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Access Your Data

You'll connect Databricks to your organization's data sources in this section.

Prereqs: Data Governance Strategy

Why this matters​

Workspaces, users, groups, and governance are configured. But Databricks cannot process data it cannot reach. This section covers the two paths for connecting to data: direct access to cloud object storage and managed connectors for external systems like databases and SaaS platforms.

Journey checklist​

  • Get started.
  • Before you start.
  • Infra setup.
  • Cost monitoring.
  • Data Governance Strategy.
  • Access your data.
  • Build the first pipeline.
  • Automation and orchestration.
  • Query and explore.
  • Databricks AI/BI.
  • Business semantics.

How it works​

Databricks accesses external data through Unity Catalog. Every connection — whether to an S3 bucket or a PostgreSQL database — is registered as a UC object with its own permissions and audit trail.

Two categories cover the most common scenarios:

CategoryUse when
Cloud object storageYour data lives in S3, ADLS, or GCS and you need Databricks to read/write it directly
Managed connectorsYou need to query or ingest data from external databases, SaaS platforms, or other systems

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