POST_START

Classifying Tables with Governance Tags

I recently took on the responsibility of ensuring that our data team follows strict governance practices when working with sensitive customer information. One of the key tasks was to classify tables in our Unity Catalog to ensure that the right people have access to the right data. I started by identifying the most sensitive tables in our environment, and one of them was the training.sales.customers table.

Setting a Classification Tag

I decided to apply a classification tag to the training.sales.customers table to mark it as confidential. This would help with access control and compliance. I ran the following command:

SET TAG ON TABLE training.sales.customers `classification` = `confidential`;

I noticed that the command executed without any errors, and the tag was successfully applied. This was a clear indicator that the metadata change had been made in the Unity Catalog. I verified this by checking the table’s properties in the Databricks console, where the classification tag was listed as confidential.

Unsetting a Classification Tag

Later, I needed to test the reverse operation to ensure that I could remove the tag if necessary. I ran the following command:

UNSET TAG ON TABLE training.sales.customers `classification`;

I checked the table’s metadata again and confirmed that the classification tag was no longer present. This helped me understand how tags are managed in Unity Catalog and reinforced the idea that these tags are a lightweight but powerful way to enforce data governance rules.

Conclusion

By setting and unsetting tags on the training.sales.customers table, I gained hands-on experience with how Unity Catalog supports governance and compliance. This was a valuable step in ensuring that our team follows best practices when handling sensitive data. I now feel more confident in using these tools to enforce data policies across our organization.