Boost Data Governance with SAS Information Catalog OpenMetadata Connector

As of the 2024.01 version, the SAS OpenMetadata connector can be utilized for the automatic addition of SAS Information Catalog metadata into an OpenMetadata repository. In this article, we'll present a brief video guide on how the SAS Information Catalog assets appear in OpenMetadata. We’ll take a look at the steps to achieve this integration.

What Assets?

The OpenMetadata repository can include metadata from the following catalog assets:

SAS libraries
SAS tables.
SAS columns.
CAS libraries.
CAS tables.
SAS Studio flows.
SAS Visual Analytics reports.

However, this connector does not support writing metadata back to the SAS Information Catalog repository.

Why OpenMetadata Integration?

SAS customers have long sought a method to integrate SAS assets with those from other applications. OpenMetadata provides various connectors for this purpose. Now, it's possible to export assets from SAS to OpenMetadata. Here, assets from different applications can be linked using tags, terms, domains, or manual lineage, among other options.

Steps

Procedure to Incorporate SAS Information Catalog Assets into OpenMetadata:

Initiate OpenMetadata Deployment. Options:
- Docker deployment (I had more success with it).
- Kubernetes deployment (I had some issues with port forwarding).
Set up the SAS Open Metadata Connector.
Import Metadata from SAS Information Catalog.
ExploreMetadata.

This article will primarily concentrate on metadata exploration. Subsequent posts will delve into details about deployment, connection, and the ingestion process.

Watch the Short Video

(view in My Videos)

Conclusions

The OpenMetadata connector for the SAS Information Catalog facilitates enhanced asset integration, including assets from various catalogs. In the face of numerous compliance and data protection regulations, data governance features like lineage, tagging, attaching terms, policies, and owners to assets are beneficial.

They help solve a few problems. These features in OpenMetadata allow for the creation of a comprehensive map detailing the assets and their interactions in data management processes.

Discussion

Personally, I'm delighted to see that SAS has opted for an open-source product for external asset integration. This product is easy to set up and features numerous connectors. Furthermore, Airflow efficiently manages the metadata ingestion process.

Please comment and let us know what you think about OpenMetadata, the integration, what problems it solves, what problems it doesn't solve, what the future direction should be. It's always nice to hear your opinion and personal experience.