Troubleshooting

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

Core Connector Core connectors are included with all Alation platform tiers (subject to each tier’s connector limits) and are fully supported by Alation.

Refer to Troubleshoot OCF Connectors.

Refer to the following scenarios for help in troubleshooting common issues.

Database Access Error for External Tables

Problem

The following error message appears in the metadata extraction log while fetching external tables:

Database <database_name> does not exist or is not authorized.

Cause

Lack of neccessary permission to access information schema for external tables.

Solution

Execute the following command for the Snowflake database to provide access to the information schema for external tables:

GRANT USAGE ON DATABASE <database_name> TO <alation_role>;

GRANT USAGE ON ALL SCHEMAS IN DATABASE <database_name> TO ROLE <alation_role>;

GRANT REFERENCES ON ALL EXTERNAL TABLES in DATABASE <database_name> to ROLE <alation_role>;

MDE Displays the “Failed to parse data location” Warning

Metadata extraction (MDE) on a Snowflake data source shows a warning message about data location parsing.

Problem

During the extraction process, you notice the following warning message: Failed to parse data location: %s. However, it does not prevent metadata extraction from completing successfully. All other table metadata is extracted normally.

The warning appears in the following locations:

  • The MDE job run reports on the Metadata Extraction > Job History tab

  • The OCF connector logs

Cause

This warning occurs when Snowflake provides a data location URI that doesn’t match the expected format. Data location is optional metadata that specifies where table data is physically stored (such as cloud storage paths). Alation cannot interpret the specific location format returned by Snowflake for certain tables.

This behavior is not due to an error in your configuration; it’s due to variations in how Snowflake formats data location information.

Solution

No action is required from you. This is an informational warning that indicates:

  1. Metadata extraction continues successfully for all table properties.

  2. Alation cannot process only the optional data location information.

  3. All essential metadata (tables, columns, schemas, etc.) is extracted normally.

  4. Your data source functionality isn’t affected.

Test Connection Fails with Key Pair Authentication Errors

Test Connection fails when using key pair authentication with a Snowflake data source.

Problem

You are configuring a Snowflake data source using key pair authentication. When you test the connection from the General Settings tab or attempt to connect to the data source, the connection fails with one of the following errors, preventing you from connecting to the Snowflake database:

  • Error using the credentials for key pair authentication

  • Error using the private key file

  • Error using the credentials for key pair authentication: check the username of the private key

The error appears in the following locations:

  • The Connection Test result dialog box

  • The OCF connector logs

Cause

These errors occur when there are issues with the key pair authentication configuration. Common causes include:

  • Invalid passphrase: The provided passphrase does not match the private key.

  • Incorrect key format: The private key file is not in the required PKCS#8 format.

  • Username mismatch: The specified username does not correspond to the user account that has the public key assigned in Snowflake.

Solution

Follow these steps to resolve key pair authentication issues:

  1. Verify passphrase configuration

    1. Ensure you are providing the correct passphrase for the private key.

    2. If you generated the key without a passphrase, leave the passphrase field empty in Alation.

  2. Check private key file format

    1. Verify the private key file is in PKCS#8 format.

    2. If needed, convert your key to PKCS#8 format following Snowflake documentation: Key-pair authentication and key-pair rotation.

  3. Validate username and public key association

    1. Verify the username in Alation matches the Snowflake user account that has the public key assigned.

    2. Confirm the public key is properly associated with the user account by running this command in Snowflake:

      DESCRIBE USER <username>;

    3. The output should display the RSA_PUBLIC_KEY information for the specified user.

  4. Re-test the connection

    Return to the data source General Settings tab and click Test Connection to verify the authentication is now working properly.