Configure Access to OCF ELT Sources

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Applies from release 2025.1.2

An ELT source is a type of data source in Alation used to represent ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) projects. ELT is a data integration pattern in which raw data is first extracted from source systems, loaded into a destination (such as a data warehouse), and then transformed within that destination system.

ELT sources are required when using the dbt Gen2 and Fivetran OCF connectors in Alation.

An ELT source can be either public (visible to all users) or private (visible only to specific users and groups designated by an ELT Source Admin). By default, ELT sources are public.

You can manage the visibility of an ELT source from the Access tab on its settings page.

Note

ELT sources are not available by default and can only be added to the catalog if they have been enabled for your instance by Alation Support. These steps assume that ELT support is already enabled.

ELT Source Privacy

Users can access an ELT source as Source Admins or Viewers:

  • Source Admins — The ELT Source Admin access allows editing the settings page, including managing access to the ELT source, changing the connection parameters, scheduling, and running metadata extraction (MDE).

  • Viewers — The Viewer access allows viewing the ELT source and its child objects in the catalog, including finding them with Alation Search.

By default, you can set ELT sources to one of two privacy modes. The modes are described in the table below.

Privacy Mode

Description

Public

  • By default, everyone has Viewer permissions

  • Only selected people or groups have Source Admin permissions

  • You can add multiple Source Admins

  • Default permission level for new members is Source Admin

  • Server Admins always have permissions to edit access settings

  • On an ELT source, Server Admins must give themselves Source Admin permissions to the ELT source before they can edit other settings

Private

  • Only selected people have permissions

  • On an ELT source, Admins can add members with any permission level

  • On an ELT source, the default permission level for new members is Viewer

  • For child objects of an ELT source, new members inherit their permission level from the source; if they have no permissions on the ELT source, their permission level is Viewer

  • Server Admins always have permissions to edit access settings

  • On an ELT source, Server Admins must give themselves Source Admin permissions to the ELT source before they can edit other settings

Manage Access to a Public ELT Source

To manage access:

  1. Open the Access tab of your ELT source settings.

  2. Under the People section, on the right of the Source Admins table title, click the +Add button. A quick search list will open.

  3. Start typing the name of a user or group in the search field. Search will provide dynamic prompts that you can select from. Select the user or group you want.

  4. The user or group you selected will be added to the Source Admins table. These users now have Source Admin access and can view and edit the ELT source settings.

Manage Access to a Private ELT Source

To grant or revoke access to or from users and groups:

  1. Open the Access tab of your ELT source settings.

  2. Under the People section, on the right of the Viewers & Source Admins table title, click the +Add button. A quick search list will open.

  3. Start typing the name of a user or group in the search field. Search will provide dynamic prompts that you can select from. Select the user or group you want.

  4. The user or group you selected will be added to the Viewers & Source Admins table. Initially, all newly added users or groups are Viewers.

  5. To change the access level to Source Admin, use the dropdown list in the Access Level column. Select Source Admin from the list.

Revoke Access

To revoke ELT source access from a user or group:

  1. Find the user or group you want in the Source Admins or Viewers & Source Admins table. (The table name depends on your ELT source privacy setting.) Locate the user or group in the Source Admins table (for Public sources) or the Viewers & Source Admins table (for Private sources), depending on your ELT source’s privacy setting.

  2. For this user or group, click Remove in the rightmost column of the table. The user will be removed from the table.

    Note

    You cannot remove Source Admin access from the last remaining ELT Source Admin.

Access for Server Admins

Users with the role of Server Admin can grant the ELT Source Admin access to themselves on any ELT source.

To grant access:

  1. As a Server Admin, open the catalog page of an ELT source.

  2. On the top right of the page, click More and then Settings.

  3. The Edit Your Permissions to Access Settings dialog will open. In this dialog, click Go to Access.

  4. You’ll land on the Access tab of the settings. Other tabs will be disabled until you’ve opened access to yourself. Use the information in Grant or Revoke Access for ELT Sources to grant yourself access.