Enable Document Hubs, Glossaries, and Terms

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

Glossaries and Terms were first introduced in Alation version 2022.2. To enable Glossaries and Terms, you have to enable two flags on the Feature Configuration page. In version 2023.5, these flags were renamed in preparation for the release of Document Hubs, and an additional feature flag specific to Document Hubs was added. Document Hubs are officially in the public preview phase in Alation version 2024.1.

See below for an explanation of the flags related to Document Hubs, Glossaries, and Terms for each version of Alation.

Feature flags can be enabled by a Server Admin on the Feature Configuration tab of the Admin Settings page. See the Feature Configuration topic for help enabling feature flags.

Version 2024.1 and Newer

Document Hubs extend and build on the existing functionality for Glossaries, so Document Hubs use some of the same feature flags. These feature flags have been renamed to refer to Document Hubs instead of Glossary Terms.

Glossaries Already Enabled

If you’ve already been using glossaries and terms, the feature flag Document Hubs 2: Show Glossary Hub should already be enabled. The flag Document Hubs 1: Setup may or may not be enabled, as it’s irrelevant once Document Hubs 2 is enabled.

To enable Document Hubs, use the feature flag Document Hubs 3: Enable Hub Creation (Public Preview).

When you enable Document Hubs, there will be no functional changes to your existing glossaries and terms. Since Document Hubs extend and build on the existing functionality for Glossaries and Terms, the Glossary Hub is already considered a document hub. Glossaries are considered to be folders, and terms are considered to be documents.

Glossaries Not Enabled

Three feature flags control the enablement of Document Hubs. These flags are disabled by default.

  • Document Hubs 1: Setup

    When enabled along with Document Hubs 3: Enable Hub Creation (Public Preview):

    • Server Admins and Catalog Admins can use the features to define document hub templates, folders, and documents. No changes are visible to other users until you enable Document Hubs 2: Show Glossary Hub.

    • Any existing Glossary Hub content will be converted into Document Hubs.

    When enabled without Document Hubs 3: Enable Hub Creation (Public Preview):

    • Server Admins and Catalog Admins can use the features to define term templates, glossaries, and terms without the newer Document Hubs functionality. No changes are visible to other users until you enable Document Hubs 2: Show Glossary Hub.

  • Document Hubs 2: Show Glossary Hub

    This flag should be enabled once you have defined your document hub templates or term templates and your initial set of documents or terms. Once this flag is enabled:

    • The document hubs you’ve created, including your glossary hub, will become visible to all users.

    • Stewards and other users with appropriate permissions can define folders and documents.

    • If you haven’t previously enabled Glossaries and Terms, any previous glossaries you may have created using articles are relabeled as Article Groups.

  • Document Hubs 3: Enable Hub Creation (Public Preview)

    When enabled along with Document Hubs 1: Setup, Server Admins and Catalog Admins can use the features to define document hub templates, folders, and documents.

    When enabled along with Document Hubs 2: Show Glossary Hub, your document hubs will become visible to all users.

Once Document Hubs are enabled, you can create and configure document hubs.

Document Hub, Glossary, and Term Configuration

Two additional feature flags control the behavior of Document Hubs, Glossaries, and Terms:

  • Document Hubs 4: Performance Improvement. This flag, when enabled, provides substantial performance improvement when listing documents. The flag is enabled by default.

  • Document Hubs 5: Document Total Count. This enables the document count in Document Hubs. If you have thousands of documents, we recommend that you leave this flag disabled as it can significantly increase load times.

Version 2023.3.5

Two feature flags control the enablement of Glossaries and Terms. Both flags are disabled by default.

Note

Although these flags refer to Document Hubs, they also control Glossaries and Terms. Document Hubs extend and build on the existing functionality for Glossaries, so Document Hubs use some of the same feature flags.

Document Hubs 1: Setup (previously named Glossary Terms Setup). This flag enables the features that allow Server Admins and Catalog Admins to define term templates, glossaries, and terms. No changes are visible to other users until you enable Document Hubs 2: Show Glossary Hub.

Document Hubs 2: Show Glossary Hub (previously named Glossary Terms GA). This flag should be enabled once you have defined your term templates and your initial set of glossaries and terms. Once this flag is enabled:

  • Your Glossary Hub will become visible to all users.

  • Stewards and other users with appropriate permissions can define terms and glossaries.

  • Any previous glossaries you may have created using articles are relabeled as Article Groups.

Important

We do not recommend enabling the flag Document Hubs 3: Enable Hub Creation (Public Preview) in version 2023.3.5. Please upgrade to 2024.1 or newer before enabling this flag.

Document Hub and Glossary Term Configuration

Two additional feature flags control the behavior of Document Hubs, Glossaries, and Terms:

  • Document Hubs 4: Performance Improvement (previously named Glossary Terms Performance Improvement). This flag, when enabled, provides substantial performance improvement when listing terms. The flag, disabled by default, was introduced in Alation 2023.3.1. From Alation 2023.3.3, it is enabled by default.

  • Document Hubs 5: Document Total Count (previously named Glossary Terms Total Count). This enables the terms count on the Glossary Hub. If you have thousands of terms, we recommend that you leave this flag disabled as it can significantly increase load times.

Versions 2022.2 to 2023.3.4

Two feature flags control the enablement of Glossaries and Terms. Both flags are disabled by default.

Glossary Terms Setup. This flag enables the features that allow Server Admins and Catalog Admins to define term templates, glossaries, and terms. No changes are visible to other users until you enable Glossary Terms GA.

Glossary Terms GA. This flag should be enabled once you have defined your term templates and your initial set of glossaries and terms. Once this flag is enabled:

  • Your Glossary Hub will become visible to all users.

  • Stewards and other users with appropriate permissions can define terms and glossaries.

  • Any previous glossaries you may have created using articles are relabeled as Article Groups.

Glossary Term Configuration

Two additional feature flags control the behavior of Glossaries and Terms:

  • Glossary Terms Performance Improvement: This flag, when enabled, provides substantial performance improvement when listing terms. The flag, disabled by default, was introduced in Alation 2023.3.1. From Alation 2023.3.3, it is enabled by default.

  • Glossary Terms Total Count: This enables the terms count on the Glossary Hub. If you have thousands of terms, we recommend that you leave this flag disabled as it can significantly increase load times.