Configure Compose for OCF Data Sources

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

To configure Compose with your OCF data source, go to the Compose tab on the Settings page of your OCF data source.

View the Driver

The drivers for OCF data sources are compiled with the OCF connectors. To view the information about drivers, go to the Driver section of the Compose tab.

Configure Compose

Following are the steps involved in configuring Compose:

Enable Export and Download of Query Results

You can enable or disable exporting and downloading of Compose query results for your xxxflake OCF connector.

  1. Go to the Settings page of your OCF data sourcer, and enable or disable Allow Export and Download toggle on the Compose tab.

  2. Disable the Exporting and downloading toggle. This option is enabled by default.

Note

There is also a global setting that controls the ability to download. See Manage Access to Data Export and Download for more details about using these various settings and how they interact with each other.

If you enable exporting and downloading of queries, you can control the access to the downloaded query. Select Everyone has export and download access under Who Has Access section to allow everyone to export and download. Otherwise, click the Add+ button to provide access to required users and groups.

Preserve Query Results

Alation allows you to preserve query results permanently so they aren’t deleted.

To preserve query results permanently until you delete them explicitly, go to the Settings page of your OCF data sourcer and enable or disable the Preserve Query Results toggle.

Enable Data Source in Compose

By default, a data source is not enabled for use in Compose. To allow Compose for a data source:

  1. Click the Enabled in Compose toggle to activate it. This will reveal the Compose Connections information.

  2. Edit the default connection or add a new connection:

    • To edit the default Compose connection, click the pencil icon for the Default Connection row of the Compose Connections table. In the Edit Connection dialog that opens, update the URL field as necessary. Click OK in the dialog to save your changes.

    • To create a new connection for Compose, click +Add to the right of the Compose Connections section title. In the Add Connection dialog that opens, specify a Title (name) for your connection and a URL. Click Add in the dialog to save your changes.

The connections created on this page appear in the Connection Settings dialog in Compose and are visible to users:

  • In Compose, they can be selected to establish a data source connection for querying.

  • In the catalog, they can be selected when running query forms, uploading data, and performing dynamic sampling.

Find more information in Working with Data Source Connections and Set Up Dynamic Sampling.

Note

Users are not required to select an existing connection, as they can create their own connections via the Connection Settings dialog.

Share Compose Connection

Select one of the Compose Connection Sharing options:

  • Shared connections across tabs—This option lets users use the same connection across multiple Compose tabs.

  • Separate connection per tab—Users can use different connections for each Compose tab, which enables them to run multiple queries at the same time.

Enable User Impersonation

The Enable User Impersonation setting is available on the Compose tab if your data source supports it. To connect to the data source with the impersonation account, enable the Enable User Impersonation option. You can execute all Compose queries against the database as queries from one impersonated user.

After enabling user impersonation, specify the username and password for the impersonation account. If applicable, enable the Enable Kerberos Authentication toggle and upload the appropriate keytab.

Select a Data Uploader

Select a Data Uploader option based on the description below:

  • Use Global Setting (true) or Use Global Setting (false)—Use the global setting option.

    Note

    The global setting is configured on the backend of the Alation server in the alation_conf parameter alation.data_uploader.enabled. Users are allowed to upload data to data sources if this flag is set to True; or if the flag is set to False, users are not allowed to upload data into any data source.

  • Enable for this data source—Use this option to enable the data upload for this data source and override the global setting if the global setting is set to False.

  • Disable for this data source—Use this option to disable the data upload for this data source and override the global setting if it is set to True.

Share Query Results

Alation allows you to change the Query Result Sharing Permission.

Go to the Settings page of your OCF data source, and select one of the following options under the Share Query Results section of the Compose tab:

  • No Sharing Allowed - Select this option to disable the result sharing.

  • Allow Private Sharing Of Compose Results only - Select this option to enable only private sharing of query results and disable public result sharing.

  • Allow Private and Public Sharing Of Compose Results - Select this option to enable private and public result sharing.