OCF Connector for Amazon Athena: Overview

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

Available for Alation version 2022.4.x and later

The OCF connector for Amazon Athena was developed by Alation and is available as a Zip file that can be uploaded and installed in the Alation application. The connector is compiled together with the required database driver, so no additional effort is needed to procure and install the driver.

To download the Amazon Athena OCF connector package, go to the Alation Connector Hub available from the Customer Portal. Go to Customer Portal > Connectors > Alation Connector Hub. Only Alation users with access to the Customer Portal can access the Alation Connector Hub. If you don’t have access to the Customer Portal, contact Alation Support.

This connector should be used to catalog the Athena service as a data source on Alation on-prem and Cloud Service instances. It extracts and catalogs such database objects as schemas, tables, views, and columns. After metadata is extracted, it is represented in the data catalog as a hierarchy of catalog pages under a parent data source. Alation users can leverage the full catalog functionality to search and find extracted metadata, curate the corresponding catalog pages, create documentation about the data source, and exchange information about it.

Team

  • Alation administrator:

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

    • Installs the connector.

    • Creates and configures an Athena data source in the catalog.

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

Athena administrator:

  • Assists in configuring authentication for extraction and Compose.

  • Provides the JDBC URI.

  • Assists in configuring query log ingestion (QLI).

Scope

The table below describes which metadata objects are extracted by the connector and which catalog functionality is supported.

Feature

Scope

Availability

Authentication

IAM user

Authentication with an IAM user account

Yes

IAM Role

Authentication with an STS token for an AWS IAM role

Yes

Metadata extraction (MDE)

Default MDE

Extraction of metadata based on default extraction queries in the connector code

Yes

Custom query-based MDE

Extraction of metadata based on extraction queries provided by a user

No

Popularity

Indicator of the popularity (intensity of use) of a data object, such as a table or a column

Yes

Extracted metadata objects

Data Source

Data source object in Alation that is parent to extracted metadata

Yes

Schemas

List of schemas

Yes

Tables

List of tables

Yes

Columns

List of columns

Yes

Column data types

Column data types

Yes

Views

List of views

Yes

Source comments

  • Schema and table source comments are not extracted

  • Column source comments are extracted

Yes

Primary keys

Primary key information for extracted tables

No

Foreign keys

Foreign key information for extracted tables

No

Functions

Function metadata

No

Function definitions

Function definition metadata

No

Sampling and Profiling

Table sampling

Retrieval of data samples from extracted tables

Yes

Column sampling

Retrieval of data samples from extracted columns

Yes

Deep column profiling

Profiling of columns with the calculation of value distribution stats

Yes

Dynamic profiling

Ability for individual users to connect with their own database accounts to retrieve table and column samples and profiles

Yes

Custom query-based table sampling

Ability to use custom queries for sampling specific tables

Yes

Custom query-based column sampling

Ability to use custom queries for profiling specific columns

Yes

Query log ingestion (QLI)

Table-based QLI

Ingestion of query history based on a table or view that contains query history data

Yes

Query-based QLI

Ingestion of query history based on a custom query history extraction query

Yes

JOINs and filters

Calculation of JOIN and filter information based on ingested query history

Yes

Predicates

Ability to parse predicates in ingested queries

Yes

Lineage

Automatic lineage generation

Auto-calculation of lineage based on query history ingested from QLI, MDE, and Compose queries

Yes

Column-level lineage

Calculation of lineage data at the column level

No

Compose

Customer-managed (on-prem) Alation instances

Compose on on-prem Alation instances

Yes

Alation Cloud Service instances

Depending on your network configuration, you may be using Alation Agent to connect to your data source.

Compose via Agent is supported from connector version 1.1.0.4913.

Yes

SSO for Compose

Authentication with an STS token for an AWS IAM role through the SSO login flow

Yes