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Set Admin Group

You'll transfer metastore ownership to a dedicated admin group in ~5 min.

Prereqs: Add Groups, a metastore admin group created (e.g., metastore-admins)

What you'll build​

A metastore owned by a group instead of an individual user or service principal. This ensures shared responsibility and prevents a single point of failure.

Prerequisites​

  • Account-admin access to the Databricks account console.
  • A metastore admin group already created (see Add Groups).
danger

The metastore admin must be a group. Avoid assigning individuals or service principals as the metastore owner — if the individual leaves or the principal is deleted, governance operations stop.

Steps​

1. Open the account console​

Go to the account console for your cloud provider:

2. Navigate to the metastore​

  1. On the left panel, click Catalog.
  2. Click on the available metastore.

3. Verify the current owner​

Check who currently owns the metastore. If it is already a group (e.g., metastore-admins), no change is needed.

4. Transfer ownership​

If the owner is a user or service principal:

  1. Click the owner field to edit it.
  2. Assign the metastore admin group (e.g., metastore-admins or unity-admins) as the new owner.

5. Configure metastore settings​

  1. Enable auto-assignment for new workspaces if you want the metastore attached automatically.
  2. (Optional) Activate Delta Sharing if required for your projects.
Metastore owner configuration in the account console

Verify​

  1. In the account console, navigate to Catalog and click the metastore.
  2. Confirm the Owner field shows the admin group name, not an individual user.

Troubleshoot​

Cannot change the metastore owner

Only the current metastore owner or an account admin can transfer ownership. Verify you have account-admin privileges. If the current owner is a user who has left the organization, contact Databricks support.

Next​