Multipart Schema Names

The Alation Catalog models data sources as a three-level hierarchy: Schema > Table > Column. Different data source types refer to the top level in different ways (schema, catalog, or database), but in Alation any object that contains a group of tables or views is a "schema."

Some data source types have an extra level in the hierarchy. Above a group of tables is another grouping - a group of groups of tables, or a group of schemas. In Alation, this upper level is collapsed into the schema level. In this case, a "schema" in Alation has a multipart name in the format "parent.child".

The following data source types have multipart schema names:

• Amazon Athena
• Amazon EMR Presto
• Amazon Redshift
• Azure Data Warehouse
• Azure SQL DB (Azure SQL Server)
• Databricks Unity Catalog
• Google BigQuery
• IBM Netezza
• Microsoft SQL Server
• SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise
• Snowflake
• Starburst Trino

Snowflake Example:

In the below image, we can see how CORP_DW is the database, DATA is the schema, and ACCOUNT is the table.

In Alation, the key for the ACCOUNT table would be: <DS_ID>.CORP_DW.DATA.ACCOUNT.
In the Alation UI it would show up as