Vertica OCF Connector: Overview

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

The OCF Connector for Vertica was developed by Alation and is available on demand 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 required to install the driver.

To download the Vertica 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.

The connector should be used to catalog Vertica on the cloud or on premise as a data source in Alation. The connector catalogs such Vertica objects as tables, columns, views, primary keys, foreign keys, functions, and function definitions. It enables end-users to search and find Vertica objects from the Alation user interface.

Team

The following administrators are required to install this connector:

  • Alation Administrator

    • Installs the connector

    • Creates and configures a Vertica data source in the catalog.

  • Vertica Administrator

    • Creates a service account for Alation

    • Provides the JDBC URI to access metadata

    • Provides access to schemas to extract metadata

    • Assists in configuring Kerberos authentication

    • Assists in configuring Query Log Ingestion (QLI).

Scope

The table below shows which metadata objects are extracted by this connector and which operations are supported.

Feature

Scope

Availability

Authentication

Basic

Authentication with a service account created on the database that uses a username and password

Yes

LDAP

Authentication with a database service account that is an LDAP account in an organization’s network

No

SSL

Database connection over SSL

No

Kerberos

Support for Kerberos authentication

Yes

Keytab

Support for Kerberos with keytabs

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

Yes

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

Source comments

No

Primary keys

Primary key information for extracted tables

Yes

Foreign keys

Foreign key information for extracted tables

Yes

Functions

Function metadata

Yes

Function definitions

Function definition metadata

Yes

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

Compose

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 1.2.1.3246.

Yes

Basic authentication in Compose

Authentication in Compose with username and password

Yes

SSO authentication in Compose

Authentication in Compose using an SSO flow through an IdP application

No