Managed table

In the Ultra Transcenders books

DBX-DEPDP-750

Each book explains Managed table in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.

Terms in this definition

• Event

  Table in Log Analytics where entries from Windows event logs are kept.

• Apache Iceberg

  An open table format. Besides Delta, it is one of the formats Unity Catalog offers for managed tables, and other engines can work with those managed Iceberg tables over Iceberg's REST catalog interface.

• General-purpose v1

  The older storage account kind (Storage), which lacks access tiers, Archive and premium file shares and retires on 13 October 2026. Converting to ZRS requires first upgrading to GPv2, a one-way change.

• Unity Catalog

  Azure Databricks' governance solution covering both data and AI in one place, with centralised permissions, auditing, data discovery and lineage.

• Schema

  The middle part of a Unity Catalog name (catalog.schema.table), grouping tables, views, volumes, functions and models inside a catalog. A grant on it covers everything in it now and later, and nothing inside can be reached without USE SCHEMA.

• Catalog

  The first level of Unity Catalog's catalog.schema.table naming and the primary boundary for isolating data. Privileges granted on a catalog flow down to every schema and object it contains.

• Metastore

  The highest-level Unity Catalog container, holding metadata and permissions for a single cloud region. Each region has only one, which every workspace in that region shares, and it is not meant to be the usual boundary for isolating data.

• DROP

  A DDL (Data Definition Language) statement that deletes a database object like a table. Once a table is dropped, its rows are gone unless a backup exists.

Related terms

• Managed Iceberg table

  Stores data in Apache Iceberg format (USING iceberg) as a Unity Catalog managed table. Engines outside Databricks can query and update it via the Iceberg REST Catalog API, and Unity Catalog handles its upkeep.