Network Requirements

Ports

As Alation needs to communicate with various systems, open the following firewall ports.

Outbound implies outbound from Alation. Inbound implies inbound into Alation.

Service

Direction

Ports

Destination

DNS

outbound

TCP, UDP 53

DNS Servers

Email (default)

outbound

TCP, UDP 25

0.0.0.0/0

Email using corporate server

outbound

Corp. email server port

Corp. email server

SSH

inbound only

TCP 22

Alation server

HTTP/HTTPS

inbound only

TCP 80, 443

Alation server

LDAP

outbound

TCP 389

AD/LDAP server

LDAPS

outbound

TCP 636

AD/LDAP server

Alation Catalog packages

outbound

TCP 443

customerportal.alationdata.com (52.4.59.229), duuv98zqs3fvx.cloudfront.net (dynamic IP)

Alation Analytics packages

outbound

TCP 443

d1ux0t996cs7v5.cloudfront.net (dynamic IP)

Docker Compose download

outbound

TCP 443

github.com

Usage Stats

outbound

TCP 443

jidb.alationdata.com (52.4.59.229)

Alation Analytics procedure requires Docker Compose download from github.com repository (12MB). Please consider whitelisting github.com if there is no other means to bring files to the VM.

Email Server Configuration Prerequisites

In Alation, users can share and receive information using email. They can subscribe to email notifications about specific events: scheduled query runs, updates to articles, or user mentions in conversations. In order for the email-based functionality to work, you will need to set up an email server. There are several setup options:

Parameter

Description

Built-in

Alation uses Postfix as its built-in SMTP server. This option will be available during installation. You can use it as is, without any additional configuration; however, using the built-in SMTP server is prone to issues as the emails may be blocked by your company’s receiving server.

Alation recommends to select this option during installation to move through the installation steps and to later fine-tune the email server configuration in the Alation UI.

Corporate SMTP Server

It is possible to use a corporate SMTP server to send emails from Alation. This option is available both during installation and in Admin Settings > Email Server.

Built-in SMTP Server with a separate relay server

This option allows utilizing the built-in SMTP server in combination with a relay server (Postfix, Sendmail, or other) outside the Alation chroot. Such a configuration cannot be performed during installation or in the UI as it requires changes to the main configuration file of the Postfix service on the Alation host server.

The use of a separate relay server may help avoid email blocking issues by the receiving server.

Microsoft (MS) modern authentication

Available from version 2022.1

It is possible to configure email notifications using MS modern authentication and an MS email account. This option is available in the Alation UI only, in Admin Settings > Email Server.

Built-in SMTP Server

Required ports:

Service

Direction

Ports

Destination

DNS

outbound

TCP, UDP 53

DNS Servers

Email (default)

outbound

TCP 25

0.0.0.0/0

Corporate SMTP Server

Required ports:

Service

Direction

Ports

Destination

DNS

outbound

TCP, UDP 53

DNS Servers

Email using corporate server

outbound

Corporate email server port

Corporate email server

To use the corporate email server, you will need the following information:

  1. Confirm connectivity to the corporate email server.

    telnet <EMAIL_SERVER_IP> <EMAIL_SERVER_PORT>
    

    Example:

    telnet smtp.google.com 25
    
  1. Check if your network configuration requires that the Alation server IP should be whitelisted, and if so, whitelist it.

  2. Confirm that the corporate email server allows SMTP authentication.

  3. Confirm that Alation has a dedicated account with Send privileges on the corporate email server and obtain the credentials.

  4. Obtain information on which port the corporate SMTP server is running.

  5. Obtain information on whether the SMTP server uses SSL/TLS.