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Unity Catalog is the unified governance layer for data and AI in Azure Databricks. It provides centralized access control, lineage, auditing, and data discovery across your workspaces. See What is Unity Catalog?.
Unity Catalog is automatically enabled for all Azure Databricks workspaces created after November 9, 2023. If your workspace already has Unity Catalog enabled, follow the setup tutorial. If your workspace predates Unity Catalog or was not enabled at creation, follow the upgrade guide.
| Guide | Description |
|---|---|
| Unity Catalog setup guide | For workspaces with Unity Catalog already enabled. Configure admin roles, users, compute, permissions, and catalogs. |
| Upgrade to Unity Catalog | For existing workspaces not yet on Unity Catalog. Enable Unity Catalog and migrate your data. |
Extend your Unity Catalog setup
After your workspace is set up, you can apply more advanced governance capabilities to your data and AI workflows.
Data classification
Data classification uses an AI agent to automatically scan your catalog and tag sensitive data such as PII, financial information, and credentials. After classification, tags can integrate directly with ABAC policies, allowing you to apply governance controls based on what the data actually contains rather than managing access object by object.
Data lineage
Data lineage automatically captures how data flows across tables, notebooks, jobs, and pipelines — down to the column level. You can trace the origin of any column, see what downstream assets depend on it, and understand the full impact of a schema change before making it.
For a complete overview of Unity Catalog capabilities, see What is Unity Catalog?. For governance best practices, see Unity Catalog best practices.