Alation
The Alation Data Catalog is a comprehensive platform that centralizes your data's context, rules, and policies, enabling easy discovery, understanding, and governance of data. It connects to various data sources and uses AI to enhance data curation and collaboration, ensuring trust and accuracy in analytics. Users can now configure and integrate their Alation Data Catalog with Acceldata's Data Catalog, streamlining their data management processes. This integration not only enhances data governance but also allows users to monitor and evaluate the health of their assets directly from a single Alation dashboard.
To integrate Alation Data Catalog in ADOC, perform the following:
- Click Register from the left pane.
- Click the Add Data Source button.
- Click the Alation data source card under the All tab section. The Data Source Details page is displayed.
Alation Data Source Card
- Enter a name for the data source in the Data Source name field.
- (Optional) Enter a description for the data source in the Description field and click Next. The Alation Connection Details page is displayed.
- Provide the following information on the Connection Details page.
| Base URL | Specific domain or subdomain where your Alation instance is hosted. This base URL is used as the entry point for API requests and integrations with other platforms like Acceldata. Example: https://your-alation-instance.alation.com |
| Username | Enter the username for your Alation account. |
| Password | Enter the password for your Alation account. |
| OAuth Enabled | If your Alation Data Catalog is OAuth enabled, then enable the OAuth enabled toggle button and provide the following details as configured by the Alation Server Admin. |
| OAuth Client ID: | A unique identifier provided by the Alation server to authenticate the client during OAuth-based connections. |
| OAuth Client Secret: | A confidential key assigned by the Alation server to securely authenticate the client along with the Client ID. |
| Access Token Duration (in seconds): | The amount of time (in seconds) the access token remains valid before a renewal is required. |
To authenticate via OAuth in ADOC, the Alation Server Admin must assign a minimum role of Catalog Admin while setting up the authentication.
- Click Test Connection to verify that the provided credentials are correct. If successful, click Next to proceed to the Setup Observability page.
On the Setup Observability page, perform the following:
Enable Trust Flag: This toggle allows Acceldata to indicate the status of an asset within the Alation dashboard. The status is visually represented by three colored circles: red for deprecated assets, yellow for assets with warnings, and green for endorsed assets.
Allow Acceldata to deprecate Assets in Alation: Check this box if you want Acceldata to mark deprecated assets in red. If left unchecked, deprecated assets will be highlighted as a warning instead.
Warning Threshold and Deprecated Threshold: Enter specific values in the warning and deprecated threshold fields to allow Acceldata to appropriately highlight asset status.
Enable Acceldata Data Reliability Summary on Alation Overview: By enabling this toggle, users can view the Acceldata Data Quality Summary, including the overall Data Reliability score and individual policy scores for a specific asset within the Alation Dashboard. Additionally, clicking the "View this asset in Acceldata" link will navigate users to the Asset Details page on the Acceldata platform.
Enable Acceldata Policies in Alation Health: By enabling this toggle, users can view comprehensive policy details, including execution logs and policy scores, Object Name, last updated date and time details for the selected asset. These details are accessible on the Health tab of the asset within the Alation dashboard.
Select an Alation Data Source: From the drop-down list select a data source from your Alation Data catalog.
Select a Data Source: From the drop-down list select the data source from Acceldata Data catalog that can be mapped with your Alation data source.
- Click the Submit button. You can view the created integration on the Integrations page.
Once the integration is complete, any time a corresponding policy for an asset within the Acceldata datasource is executed, that asset will be automatically updated in the Alation catalog.
How to View Acceldata Templates on Alation?
To view the Acceldata Data Reliability Summary template, refer to the steps in Alation Help Center.
In the Custom Template tab, choose the asset type from the Data Object Template section on the left. Locate the A Acceldata Data Quality Summary field, then click the Insert button. By clicking Insert, you can add either a single custom field or a group of custom fields with a custom label.
Alation Custom Templates
Once the field is inserted, it will appear on the Overview tab of the Asset page within Alation.
Alation Overview tab
If you have enabled Acceldata Policies in Alation Health, you will be able to see the Asset health details along with policy details as shown in the following image:
Alation Health tab