This v1 skill is replaced in the v2 rebuild. Migrate to:databricks-uc-migration-pilot.
See the pack README → Migration: v1 → v2 for the full map and rationale.
Databricks Enterprise RBAC
Overview
Implement enterprise access control using Unity Catalog privileges, SCIM-provisioned groups, workspace entitlements, cluster policies, and audit logging. Unity Catalog uses a three-level namespace (catalog.schema.object) with privilege inheritance: granting USAGE on a catalog cascades to schemas. Account-level SCIM syncs groups from your IdP (Okta, Azure AD, Google Workspace).
Prerequisites
Databricks Premium or Enterprise with Unity Catalog enabled
Account admin access for SCIM and group management
Identity Provider supporting SAML 2.0 and SCIM 2.0
Instructions
Step 1: Provision Groups via SCIM API
Sync groups from your IdP at the account level. Max 10,000 users + service principals and 5,000 groups per account.
# Create account-level groups that map to IdP teams
databricks account groups create --json '{
"displayName": "data-engineers",
"entitlements": [
{"value": "workspace-access"},
{"value": "databricks-sql-access"}
]
}'
databricks account groups create --json '{
"displayName": "data-analysts",
"entitlements": [
{"value": "workspace-access"},
{"value": "databricks-sql-access"}
]
}'
databricks account groups create --json '{
"displayName": "ml-engineers",
"entitlements": [
{"value": "workspace-access"},
{"value": "databricks-sql-access"},
{"value": "allow-cluster-create"}
]
}'
# Assign groups to workspaces
from databricks.sdk import AccountClient
acct = AccountClient()
# Get workspace ID
workspaces = list(acct.workspaces.list())
prod_ws = next(ws for ws in workspaces if ws.workspace_name == "production")
# Assign group to workspace with permissions
acct.workspace_assignment.update(
workspace_id=prod_ws.workspace_id,
principal_id=group_id,
permissions=["USER"],
)
Step 2: Unity Catalog Privilege Hierarchy
-- Privilege model: CATALOG > SCHEMA > TABLE/VIEW/FUNCTION
-- USAGE grants must cascade from catalog to schema
-- Data Engineers: full ETL access
GRANT USAGE ON CATALOG analytics TO `data-engineers`;
GRANT CREATE SCHEMA ON CATALOG analytics TO `data-engineers`;
GRANT CREATE, MODIFY, SELECT ON SCHEMA analytics.bronze TO `data-engineers`;
GRANT CREATE, MODIFY, SELECT ON SCHEMA analytics.silver TO `data-engineers`;
GRANT SELECT ON SCHEMA analytics.gold TO `data-engineers`;
-- Data Analysts: read-only curated data
GRANT USAGE ON CATALOG analytics TO `data-analysts`;
GRANT SELECT ON SCHEMA analytics.gold TO `data-analysts`;
-- ML Engineers: full ML lifecycle
GRANT USAGE ON CATALOG analytics TO `ml-engineers`;
GRANT SELECT ON SCHEMA analytics.gold TO `ml-engineers`;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON SCHEMA analytics.ml_features TO `ml-engineers`;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON SCHEMA analytics.ml_models TO `ml-engineers`;
-- Service Principal: CI/CD automation
GRANT USAGE ON CATALOG analytics TO `cicd-service-principal`;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON CATALOG analytics TO `cicd-service-principal`;
# Grant warehouse access by group
databricks permissions update sql/warehouses/$WAREHOUSE_ID --json '[
{"group_name": "data-analysts", "permission_level": "CAN_USE"},
{"group_name": "data-engineers", "permission_level": "CAN_MANAGE"},
{"group_name": "ml-engineers", "permission_level": "CAN_USE"}
]'
Step 5: Row-Level Security and Column Masking
-- Row filter: analysts only see their department's data
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION analytics.gold.dept_filter(dept STRING)
RETURN IF(IS_ACCOUNT_GROUP_MEMBER('data-admins'), true,
dept = current_user_department());
ALTER TABLE analytics.gold.sales
SET ROW FILTER analytics.gold.dept_filter ON (department);
-- Column mask: hide email from non-engineers
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION analytics.gold.mask_email(email STRING)
RETURN IF(IS_ACCOUNT_GROUP_MEMBER('data-engineers'), email,
REGEXP_REPLACE(email, '(.).*@', '$1***@'));
ALTER TABLE analytics.gold.customers
ALTER COLUMN email SET MASK analytics.gold.mask_email;
Step 6: Service Principal for Automation
from databricks.sdk import AccountClient
acct = AccountClient()
# Create service principal
sp = acct.service_principals.create(
display_name="cicd-pipeline",
active=True,
)
# Generate OAuth secret
secret = acct.service_principal_secrets.create(
service_principal_id=sp.id,
)
print(f"Client ID: {sp.application_id}")
print(f"Secret: {secret.secret}") # Store securely — shown only once
Step 7: Audit Access Patterns
-- Who accessed what in the last 7 days
SELECT event_time, user_identity.email AS actor,
action_name, request_params
FROM system.access.audit
WHERE action_name LIKE '%Grant%' OR action_name LIKE '%Revoke%'
AND event_date > current_date() - INTERVAL 7 DAYS
ORDER BY event_time DESC;
-- Excessive privilege detection
SELECT user_identity.email, action_name, COUNT(*) AS access_count
FROM system.access.audit
WHERE event_date > current_date() - INTERVAL 30 DAYS
AND service_name = 'unityCatalog'
GROUP BY user_identity.email, action_name
HAVING COUNT(*) > 100
ORDER BY access_count DESC;
Output
Account-level groups provisioned via SCIM matching IdP teams
Unity Catalog grants enforcing least-privilege across medallion layers
Cluster policies restricting compute by role (analysts vs engineers)
SQL warehouse permissions assigned per group
Row-level security and column masking for PII protection
Service principal for CI/CD with OAuth M2M
Audit queries for ongoing compliance monitoring
Error Handling
Issue
Cause
Solution
PERMISSION_DENIED on table
Missing USAGE on parent catalog/schema
Grant USAGE at each namespace level
SCIM sync fails
Expired bearer token
Regenerate account-level PAT or use OAuth
Can't create cluster
No matching cluster policy
Assign a policy to the user's group
Can't see SQL warehouse
Missing CAN_USE grant
Add warehouse permission for the group
Row filter too slow
Complex subquery in filter function
Materialize permissions in a small lookup table
Examples
Verify Current Permissions
SHOW GRANTS ON CATALOG analytics;
SHOW GRANTS `data-analysts` ON SCHEMA analytics.gold;
SHOW GRANTS ON TABLE analytics.gold.sales;
