Apache Atlas

Apache Atlas is an open-source metadata management and data governance framework designed for the Hadoop ecosystem and beyond. It enables organizations to catalog, classify, and govern their data assets, providing a centralized platform for metadata discovery, lineage tracking, and policy enforcement. Atlas integrates with various data processing tools and supports both technical and business metadata, making it a foundational component for enterprise data governance.

Features

• Metadata modeling using a flexible type system
• Support for primitive, complex, and relational attributes
• REST APIs for managing types, entities, and classifications
• Dynamic classification system with custom attributes
• Lineage tracking to visualize data flow across systems
• Advanced search capabilities with DSL query language
• Integration with Apache Ranger for policy enforcement
• UI for metadata discovery and annotation
• Hooks for real-time metadata ingestion from tools like Hive, Kafka, and Sqoop
• Export/import APIs for metadata migration and synchronization

Capabilities

• Define and manage metadata types and entities
• Associate multiple classifications to metadata objects
• Propagate classifications through data lineage
• Perform full-text and attribute-based metadata searches
• Visualize data lineage and relationships via graph-based UI
• Secure metadata access with fine-grained authorization
• Integrate with external systems via REST and Kafka messaging
• Ingest metadata from various Hadoop components
• Support for business metadata and glossary terms
• Enable metadata-driven security policies with Ranger

Benefits

• Centralized metadata governance across the data ecosystem
• Improved data discoverability and traceability
• Enhanced compliance with regulatory requirements
• Streamlined collaboration between data stewards, analysts, and engineers
• Real-time metadata updates and lineage tracking
• Scalable architecture for large enterprise environments
• Open-source and extensible for custom governance needs
• Reduces data silos and improves data quality management