Unity Catalog Permissions for Metadata Management

Question

Can you point the exact role or permission that needs to be granted in DB by IT and what level (create/manage/assign, etc)?

These are for databricks unity catalog tables. I want to add comments and tags for columns.

Answer 1

Hi Mohammed Aamer

It looks like you’re trying to manage comments and tags for columns in Databricks Unity Catalog tables and need to know what specific roles or permissions you require.

To add comments and tags for columns, you'll need the following permissions:

1. ADMIN PRIVILEGES: Make sure you have MANAGE permissions on the table to modify its metadata, which includes adding comments or tags.
2. APPLY_TAG PERMISSION: Specifically for tagging, you need the APPLY_TAG permission on the table in question.

Here’s a suggested approach to get the necessary permissions:

1. Contact your IT or Databricks admin: Request the MANAGE privilege for the table or schema where the table resides.
2. Use SQL Commands: If you have enough permissions, you can use the SQL command:

GRANT MANAGE ON TABLE <table_name> TO <user_or_group>;

To proceed effectively, you might want to check if your role aligns with the metastore admin or if there's an existing admin who can grant you these privileges.

Follow-Up Questions:

1. Are you currently assigned as a metastore admin or do you know who is in that role?
2. Do you already have permissions to manage other tables, or is this a new request?
3. Are you encountering any specific error messages when attempting to add comments or tags?

Hope this helps! Let me know if you need further clarification.

References:

• Manage privileges in Unity Catalog
• Admin privileges in Unity Catalog
• Unity Catalog Best Practices