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.

Connector Extracts Incorrect Function Definitions

Problem

After running metadata extraction, you review the extracted objects and find that incorrect function definitions are being extracted.

During the extraction process, connector functions may be discovered, but their actual code definitions can be incorrect in the catalog. While the connector may correctly extract function names, parameters, and other basic metadata, the function body or definition may be inaccurate.

This issue appears in the following scenarios:

  • Function objects are created in the catalog but show incorrect function definition

  • The MDE job completes successfully but function definitions are missing

  • Other database objects (tables, procedures) extract normally

Solution

This behavior is not due to an error in your configuration. This is a known limitation of the MySQL information schema system.

The MySQL INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES table returns function type instead of function definition in the ROUTINE_DEFINITION column for functions.

This limitation is inherent to MySQL’s information schema design and affects the OCF connector’s ability to extract complete function definitions during metadata extraction. The connector can only retrieve metadata that MySQL exposes through its system tables.

Incorrect Extraction for Views with ALGORITHM and SQL SECURITY Clauses

Problem

After running metadata extraction, you review the extracted objects and find that certain MySQL view types are not extracted with their correct SQL definitions. Views with ALGORITHM and SQL SECURITY clauses display incomplete or incorrect view SQL, such as create view as ... instead of the actual view definition.

This issue appears in the following scenarios:

  • Views with ALGORITHM clause (MERGE, TEMPTABLE, or UNDEFINED) show incorrect SQL definitions

  • Views with SQL SECURITY clause (DEFINER or INVOKER) display incomplete SQL statements

Solution

This behavior is not due to an error in your configuration; it’s a limitation of the MySQL information schema system.

The MySQL INFORMATION_SCHEMA.VIEWS table does not provide sufficient metadata to identify views with ALGORITHM and SQL SECURITY clauses.

While MySQL’s INFORMATION_SCHEMA.VIEWS table contains basic view metadata, it lacks the detailed information needed to reconstruct complete view definitions for views that use ALGORITHM or SQL SECURITY clauses. The table does not store the following information:

  • Algorithm specification (MERGE, TEMPTABLE, or UNDEFINED)

  • SQL security context (DEFINER or INVOKER)

  • Complete view definition syntax including these advanced clauses

This limitation prevents the MySQL OCF connector from extracting complete and accurate view definitions for these specific view types during metadata extraction. The connector can only retrieve the basic view structure that MySQL exposes through its system tables.