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Import glossaries, glossary term links, descriptions, and metadata forms from AWS Glue business context into Atlan during an AWS Glue crawl.

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Import AWS Glue business context Private Preview

Private Preview

Importing AWS Glue business context is in private preview and is enabled per tenant. The Import business context option stays hidden in the workflow setup until the feature is enabled for your tenant. It works only in the AWS regions us-east-1, us-east-2, us-west-2, and eu-west-1. To request access, contact your Atlan customer team.

The AWS Glue business context APIs that Atlan reads are also in preview at AWS, so AWS can change them. For details, see the AWS announcement and the AWS Glue business context user guide.

Atlan can import the business context you maintain in AWS Glue, such as glossaries, glossary term links, descriptions, and metadata forms, and add it to the Glue assets in Atlan. The import runs after the technical crawl, in the same workflow run. Atlan only reads from AWS Glue and never writes anything back.

The import is off by default. Once you crawl AWS Glue with Import business context set to Yes, your Glue tables, views, and columns carry the terms, descriptions, and form values set on them in AWS.

Prerequisites​

Before you import business context, make sure that:

  • Business context is turned on for your tenant. Contact your Atlan customer team. The Import business context option stays hidden until it is.
  • You're an admin user in Atlan.
  • Your AWS Glue connection uses one of the AWS regions in the preview: us-east-1, us-east-2, us-west-2, or eu-west-1. In any other region, Atlan skips business context and the rest of the crawl runs normally.
  • Your AWS administrator has added the business context read permissions to the IAM policy used by the connection, as described in the next section.

Grant IAM permissions for business context​

Add the following read actions to the IAM policy you created for Atlan, either in the existing statement or in a new one:

{
  "Effect": "Allow",
  "Action": [
    "glue:ListGlossaries",
    "glue:ListGlossaryTerms",
    "glue:GetGlossaryTerm",
    "glue:GetAsset",
    "glue:BatchGetIterableForms",
    "glue:ListFormTypes",
    "glue:GetFormType"
  ],
  "Resource": "*"
}

If any of these actions is missing, Atlan skips business context and the rest of the crawl runs normally. Preflight checks list the missing actions.

note

The Atlan CloudFormation template doesn't include these permissions yet. If you created the IAM policy from the template, add them to the policy by hand.

Import AWS Glue business context to Atlan​

To import business context, either create a new AWS Glue workflow or modify the crawler's configuration of an existing one. On the metadata step of the workflow:

  1. For Import business context, click Yes.
  2. Under Preflight checks, click Check to confirm that the region and the IAM permissions support the import. For the messages you may see, see Check your setup with preflight checks.
  3. Run or schedule the crawler.

For an existing workflow, editing the workflow and saving it with Import business context set to Yes is enough. The next run imports business context.

Once the crawler has completed running, the imported glossaries, terms, descriptions, and form values are on your Glue assets in Atlan. Atlan imports business context only for the tables and views that the crawl includes, so your include and exclude filters apply.

What Atlan imports​

In AWS GlueIn Atlan
GlossaryA glossary named <Glue glossary name> (<connection name>), for example Sales (production). The connection name keeps it apart from glossaries in Atlan that have the same name.
Glossary termA term in that glossary. The term description is the Glue long description, or the short description when there's no long description.
Glossary term linked to a table, view, or columnThe term linked to the same asset in Atlan.
Description set in Glue business context on a table or view, for example with update-assetThe description of that asset. It takes precedence over the Glue table description. Descriptions that users edit in Atlan are kept separately and aren't overwritten.
Customer-defined metadata form typeA custom metadata set named AWS Glue: <form type name>, with the Glue logo. The set is locked, so it's read-only in Atlan, and it applies to tables, views, and columns.
Form values on an assetThe values of that custom metadata set on the same asset.

Atlan skips AWS-managed form types.

How form field types map​

Each field in a Glue form type becomes a field in the custom metadata set.

Glue field typeAtlan field type
StringText
IntegerInteger
LongInteger (large)
DoubleDecimal
BooleanBoolean
TimestampDate
Any other typeText

Atlan imports up to 25 form types, and up to 250 fields per form type. Form types beyond those limits are skipped, and the run ends as a partial success. Custom metadata sets never delete or retype fields. If the type of a field changes in Glue, Atlan skips that field.

How changes in Glue are reflected in Atlan​

Each run reads business context again, so changes in AWS Glue reach Atlan on the next run:

Change in AWS GlueResult in Atlan on the next run
A form is removed from an assetThe values from that form are cleared on the asset.
A term is unlinked from an assetThe term link is removed from the asset.
A term is deletedThe term is archived.
A glossary is deletedThe glossary and its terms are archived.

The connector only adds and removes links to terms from its own glossaries, the ones named <Glue glossary name> (<connection name>). Links to any other term, including terms users link to assets directly in Atlan, are never changed.

Turn off business context import​

Set Import business context to No and save the workflow. Glossaries, terms, and term links already imported stay in Atlan. Table and view descriptions go back to the Glue table description on the next run.

Limitations​

  • Region. Business context is available only in us-east-1, us-east-2, us-west-2, and eu-west-1 during the AWS preview.
  • Scope. Atlan imports business context for the tables and views that the crawl includes. AWS business context doesn't use Lake Formation, so Atlan reads business context only for tables that the crawl itself can see.
  • Federated catalogs. Business context isn't imported yet for tables in federated catalogs, such as S3 Tables. Atlan still crawls these tables as usual, and imports business context for tables in the default AWS Glue Data Catalog.
  • Catalog-level descriptions. These aren't imported yet.
  • Run time. Atlan makes about two AWS calls per table, one at a time. Crawls of large catalogs take longer with the import turned on.

Check your setup with preflight checks​

With Import business context set to Yes, preflight checks add two checks. Both always pass, so they never block you from running the crawler. The message tells you what Atlan skips.

CheckMessageWhat it means
Business context regionBusiness context is available in <region>.The import can run.
Business context regionBusiness context is not available in <region> during the AWS preview. The rest of the crawl runs as normal.Atlan skips business context. Use a connection in a supported region to import it.
Business context permissionsBusiness context permissions validated.The IAM principal can call the business context actions.
Business context permissionsBusiness context will be skipped. Missing IAM permissions: <actions>. The rest of the crawl runs as normal.Add the listed actions to the IAM policy, then run the crawler again.

If the region isn't supported or permissions are missing, the technical crawl still completes. The workflow run ends as a partial success and shows the reason business context was skipped.

See also​