores of each token, which did not prioritize exact matches. (AL-171164)
Platform¶
PostgreSQL Upgrade to 16.4¶
Customer-managed instances
The internal PostgreSQL databases (the internal Alation database and the Alation Analytics database) have been upgraded from version 16.2 to 16.4 to enhance application security. The databases will be upgraded automatically during the Alation update to 2024.3.1. (AL-169856)
Ability to Enable SSL for the Kafka and Zookeeper Components¶
Customer-managed instances
Alation now supports enabling SSL/TLS encryption for Kafka and SASL over TLS authentication for Kafka clients and Zookeeper. Even though all services, producers, and consumers run on the Alation server and use localhost for connections, this enhancement addresses potential security concerns. (AL-122489)
Note
The feature is disabled by default and can be enabled by the instance administrator on the server backend. Steps to enable:
sudo su alation
rm -rf /var/lib/event_bus/kafka-ssl/*
alation_conf event_bus.kafka.ssl.enabled -s True
alation_action kafka-generate-ssl
alation_action deploy_conf_kafka_ssl
alation_supervisor restart event-bus:*
alation_supervisor restart lineage
Java Component Upgrade¶
The internal Java component has been upgraded to a newer version (Corretto 11.0.24.x.x) to incorporate the latest security fixes and enhancements. (AL-164803)
Enhanced Audit Logging for Database Connectors, File System Connectors, and Custom Field Permissions¶
The user actions on the data source settings page are now audited and the corresponding logs are stored in alation-event.log in the /opt/alation/site/logs directory. The log captures information about the user who triggered the action, when it was triggered, what was the outcome of the action, what was the previous value of the field before the user acted on it, and what is the new value changed by the user. For example, if a user changes the URI for a source, this action will be captured by the log. (AL-123286, AL-168788, AL-168620)
Improvements¶
Optimized the lineage compound layout to eliminate redundant calculations. This enhancement will significantly improve chart load times. (AL-170941)
Implemented support for non-conforming session IDs in the QLI pipeline service, which now strips extraneous details such as usernames and timestamps from the session ID in custom MDE queries. This correction was implemented for the Snowflake OCF connector and will be extended to all other OCF connectors in the future. (AL-168154, Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture)
The alation_conf flag
enable_obfuscating_view_sql
is now set totrue
by default. This ensures that when the Obfuscate Literals option is enabled for a data source, literals in the extracted view SQL will be automatically obfuscated. (AL-163780)Updated the
scan_postgres
utility:Integrated
scan_postgres
withpg_amcheck
for improved performance and reliabilityAdded progress indicators
Enhanced efficiency for larger databases (AL-164467, Customer-managed instances)
Previously, some customers experienced congestion in Celery Worker resources due to a large number of catalog set-related tasks getting queued. We’ve implemented a rate limit on the affected tasks to deduplicate tasks with identical arguments (such as the catalog set ID). Due to rate limiting, only one unique task will be queued and executed within a configured interval. This approach ensures more efficient use of resources and reduces task backlog. Rate limiting was added for the
sync_members_from_catalog_set
andupdate_dynamic_sets
tasks by debouncing them within a specified interval. The interval is controlled by the alation_conf flagsstewardship.sync_members_from_catalog_set.debounce_interval
andstewardship.update_dynamic_sets.debounce_interval
respectively, with a default interval of600
seconds. During the debounce period, updates to catalog set members will not reflect in these features if the task is rescheduled within this time.Impact on features:
The
sync_members_from_catalog_set
debounce period: Delays the synchronization for the Catalog Activity and Mentioned On features for Documents and Folders by the debounce interval.The
update_dynamic_sets
debounce period: Delays the synchronization for Catalog Sets Membership and updates to Catalog Sets Shared Fields by the debounce interval. (AL-171500)
Bug Fixes¶
Fixed an issue where the bulk upload of lineage with an Excel template failed on newly installed instances. (AL-172593)
Fixed an issue where objects that were @-mentioned in rich text fields displayed only icons, without titles. After this fix, the titles of referenced objects are displayed as expected. (AL-172065)
Fixed an issue where characters like the ampersand
&
appeared in their HTML-escaped form in catalog set titles on catalog pages. (AL-128763)Previously, any query execution error incorrectly included an additional message: If unable to reconnect, please validate if your Hive Server is up and running properly. This issue has been resolved. Now, only the syntax error message relevant to the current database type is displayed. (AL-169746)
Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture: Fixed a bug where published queries from Compose were sometimes not shown in the catalog under the table catalog page > Queries. (AL-152405)
Fixed an issue where some data dictionary-related tasks were stuck in processing or queued states due to concurrent invocations. To address this, concurrent API requests on the same resource will now be blocked and return a 400 error status, preventing tasks from getting stuck. Additionally, a daily scheduled task has been implemented to scan the database for any data dictionary tasks running for over 24 hours. The expiration threshold can be adjusted with the alation_conf flag
alation.data_dictionary.task.pending.seconds_to_keep
. (AL-168954)Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture: In the New User Experience, fixed an issue where a generic error message was shown when a data dictionary export was already in progress. Implemented status code checks to improve error messaging. (AL-168794)
Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture: Fixed a pagination issue in the New User Experience, ensuring that object set values within template main sections now match the pagination behavior of the Classic Experience. (AL-165421)
Customer-managed instances: Fixed an issue where the health check monitor URL (<Base_URL>/monitor/health_check/) previously took about 2 minutes to display results. Health checks now load in less than 3 seconds on average. (AL-168548)
Fixed an issue with the Kafka processes using plain text listeners. We’ve introduced the ability to enable encryption for both Kafka and Zookeeper processes, enhancing security. (AL-143490)
Fixed an issue with the Snowflake OCF connector with the dbt add-on connector where metadata extraction (MDE) failed with the error Unrecognized token ‘version’: was expecting (JSON String, Number, Array, Object or token ‘null’, ‘true’ or ‘false’) when the manifest file was large (>100MB). Added a fix to get large manifest files from the correct raw GitHub URL. (AL-167304)
Fixed a bug where using the public API to add or remove domain memberships (integration/v2/domain/membership/) with 100 or more objects recursively resulted in a 500 error and a code exception. Updated the API exception handling logic to include the limit argument, ensuring that a correct 400 response with a detailed message is returned. (AL-165401)
Fixed an issue where
max(last_processed_record_ts)
forbi_report
anddocumenthub
in Alation Analytics showed a future date due to an ETL bug that incorrectly set the timestamp when the ETL checkpoint was reset. This fix ensures accurate timestamp setting during the ETL process. (AL-164137)Fixed an issue where a user who was provided access to the Alation Analytics data source, was suspended before they could create their password from the Account Settings > DB Connections tab. With this fix, only those users whose credentials already exist can be suspended. (AL-162736)
Fixed an issue where the
ts_updated
value for custom fields wasn’t reflected in the Alation Analytics database. Now, thets_updated
field for all the object types will be updated in case a custom field associated with an object is updated in the catalog. (AL-161824)Fixed an issue where Alation Analytics wasn’t capturing deleted fields for data sources, schemas, tables, and columns. Updated the query used by the Analytics ETL to ensure we capture records which have been deleted. (AL-155423)
Fixed the Analytics ETL to ensure
ts_deleted
is reflected correctly for Policy tables. (AL-170039)Fixed a bug in the loading of the
curation_history
data into Alation Analytics, which caused some records to be missed. (AL-165866)
PATCH RELEASE 2024.3.0.1¶
build 19.0.1.87345
Released September 20, 2024
Note
This patch release is available for Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture. This patch release doesn’t apply to customer-managed (on-premise) instances and Alation Cloud Service instances that haven’t been migrated to the cloud-native architecture.
Fixed an issue where objects that were @-mentioned in rich text fields displayed only icons, without titles. After this fix, the titles of referenced objects are displayed as expected. (AL-172065)
RELEASE 2024.3.0¶
build 19.0.0.85267
Released September 3, 2024
Note
This release is available for all Alation instance types: customer-managed (on-premise) and Alation Cloud Service.
In this release:
New User Experience Updates¶
Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture
Alation Anywhere¶
Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture
Public Preview of Alation Chrome Extension (Beta)¶
The Alation Chrome Extension enhances browser functionality by allowing Alation users to search and preview data catalog objects directly in Chrome. After installing the extension from the Chrome Web Store, users can log into their Alation cloud instance, conduct quick searches, and view metadata previews. Snowflake users get additional benefits from this integration. After signing into Snowflake Snowsight, users can access detailed metadata about schemas and tables directly through the extension, enriching their data context with metadata from Alation, without leaving Snowflake. (AL-159629, AL-159628)
Homepage¶
Dynamically Rearrange Custom Blocks on the Homepage¶
Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture
We’ve introduced a dynamic user interface enhancement, enabling the flexible positioning of custom blocks on the homepage. Server Admins and Catalog Admins can now rearrange homepage blocks by dragging-and-dropping them. Save the changes for the updates to be applied to the homepage. (AL-153691)
Alation Analytics¶
Group Access Control for Alation Analytics¶
Data Source Admins now have the capability to manage access to the Alation Analytics data source through groups. On the Access tab of the Alation Analytics data source settings, you can add or remove entire groups and adjust their access levels. Previously, access had to be granted to users individually, which could become inefficient with the increasing number of Alation Analytics users. (AL-82666)
Compose¶
Scheduled Query Execution Notifications for Allowed Users and Groups¶
Alation now sends notifications on scheduled query execution to the users and groups with whom the results have been previously shared. To opt out, users can disable all scheduled query alerts via their profile preferences. The feature is controlled with two alation_conf flags:
notify_allowed_users_and_groups
: Enables or disables sending notifications to users and/or groups listed in the Scheduled Query Setting > Sharing Settings dialog, with whom the results have been shared previously. Enabled by default.notify_users_in_groups
: Enables notifications directly to individual users in a group specified in the Scheduled Query Settings> Sharing Settings dialog. Disabled by default, and the specified group is notified through the group email. (AL-168820)
The Sapphire Compose Theme¶
The Sapphire Compose theme is designed to complement the New User Experience. It will be automatically applied for all users after an admin enables the New User Experience feature flag. This ensures a consistent aesthetic across all Alation interfaces. If users opt to switch from the Sapphire theme to another, the auto-application of the theme will be disabled, and subsequent themes will require manual selection. (AL-159192)
Note
The Sapphire theme is also available on customer-managed (on-premise) Alation instances.
Differentiate Between Launching and Running a Query¶
We’ve introduced a new status indicator for running queries to differentiate between launching and running a query. Previously, the status message Launching query was displayed for the duration of the query execution. Now, it’ll change to Executing query once the database connection is established. This enhancement is intended to help discern the stage of query processing and quickly spot any connection delays. (AL-21736)
Change to Default Setting for Automatic Connections¶
The default value for the alation_conf parameter allow_automatic_connection_on_tab_open
has been changed to false
. This update disables the automatic creation of connections to the datasource when users open a new tab or switch tabs in Compose, causing database account lockout problems when passwords have expired. (AL-165067)
Change to Default Setting for DDL Query Processing¶
We’ve updated the default behavior for processing of Data Definition Language (DDL) queries from Compose. Previously, the incremental extraction and lineage generation for DDL queries ran synchronously. Now, the alation_conf parameter alation.query_exec.ddl.run_callbacks_async setting
is enabled by default, and these processes will run asynchronously. This update aims to enhance performance and reduce the time it takes for queries to complete. (AL-136855)
Deprecation of Desktop Compose¶
The Desktop Compose installer is no longer available for download from Alation, and the option to select Desktop or Web as the default Compose user experience has been removed from admin and user settings. Existing Desktop Compose installations will continue to function, but users are encouraged to transition to the Compose Web interface that is accessible via a regular browser. All queries and settings like theme and font size are preserved in the Web interface, but open tabs and connections will need to be re-established. Critical support for Desktop Compose will cease by August 2025. (AL-154706)
Lineage¶
Lineage Support for SQL Server Stored Procedures¶
Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture
We’ve enhanced lineage support for cataloged stored procedures and functions for SQL Server OCF connectors. It is available for systems on the cloud-native architecture and the mt_lineage
service enabled. To activate this feature, the alation_conf parameter alation.ocf.mde.rdbms.parse_function_ddl.enabled
should be set to true
. This enables the detailed parsing and lineage tracing of function and procedure definitions. (AL-156708)
Known Issue with SQL Server Lineage from Stored Procedures¶
The lineage chart may not be accurate when queries include columns with unqualified names. (AL-170059, AL-170264)
Note
Alation Cloud Service customers can request server configuration changes through Alation Support.
Lineage Minimap Available by Default¶
Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture
The lineage minimap feature in lineage charts no longer requires enablement through a feature flag and is available by default. (AL-168144)
Bulk-Import Lineage Information (Beta)¶
Users with the Data Stewards, Data Source Admins, Catalog Admins, and Server Admins roles can now bulk-import lineage information via an Excel template. This feature allows users to easily identify the success or failure of each submission through a detailed upload report. The feature is currently in beta and can be enabled with the alation_conf parameter alation.feature_flags.dev_enable_lineage_bulk_upload
. (AL-159481)
Note
UPDATE
September 20, 2024
We have identified a few issues affecting the functionality of this beta feature in version 2024.3:
The Excel template cannot currently be downloaded on Alation Cloud Service instances.
On newly created instances, there are issues with uploading the template.
The Engineering team is actively working on resolving these issues to ensure full functionality in the next version, 2024.3.1, planned for early October 2024. In the meantime, we advise refraining from using this beta feature. For any concerns or immediate needs, please contact the Alation Support team.
Lineage Settings User Interface for RDBMS OCF Connectors (Beta)¶
Data Source Admins can now use a separate user interface for configuring cross-system lineage. The feature is currently in beta and can be enabled with the alation_conf parameter alation.feature_flags.DEV_enable_etl_elt_lineage_settings
. (AL-152599)
Note
Alation Cloud Service customers can request server configuration changes through Alation Support.
Search¶
Struct Column Visibility in Search¶
For data sources containing STRUCT
data types, the visibility of STRUCT
columns can now be managed via Per-Object Parameter settings for schemas and tables. When a schema or table is configured as non-browsable, all STRUCT
columns within that object will automatically be hidden. This ensures that these columns are no longer searchable in Alation when their parent objects are set to non-browsable, providing better access control. (AL-152087)
Authentication and User Management¶
User Profile Upload Limited to 25 Updates¶
We’ve introduced new limits for uploading user profiles. Each CSV can now contain no more than 25
user creations or updates. If a CSV contains more than 25
rows but the total number of user creations and updates does not exceed 25
, the upload will proceed. Details about this restriction are available in the info panel in Admin Settings > User Profiles. Uploads exceeding this limit will show a preview but disable the Confirm button, with an error message displayed below the preview area. (AL-166371)
Bypassing SAML Authentication Is Disabled¶
The mechanism to bypass SAML authentication has been disabled for administrators of both Alation Cloud Service on the cloud-native architecture and on-premise deployments. In emergency situations, instance admins will need to contact Alation Support to request a temporary bypass. (AL-127742)
Governance¶
Improvements to Domain Membership Rules and Performance¶
Catalog Pages will now always accurately reflect the object’s Domain membership, without the lag time that was previously seen. The rules for domain propagation have changed. Previously, exclusions of child objects from Domains were very persistent:
An exclusion rule was permanent unless an object was added to the Domain directly.
When a parent object was included recursively, then child objects were only added to the Domain if no parent objects at any level were excluded.
Now, the most recent action takes precedence. For example, if a user adds a Schema recursively this week, it will override a previous Domain exclusion on a child Table from last month. This change is designed to align more closely with user expectations, ensuring that catalog pages immediately and accurately reflect an object’s Domain membership. (AL-166059, AL-166060)
Handling of People Set Reviewer Deletion in Workflows¶
We’ve updated how existing workflows handle the removal of People Sets designated as reviewers. If a People Set set as a Reviewer is removed from the system, it will now be marked as [Gone] in the Reviewer field to indicate its absence. (AL-164891)
Deprecation of the Suggested Stewards Feature¶
The Steward Suggestions feature is being deprecated. While customer instances with this feature currently enabled can still view, approve, or reject steward suggestions, the option to enable it through the feature flag in Admin Settings > Feature Configuration has been removed. However, the corresponding alation_conf parameter (alation.feature_flags.enable_allie_steward_suggestions
) remains available, allowing for the feature to be disabled if necessary. (AL-168008)
Open Connector Framework¶
OCF Connectors¶
Updates to the Open Connector Framework (OCF) connectors are released every week. See OCF Connector Release Notes for information on the updates in the month of August 2024. A few August highlights are:
Databricks Unity Catalog OCF Connector Improvements¶
We have released version 3.0.0 of the Databricks Unity Catalog OCF connector that enhances its metadata extraction capabilities. This update includes switching from a driver-based extraction method to a more robust query-based extraction from the information_schema
. (AL-157004)
Enable Token Refreshing for Google BigQuery Compose OAuth¶
We’ve added the capability to auto-refresh OAuth tokens via the Compose authentication flow for Google BigQuery data sources. Now, when Data Source Admins enable the Request Refresh Tokens checkbox on the Compose tab of the settings page, Alation will auto-refresh tokens for connections established in Compose. (AL-162370)
Improved Workspace Extraction from Azure Power BI¶
Version 2.4.0 of the Power BI Scanner connector introduces an option to Extract all workspaces from Azure Power BI within the Customize additional extraction scope section on the Metadata Extraction tab.
Default Behavior: With the Extract all workspaces from Azure Power BI toggle turned off, only workspaces accessible to the configured service principal will be extracted.
Enhanced Extraction: When the toggle is turned on, all workspaces from Azure Power BI will be extracted, regardless of the service principal’s access permissions.
Additionally, this version supports lineage from Redshift native query-based datasets and Snowflake-based datasets. (AL-168903)
Bug Fixes¶
New User Experience¶
Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture
Previously, if a policy title consisted only of multiple spaces, it would display as blank and would be non-editable. Now, titles composed of multiple spaces will be displayed as Untitled <object type>. (AL-163248)
In the Policy Center, the policy group membership dialog previously showed the Save button enabled by default, even if no groups were selected. We’ve updated this behavior so that the Save button will only become enabled when a user selects or deselects any policy group. (AL-162835)
Previously, when the Enable New UI - Default and UI Promotion access flag was enabled, links on some pages under Govern would still redirect to pages on the Classic Experience. Now, all pages will correctly redirect to New User Experience when it is set as the default behavior. (AL-163421)
Fixed an issue with the Title field validation when creating new workflows. (AL-163548)
Addressed an issue that occurred when attempting to edit workflows associated with custom fields that had been deleted from the system. Previously, trying to edit such workflows would result in an error in both Classic and Neo Experiences. Now, instead of blocking the user, the system will display the label [Gone] for the deleted custom field within the workflow. (AL-166130)
Previously, when users were assigning Reviewers to workflows, the Reviewer list failed to display all existing People Sets. This fix ensures that all People Sets are now visible when adding a Reviewer to workflows. Additionally, this issue was fixed in the bulk actions and catalog activity features, ensuring consistent functionality. (AL-166710)
Addressed an issue where changes to the order of columns in the Document table were not persisting after users attempted to swap them and then save. (AL-163769)
Fixed an issue where a homepage name disappeared from the list of homepages in Admin Settings > Homepage Customization when the homepage was disabled and then enabled and saved or enabled and then disabled enabled and saved. Now, the homepage name remains visible in the list after enabling or disabling. (AL-167711)
Fixed an issue with adding terms to custom blocks on the homepage where adding a term, folder, or document to a custom block on any homepage resulted in an unexpected error. These objects can now be successfully added to custom blocks without errors. (AL-167993)
Fixed an issue where logo updates done on the Admin Settings > Homepage Customization page weren’t reflected on the homepage despite a message indicating a successful save. The issue has been resolved, and the logo now updates correctly in the top left corner after saving. (AL-168163)
Fixed an issue where the Column Organization widget was missing from the Policy Center in New User Experience. The Column Organization feature is now available for policy pages. (AL-162838)
OCF Platform and Connectors¶
Fixed a bug in the OCF downstream job for tags that previously led to errors when handling missing tags. The issue caused deleted tag links in the source to remain uncleared in Alation. With this fix, the system now correctly cleans up missing tag links. (AL-166880)
Enhanced the ingestion process for Snowflake tags to address an issue where tag values containing newline characters were not being handled properly. This fix ensures that all options for the Snowflake tag picker field are populated correctly. (AL-164875)
Updated the SQL Parser grammar type for the Athena OCF connector to address issues with query parsing. This enhancement improves the accuracy of parsing and ingesting queries from Athena into Alation. (AL-167009)
Resolved an issue where the
GET_DDL()
function was called indiscriminately for procedures and functions in Snowflake, leading to extraction query failures and multiple errors. This update enhances the stability and efficiency of metadata extraction from Snowflake data sources. (AL-163439)Fixed an issue in the Snowflake OCF connector data sampling process. Previously, when the maximum rows to store was set to
0
, the table row count was incorrectly displayed as0
, rather than reflecting the actual row count. This has been corrected in connector version 2.4.4 to ensure that the row count accurately represents the data in the table, regardless of the max rows setting. (AL-162276)Resolved a limitation in the Tableau OCF connector where Excel sheets embedded from OneDrive weren’t appearing on the Connections tab in Alation. We have now added support for the creation of connections for cloud file types with connector version 1.9.5. (AL-161089)
Fixed an issue with storing
STRUCT
columns in the Alation internal database as NoSQL attribute objects where some of them were duplicated as could be discovered through Search. Duplicating is the result of the internal logical model for NoSQL data types. After this fix, duplicate objects will no longer be discoverable by users, as they only service the internal model. (AL-147379)Fixed an issue where the impact analysis report for a Snowflake data source resulted in empty Path values for BI objects. With this fix, the correct path information will be displayed for BI objects in both Impact Analysis and Upstream Audit reports, ensuring lineage traceability. (AL-164388)
Resolved an issue after upgrading to version 2023.3.5.1, where the connector.log file was missing and older connector log files were not being compressed using gzip. This was due to an internal process incorrectly removing the connector from the log path. A conditional check has now been implemented to prevent this from happening. (AL-161279)
Governance¶
Resolved an issue in the Stewardship Workbench Bulk Actions feature, where the Select All option incorrectly applied actions to more objects than displayed in the search results. Now, when using the Select All option, only the objects shown in the search results will be updated. (AL-163762)
Optimized the internal APIs behind the workflow step execution after observing slow response times in logs. This enhancement reduces the overall execution time of the APIs. (AL-161158)
Corrected a typo in the spelling of Catalog Activity on the Curate and Govern landing page in the Classic Experience. (AL-164324)
Resolved an issue that prevented users from editing existing workflows, which was caused by the system attempting to fetch all users and groups. The solution now bypasses the user or group fetch API if no unique users or group profiles are added as reviewers. This change eliminates unnecessary data retrieval, ensuring that workflow edits can be made efficiently. (AL-164472)
Fixed an issue causing data dictionary uploads to fail with a
500
internal server error. The problem was traced back to extra double quote characters that were introduced by a third-party CSV editor tool. The fix handles these characters properly, ensuring successful uploads. (AL-165445)Resolved an issue in the Bulk Utility where uploading XLSX files with terms resulted in a
504
time-out error. (AL-161711)We’ve introduced the capability to schedule a backend job that recomputes the members of all conditional catalog sets, which is useful for addressing an issue where previously deleted objects that were restored via an MDE job, did not appear in conditional sets with matching rules. This job is disabled by default and can be enabled with the feature flag
stewardship.DEV_recompute_conditional_catalog_sets_members.enabled
. You can customize the schedule by modifying the following feature flags according to Celery crontab standards:Day of week:
stewardship.DEV_recompute_conditional_catalog_sets_members.schedule.day
Hour:
stewardship.DEV_recompute_conditional_catalog_sets_members.schedule.hour
Minute:
stewardship.DEV_recompute_conditional_catalog_sets_members.schedule.minute
Changes to these scheduling flags also require a restart of the
celery-beat
service to take effect. We recommend contacting Alation Support if you observe this issue and need to adjust the flags. (AL-168175)
Alation Analytics and Analytics Experience¶
Resolved a synchronization issue between the catalog and the Alation Analytics database regarding deleted fields. Although fields marked as deleted in Rosemeta were accurately updated, this change was not reflected in Alation Analytics. This was corrected by updating the ETL query to ensure it now properly includes records marked as deleted. (Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture, AL-155423)
Fixed an issue where Steward updates in term objects made through Bulk Actions were not appearing in Alation Analytics. The solution includes a migration script in the upgrade package that resets the ETL checkpoint for terms. Consequently, the ETL process for terms will restart from the beginning after the update. Given Alation Analytics’ ETL capacity to process only six months of data per ETL run and depending on the volume of terms data, multiple ETL cycles may be necessary to fully update the terms data. This could result in a delay in reflecting the latest terms changes. (AL-158292)
Fixed an issue in Alation Analytics that caused errors during data insertion into Snowflake when non-ASCII characters were present in custom fields. (Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture, Analytics Experience, AL-147037)
Other Fixes¶
Resolved an issue where Search results filters failed to populate additional filter data when any documentation object type was used as the object filter. Additionally, deleted folders will no longer appear in full search results. (AL-160582)
Addressed an issue in the
LMSTitleDescriptionSerializer
, where each call to a specific method triggered a separate query execution. This problem was present when the Annotation Value Service was enabled. To optimize performance, unnecessary calls within theLMSTitleDescriptionSerializer
have now been removed. (Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture, AL-164402)To enhance application security we have now restricted the uploading of SVG files for articles. (AL-135045)
Fixed an issue with sending alerts to admin users. The system now performs status checks on Celery jobs every
30
minutes. If a job missed its scheduled run or if any Celery queues become excessively backed up, an email notification will be sent out. (Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture, AL-156446)Fixed an issue where emails were not being sent to group emails when posts were made in conversations. This update ensures that all conversation assignees, including groups, now receive email notifications. (AL-159349)
Previously, users had no option to return to the original object page from the data dictionary upload page except by using the browser’s Back button. Now, users can easily navigate back to the data source from the upload dictionary page using a breadcrumb trail. (AL-152150)
Added support for displaying partition key information in the table view of Alation Search. The fix applies to any data source that supports partition keys and includes partition key information in its extracted metadata. (AL-159752)
Known Issues¶
Alation Cloud Service instances on the cloud-native architecture: In version 2024.3, objects that are @-mentioned in rich text fields display only icons, without titles. Such objects as articles, terms, documents, and domains are affected. Please note, the titles are intact in the internal database but are not appearing in the user interface. A fix has been provided with PATCH RELEASE 2024.3.0.1. (AL-172065)
Conversations that are deleted and subsequently restored are currently not appearing in the Inbox. (AL-169183)