> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://documentation.immuta.com/saas/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://documentation.immuta.com/saas/~/changes/l3NnvynMHxi6VvqRtJhK/integrations/catalogs/reference-guides/pre-configuration.md).

# External Catalog Introduction

Users who want to use tagging capabilities outside of Immuta and pull tags from external table schemas can connect [Alation](https://www.alation.com/), [Collibra](https://www.collibra.com/us/en/platform/data-catalog), or [Microsoft Purview](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/purview/purview) as an external catalog. If users have an unsupported catalog, or have customized their integration, they can connect through the REST Catalog using the Immuta API. Users can also connect to and ingest tags from Snowflake and Databricks Unity Catalog onto Snowflake and Databricks Unity Catalog data sources.

Once they have been connected, Immuta will ingest a data dictionary from the catalog that will apply data source and column tags directly onto data sources. These tags can then be used to drive [governance policies](/saas/~/changes/l3NnvynMHxi6VvqRtJhK/secure-your-data/authoring-policies-in-secure.md) or [classification frameworks](/saas/~/changes/l3NnvynMHxi6VvqRtJhK/discover-your-data/data-discovery.md). Using existing metadata from external catalogs can allow users to scale policy creation quickly.

## Supported external catalogs

Immuta supports the following external catalogs:

* Alation
* Collibra
* [Microsoft Purview](#microsoft-purview-catalog)
* [Custom REST catalog](#custom-rest-catalog)
* [Databricks Unity Catalog tag ingestion](#databricks-unity-catalog-tag-ingestion)
* [Snowflake tag ingestion](#snowflake-tag-ingestion)

### Microsoft Purview catalog

{% hint style="info" %}
**Private preview**

The Microsoft Purview catalog integration is only available to select accounts. Contact your Immuta representative to enable this feature.
{% endhint %}

The Microsoft Purview catalog integration with Immuta currently supports tag ingestion for **Databricks Unity Catalog** and **Azure Synapse Analytics** data sources.

In addition to tags, the following Purview objects will also be pulled in and applied to data sources as either column or data source tags in Immuta:

* System classifications
* Custom classifications
* Managed attributes

#### Managed attributes limitations

Managed attributes are supported, but have the following limitations:

* If a managed attribute is applied to an Immuta data source but later expires, it will still appear as a tag on the data source. Expired attributes must be removed from the object in Purview for the tag to be removed from the Immuta data source.
* The following managed attribute data types are not supported and will not be applied to Immuta data sources as tags:
  * Dates
  * Number types
  * Rich text

### Custom REST catalog

If users have an unsupported catalog, or have customized their catalog integration, they can connect through the REST Catalog using the Immuta API.

For more details about using a custom REST catalog with Immuta, see the [Custom REST Catalog Interface Introduction](/saas/~/changes/l3NnvynMHxi6VvqRtJhK/integrations/catalogs/reference-guides/index.md).

### Databricks Unity Catalog tag ingestion

{% hint style="info" %}
**Design partner preview:** This feature is only available to select accounts. Reach out to your Immuta representative to enable this feature.
{% endhint %}

Users can connect their Databricks Unity Catalog account to allow Immuta to ingest Databricks tags and apply them to Databricks data sources. To learn more about Databricks Unity Catalog tag ingestion, see the [Databricks Unity Catalog reference guide](/saas/~/changes/l3NnvynMHxi6VvqRtJhK/integrations/databricks-unity-catalog/unity-catalog-overview.md#tag-ingestion).

### Snowflake tag ingestion

Users can connect a Snowflake account to allow Immuta to ingest Snowflake tags onto Snowflake data sources. To learn more about Snowflake tag ingestion, see the [Snowflake reference guide](/saas/~/changes/l3NnvynMHxi6VvqRtJhK/integrations/snowflake/reference-guides/snowflake-overview.md#tag-ingestion).

## External catalog behaviors

* Tags ingested from external catalogs cannot be edited within Immuta. To edit, delete, or add a tag from an external catalog to a data source or column, make the change in the external catalog.
* You can configure multiple external catalogs within a single tenant of Immuta, but only one external catalog can be [linked to a data source](/saas/~/changes/l3NnvynMHxi6VvqRtJhK/data-and-integrations/tags/how-to-guides/managing-tags.md#import-tags-from-an-external-catalog).

## Resources

* To configure an external catalog, see the [Configuration how-to guide](/saas/~/changes/l3NnvynMHxi6VvqRtJhK/integrations/catalogs/configure.md).
* To learn more about how Immuta can automatically tag your data with Discover, see the [Discover introduction](/saas/~/changes/l3NnvynMHxi6VvqRtJhK/discover-your-data.md).


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