Databricks Unity Catalog allows you to manage and access data in your Databricks account across all of your workspaces. With Immuta’s Databricks Unity Catalog integration, you can write your policies in Immuta and have them enforced automatically by Databricks across data in your Unity Catalog metastore.
The following permissions and personas are used in the registration process.
Immuta user: An Immuta user with the APPLICATION_ADMIN Immuta permission must configure the Databricks Unity Catalog integration.
Databricks user: The Databricks user running the installation script must have the following privileges.
Account admin
CREATE CATALOG privilege on the Unity Catalog metastore to create an Immuta-owned catalog and tables
Databricks service principal:
USE CATALOG and MANAGE on all catalogs containing securables registered as Immuta data sources and USE SCHEMA on all schemas containing securables registered as Immuta data sources.
See the for more details about Unity Catalog privileges and securable objects.
Before you configure the Databricks Unity Catalog integration, ensure that you have fulfilled the following requirements:
Unity Catalog and attached to a Databricks workspace. Immuta supports configuring a single metastore for each configured integration, and that metastore may be attached to multiple Databricks workspaces.
Unity Catalog enabled on your Databricks cluster or SQL warehouse. All SQL warehouses have Unity Catalog enabled if your workspace is attached to a Unity Catalog metastore. Immuta recommends linking a SQL warehouse to your Immuta tenant rather than a cluster for both performance and availability reasons.
with the outlined above has been created for Immuta to use to manage policies in Unity Catalog.
Ensure that all Databricks clusters that have Immuta installed are stopped and the Immuta configuration is removed from the cluster. Immuta-specific cluster configuration is no longer needed with the Databricks Unity Catalog integration.
Move all data into Unity Catalog before configuring Immuta with Unity Catalog. Existing data sources will need to be re-created after they are moved to Unity Catalog and the Unity Catalog integration is configured. If you don't move all data before configuring the integration, will protect your existing data sources throughout the migration process.
You have two options for configuring your Databricks Unity Catalog integration:
: Immuta creates the catalogs, schemas, tables, and functions using the integration's configured personal access token.
: Run the Immuta script in Databricks yourself to create the catalog. You can also modify the script to customize your storage location for tables, schemas, or catalogs.
Required permissions: When performing an automatic setup, the credentials provided must have the .
Click the App Settings icon in the left sidebar.
Scroll to the Global Integrations Settings section and check the Enable Databricks Unity Catalog support in Immuta checkbox.
Click the Integrations tab.
If using a proxy server with Databricks Unity Catalog, click the Enable Proxy Support checkbox and complete the Proxy Host and Proxy Port fields. The username and password fields are optional.
Opt to fill out the Exemption Group field with the name of an account-level group in Databricks that must be exempt from having data policies applied. This group is created and managed in Databricks and should only include privileged users and service accounts that require an unmasked view of data. Create this group in Databricks before configuring the integration in Immuta.
is enabled by default. .
Opt to scope the query audit ingestion by entering in Unity Catalog Workspace IDs. Enter a comma-separated list of the workspace IDs that you want Immuta to ingest audit records for. If left empty, Immuta will audit all tables and users in Unity Catalog.
Configure the by scrolling to Integrations Settings and find the Unity Catalog Audit Sync Schedule section.
Required permissions: When performing a manual setup, the Databricks user running the script must have the .
Click the App Settings icon in the left sidebar.
Scroll to the Global Integrations Settings section and check the Enable Databricks Unity Catalog support in Immuta checkbox.
Click the Integrations tab.
If using a proxy server with Databricks Unity Catalog, click the Enable Proxy Support checkbox and complete the Proxy Host and Proxy Port fields. The username and password fields are optional.
Opt to fill out the Exemption Group field with the name of an account-level group in Databricks that must be exempt from having data policies applied. This group is created and managed in Databricks and should only include privileged users and service accounts that require an unmasked view of data. Create this group in Databricks before configuring the integration in Immuta.
is enabled by default. .
Opt to scope the query audit ingestion by entering in Unity Catalog Workspace IDs. Enter a comma-separated list of the workspace IDs that you want Immuta to ingest audit records for. If left empty, Immuta will audit all tables and users in Unity Catalog.
Configure the by scrolling to Integrations Settings and find the Unity Catalog Audit Sync Schedule section.
To enable query audit for Unity Catalog, complete the following steps before configuring the integration:
.
. For Databricks Unity Catalog audit to work, Immuta must have, at minimum, the following access.
USE CATALOG on the system catalog
If the usernames in Immuta do not match usernames in Databricks, map each Databricks username to each Immuta user account to ensure Immuta properly enforces policies using one of the methods linked below:
If the Databricks user doesn't exist in Databricks when you configure the integration, after they are created in Databricks. Otherwise, policies will not be enforced correctly for them in Databricks. Databricks user identities for Immuta users are automatically marked as invalid when the user is not found during policy application, preventing them from being affected by Databricks policy until their Immuta user identity is manually mapped to their Databricks identity.
.
Metastore adminMODIFY and SELECT on all securables registered as Immuta data sources. MANAGE and MODIFY are required so that the service principal can apply row filters and column masks on the securable; to do so, the service principal must also have SELECT on the securable as well as USE CATALOG on its parent catalog and USE SCHEMA on its parent schema. Since privileges are inherited, you can grant the service principal the MODIFY and SELECT privilege on all catalogs or schemas containing Immuta data sources, which automatically grants the service principal the MODIFY and SELECT privilege on all current and future securables in the catalog or schema. The service principal also inherits MANAGE from the parent catalog for the purpose of applying row filters and column masks, but that privilege must be set directly on the parent catalog in order for grants to be fully applied.
Optionally, to include audit, the service principal needs the following additional privileges:
USE CATALOG on system catalog
USE SCHEMA on system.access schema
SELECT on system.access.audit table
SELECT on system.access.table_lineage table
SELECT on system.access.column_lineage table
Access to system tables is governed by Unity Catalog. No user has access to these system schemas by default. To grant access, a user that is both a metastore admin and an account admin must grant USE and SELECT permissions on the system schemas to the service principal. See . The system.access schema must also be on the metastore before it can be used.
Unity Catalog system tables enabled for query audit.
If you select single user access mode for your cluster, you must
use Databricks Runtime 15.4 LTS and above. Unity Catalog row- and column-level security controls are unsupported for single user access mode on Databricks Runtime 15.3 and below. See the Databricks documentation for details.
enable serverless compute for your workspace.
Complete the following fields:
Server Hostname is the hostname of your Databricks workspace.
HTTP Path is the HTTP path of your Databricks cluster or SQL warehouse.
Immuta Catalog is the name of the catalog Immuta will create to store internal entitlements and other user data specific to Immuta. This catalog will only be readable for the Immuta service principal and should not be granted to other users. The catalog name may only contain letters, numbers, and underscores and cannot start with a number.
Enter how often, in hours, you want Immuta to ingest audit events from Unity Catalog as an integer between 1 and 24.
Continue with your integration configuration.
Select your authentication method from the dropdown:
Access Token: Enter a Databricks Personal Access Token. This is the access token for the Immuta service principal. This service principal must have the metastore privileges listed above for the metastore associated with the Databricks workspace. If this token is configured to expire, update this field regularly for the integration to continue to function.
OAuth machine-to-machine (M2M):
AWS Databricks:
Follow for the Immuta service principal and assign this service principal the for the metastore associated with the Databricks workspace.
Fill out the Token Endpoint with the full URL of the identity provider. This is where the generated token is sent. The default value is https://<your workspace name>.cloud.databricks.com/oidc/v1/token.
Azure Databricks:
Follow to create a service principal within Azure and then populate to your Databricks account and workspace.
Assign this service principal the for the metastore associated with the Databricks workspace.
Click Save.
Complete the following fields:
Server Hostname is the hostname of your Databricks workspace.
HTTP Path is the HTTP path of your Databricks cluster or SQL warehouse.
Immuta Catalog is the name of the catalog Immuta will create to store internal entitlements and other user data specific to Immuta. This catalog will only be readable for the Immuta service principal and should not be granted to other users. The catalog name may only contain letters, numbers, and underscores and cannot start with a number.
Enter how often, in hours, you want Immuta to ingest audit events from Unity Catalog as an integer between 1 and 24.
Continue with your integration configuration.
Select your authentication method from the dropdown:
Access Token: Enter a Databricks Personal Access Token. This is the access token for the Immuta service principal. This service principal must have the metastore privileges listed above for the metastore associated with the Databricks workspace. If this token is configured to expire, update this field regularly for the integration to continue to function.
OAuth machine-to-machine (M2M):
AWS Databricks:
Follow for the Immuta service principal and assign this service principal the for the metastore associated with the Databricks workspace.
Fill out the Token Endpoint with the full URL of the identity provider. This is where the generated token is sent. The default value is https://<your workspace name>.cloud.databricks.com/oidc/v1/token.
Azure Databricks:
Follow to create a service principal within Azure and then populate to your Databricks account and workspace.
Assign this service principal the for the metastore associated with the Databricks workspace.
Select the Manual toggle and copy or download the script. You can modify the script to customize your storage location for tables, schemas, or catalogs.
Run the script in Databricks.
Click Save.
USE SCHEMA on the system.access schema
SELECT on the following system tables:
system.access.audit
system.access.table_lineage
system.access.column_lineage
Use the Databricks Personal Access Token in the configuration above for the account you just granted system table access. This account will be the Immuta service principal.
Unity Catalog best practices
Ensure your integration with Unity Catalog goes smoothly by following these guidelines:
Use a Databricks SQL warehouse to configure the integration. Databricks SQL warehouses are faster to start than traditional clusters, require less management, and can run all the SQL that Immuta requires for policy administration. A serverless warehouse provides nearly instant startup time and is the preferred option for connecting to Immuta.
Move all data into Unity Catalog before configuring Immuta with Unity Catalog. The default catalog used once Unity Catalog support is enabled in Immuta is the hive_metastore, which is not supported by the Unity Catalog integration. Data sources in the Hive Metastore must be managed by the Databricks Spark integration. Existing data sources will need to be re-created after they are moved to Unity Catalog and the Unity Catalog integration is configured.
Existing data source migration: If you have existing Databricks data sources, complete these migration steps before proceeding.
Create a separate Immuta catalog for each Immuta tenant
If multiple Immuta tenants are connected to your Databricks environment, create a separate Immuta catalog for each of those tenants. Having multiple Immuta tenants use the same Immuta catalog causes failures in policy enforcement.
Exemption group cannot be changed after configuration is saved
The exemption group field cannot be edited after you save the integration configuration. If you need to change this group name, you can choose one of the following options:
Update the group name in Databricks to match what you have configured here.
Delete the integration in Immuta and create a new Databricks Unity Catalog integration with the new exemption group name.
For details about policy exemption groups, see the .
Create a separate Immuta catalog for each Immuta tenant
If multiple Immuta tenants are connected to your Databricks environment, create a separate Immuta catalog for each of those tenants. Having multiple Immuta tenants use the same Immuta catalog causes failures in policy enforcement.
Exemption group cannot be changed after configuration is saved
The exemption group field cannot be edited after you save the integration configuration. If you need to change this group name, you can choose one of the following options:
Update the group name in Databricks to match what you have configured here.
Delete the integration in Immuta and create a new Databricks Unity Catalog integration with the new exemption group name.
For details about policy exemption groups, see the .
Fill out the Client ID. This is a combination of letters, numbers, or symbols, used as a public identifier and is the .
Enter the Scope (string). The scope limits the operations and roles allowed in Databricks by the access token. See the for details about scopes.
Enter the Client Secret you created above. Immuta uses this secret to authenticate with the authorization server when it requests a token.
Within Immuta, fill out the Token Endpoint with the full URL of the identity provider. This is where the generated token is sent. The default value is https://<your workspace name>.azuredatabricks.net/oidc/v1/token.
Fill out the Client ID. This is a combination of letters, numbers, or symbols, used as a public identifier and is the (note that Azure Databricks uses the Azure SP Client ID; it will be identical).
Enter the Scope (string). The scope limits the operations and roles allowed in Databricks by the access token. See the for details about scopes.
Enter the Client Secret you created above. Immuta uses this secret to authenticate with the authorization server when it requests a token.
Fill out the Client ID. This is a combination of letters, numbers, or symbols, used as a public identifier and is the .
Enter the Scope (string). The scope limits the operations and roles allowed in Databricks by the access token. See the for details about scopes.
Enter the Client Secret you created above. Immuta uses this secret to authenticate with the authorization server when it requests a token.
Within Immuta, fill out the Token Endpoint with the full URL of the identity provider. This is where the generated token is sent. The default value is https://<your workspace name>.azuredatabricks.net/oidc/v1/token.
Fill out the Client ID. This is a combination of letters, numbers, or symbols, used as a public identifier and is the (note that Azure Databricks uses the Azure SP Client ID; it will be identical).
Enter the Scope (string). The scope limits the operations and roles allowed in Databricks by the access token. See the for details about scopes.
Enter the Client Secret you created above. Immuta uses this secret to authenticate with the authorization server when it requests a token.