Overview

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

The connector for Azure Cosmos DB is available for download from the Connector Hub on the Alation Customer Portal. Follow instructions in this documentation to install or manage the connector.

Alation uses the Azure Cosmos DB connector to catalog metadata from various data sources in Azure Cosmos DB. Use this connector to Azure catalog Cosmos DB as a data source on Alation on-premise and Cloud Service instances. It extracts and catalogs such database objects as schemas, tables, and columns. After the metadata is extracted, it is represented in the data catalog as a hierarchy of catalog pages under the parent data source. Alation users can leverage the full catalog functionality to search for and find the extracted metadata and curate the corresponding catalog pages.

Team

You may need the assistance of your database administrator to configure this data source.

• Azure Cosmos DB administrator:

  • Creates a service account for Alation.

  • Assigns permissions to anonymous users.

  • Provides the connection information and the JDBC URI.

• Alation Server Admin:

  • Ensures that Alation Connector Manager is installed and running or installs it.

  • Installs the connector.

  • Creates and configures the Cosmos DB data source in the catalog.

  • Performs initial extraction and prepares the data source for Alation users.

Scope

The table below lists the features supported by the connector.

Feature	Scope	Availability
Authentication
Basic (username and password)	Authentication with a service account created on the database using username and password
Account Key	Authentication using Account Key
Azure Service Principal	Authenticate as an Azure Service Principal using a client secret
SSL	Connection over the TLS protocol
LDAP	Authentication with the LDAP protocol
OAuth	Authentication with the OAuth 2.0 protocol
SSO	Authentication using an SSO flow through an IdP application
Metadata extraction (MDE)
Default MDE	Extraction of metadata on the JDBC driver methods in the connector code
Query-based MDE	Extraction of metadata based on custom extraction queries provided by a user
Popularity	Indicator of the popularity (intensity of use) of a data object, such as a table or a column
Extracted metadata objects
Data Source	Data source object in Alation that is parent to the extracted metadata
Schemas	List of schemas
Tables	List of tables
Columns	List of columns
Column data types	Column data types
Views	List of views	Not applicable
Source comments	Source comments	Not applicable
Primary keys	Primary key information for extracted tables
Foreign keys	Foreign key information for extracted tables	Not applicable
Functions	Extraction of function metadata	Not applicable
Function Definitions	Extraction of function definition metadata	Not applicable
Sampling and Profiling
Table sampling	Retrieval of data samples from extracted tables
Column sampling	Retrieval of data samples from extracted columns
Custom query-based table sampling	Ability to use custom queries for sampling specific tables
Custom query-based column sampling	Ability to use custom queries for profiling specific columns
Deep column profiling	Profiling of columns with the calculation of value distribution stats
Dynamic profiling	Ability for individual users to connect with their own database accounts to retrieve table and column samples and profiles
Query Log Ingestion (QLI) - Not supported
Lineage - Not supported
Compose - Not supported

Object Mapping

Azure Cosmos DB Object	Alation Object
Container	Table
Document	Rows or Records within Table