Unity Catalog

Connect a Databricks Unity Catalog to your e6data workspace.

Before you start

• Have your Databricks Workspace Host ready (for example, your-workspace.cloud.databricks.com).
• Generate a Databricks Access Token for the user or service principal e6data will use - see the Databricks docs.
• For Serverless workspaces, complete the cloud-specific storage access setup.
• For cross-tenant configurations, have the relevant cloud identity values ready.

Connect to Unity Catalog

1. Navigate to the Catalogs section from the sidebar and click Create Catalog.
2. Enter a Catalog Name. The name must be unique within the workspace. Lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens are recommended.
3. Select Catalog Type as Databricks Unity.
4. (Optional) Enable Governance. Apply fine-grained access control using Ranger, OPA, Unity, or Lake Formation.
5. Provide the Databricks connection details:

   Field	Description
   Databricks Workspace Host	URL of your Databricks workspace
   Databricks Access Token	Personal access token from the user/service principal with Unity access

6. (Optional) Enable Cross-Account Connection if the underlying storage is in a different cloud account or tenant - see Cross-account configuration below.
7. Click Test Connection to verify connectivity. The form validates that a catalog name and Databricks Workspace Host are provided.
8. After a successful test, specify the schemas to include by picking the databases you want this catalog to expose.
9. Click Create Catalog. The catalog is created and available for querying.
10. (Optional) Click Reset at any time to clear all entered fields.

Cross-account configuration

If the underlying storage for your Unity tables is in a different cloud account or tenant, enable Cross-Account Connection.

Azure - for Unity tables backed by storage in a different Azure tenant:

Field	Description
Tenant ID	The Azure AD tenant ID holding the storage account
Client ID	Client ID of the Managed Identity or service principal with read access to the storage
Storage Account Name	Name of the ADLS Gen2 storage account

AWS - for Unity tables backed by S3 in a different AWS account:

Field	Description
IAM Role ARN	Role in the data-owning account that e6data will assume
External ID	(Optional) External ID required by the trust policy

See Unity Catalog cross-account for the full pattern.

Access-token rotation

Databricks personal access tokens expire. To rotate:

1. Generate a new token in your Databricks workspace.
2. Edit the catalog and replace the Databricks Access Token.
3. Click Test Connection to verify, then Update Catalog.

The change is seamless - queries use the new token on the next request. For long-term automation, consider a Databricks service principal token instead of a user PAT.

Edit a Unity Catalog

Editing a Unity Catalog lets you change schemas and credentials.

1. In the Catalogs section, click the catalog name to open its summary page.
2. Click Edit Catalog at the top right.
3. Update the host and access token if needed.
4. Select or deselect schemas as required.
5. To enable automatic catalog updates, toggle on auto-refresh and set the desired interval; otherwise continue.
6. Click Update Catalog.

Update the access token if it has expired.

Delete a Unity Catalog

1. In the Catalogs section, click the name of the catalog you want to delete to open its summary page.
2. Click Delete Catalog at the top right and confirm. The catalog is removed; clusters attached to it lose access.

See also

• Catalogs overview
• Register and manage catalogs
• Cross-account access