Alation

Bigeye integrates with Alation via the Bigeye Data Health Agent.

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Version requirement
Required Alation API Version: greater than 2022.3

How it works

In Alation, Bigeye will raise a deprecation at the table level to alert users of a potential data health concern for that table. This deprecation is in red. Further, columns on that table have a health deprecation count in the Health column on the Overview Page.

The Data Health Agent also integrates into Alation Lineage. The Warning Panel collates warnings that have propagated from other tables. The warnings are in yellow. Further, deprecations on table and column assets appear in the Lineage tab and can warn consumers of upstream causes and downstream impacts.

Finally, the Health tab will contain a list of Bigeye Metrics (rules) each with an associated column name (object name), status, the current observed value for the metric, description of the metric, and last updated timestamp. Users can click on the Rule link to access the metric in Bigeye, where they can get additional detail about an alert and review issues that have been raised for an alert. They can also click on the object name to access the Alation Column page and see the status for each.

Source Configuration

In order to identify the appropriate tables in Alation, users will need to add the data source ID from Alation to the corresponding source in Bigeye. To do so, a user with the Admin or Owner role must select Enable Alation Integration under Settings > Advanced Settings > Integrations in Bigeye.

Customer Credential

Each customer needs to provide the authentication detail for both Bigeye and their external catalog. Follow the below credential format for Alation.

{
	"alation_user_id": 1234,
	"alation_refresh_token": "1234sometoken1234",
	"alation_base_url": "https://myorg.alation.com",
	"bigeye_username": "[email protected]",
	"bigeye_password": "myserviceaccountpasswordisfake",
	"bigeye_base_url": "https://app.bigeye.com"
}

Sourcing Credential Details

Basic auth credential for Bigeye.
- Bigeye URL
  - https://app.bigeye.com by default OR the customer’s vanity URL.
- Bigeye Service Account User ID
  - Bigeye user IDs are email addresses
- Bigeye Service Account Password
  - ********For Bigeye SSO:********
    1. Go to https://<customer base URL>/request-password-reset?email=<email>
    2. Set password
API credential for external catalog.
- Alation

Alation Base URL
- https://CUSTOMER.alationcatalog.com for cloud SaaS OR the customer’s vanity URL.
Alation User ID (Minimum role of Source Admin)
- Find this in the URL for the User Profile
  - https://<<customer>>.alationcatalog.com/user/1234/ 1234 is the user ID
Alation Refresh Token
- Create a refresh token under the Account Settings :: Authorization menu. Ensure you are creating a refresh token and not an API token.

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Multiple workspaces
If a company has multiple workspaces, the credential also requires the workspace ID. This can be found anywhere in the application URL; e.g. https://app.bigeye.com/w/<bigeye_workspace_ID>.
In addition, the integration requires a separate user in Alation for each workspace.

Optional Features

Bigeye can surface additional information in Alation such as Virtual Tables and data quality summaries at the data source and schema levels of the catalog. For more information on how to enable these and what they look like, contact Bigeye.