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Data connections and Workspaces

Every data connection is attached to one or more Workspaces, and a Workspace sees only the connections attached to it. A Finance warehouse can stay out of reach of a Marketing Workspace without anyone keeping two copies of the credentials. For an introduction to Workspaces, see Workspaces.

Availability

• Who can do this: members with the Edit capability in the active Workspace can create connections. Changing a connection's Workspaces, sharing a private connection, and turning on Restrict connection management need the Manage organization capability.
• Deployment: Actian SaaS and self-managed deployments.

Two kinds of connection

	Organization connection	Private connection
Scope on the connection's page	Organization	This Workspace
How you create it	Leave Private to this Workspace unticked (the default)	Tick Private to this Workspace
Which Workspaces can use it	Every Workspace it is attached to	Only the Workspace that owns it
Can be attached to more Workspaces	Yes, by a member with Manage organization	No, unless it is first shared with the organization
Name must be unique	Across the organization's connections	Within its Workspace

Two Workspaces can each have a private connection with the same name, and a private connection can have the same name as an organization connection.

Who sees a connection

• You see, browse, query, and build Models on a connection only if it is attached to your current Workspace.
• From any other Workspace, the connection doesn't appear in Connections, and a link to it reads as not found. This applies to members with Manage organization too: switch to a Workspace the connection is attached to.
• Health alerts for a connection go only to the Workspaces it is attached to. See Data Source Health Monitoring.

Create a connection in a Workspace

A new warehouse connection is attached to the Workspace you are working in when you save it.

• Leave Private to this Workspace unticked to create an organization connection.
• Tick Private to this Workspace to create a private one. Studio explains: "Only this Workspace can see or use a private connection. An org admin can share it with the whole organization later." Sharing needs the Manage organization capability.

The checkbox is only on the warehouse connection form. Uploaded CSV files are always private to their Workspace (see below), and catalog connections don't have this option. For the full steps, see Connect a data source.

Attach an organization connection to Workspaces

Availability

• Who can do this: members with the Manage organization capability, when the organization has two or more Workspaces.

1. Switch to a Workspace the connection is already attached to.
2. Open Connections and select the connection.
3. On the Overview tab, find Workspaces ("Choose which Workspaces can see and build on this connection.").
4. Tick the Workspaces that should use the connection, and untick the ones that shouldn't.
5. Click Save.

At least one Workspace must stay ticked, and Save stays disabled until you change something. If you untick the Workspace you are in, the connection disappears from your view there.

Warning

Studio doesn't check whether Models in a Workspace use the connection before you remove that Workspace. Check the Workspace's Models first.

Share a private connection with the organization

A private connection's Workspaces section says "Private to this Workspace. Other Workspaces can't see or use it." To use it elsewhere, share it with the organization first.

Availability

• Who can do this: members with the Manage organization capability who are working in the Workspace that owns the connection.

1. Switch to the Workspace that owns the private connection.
2. Open the connection, and in Workspaces click Share with organization.
3. In Share with your organization?, click Share.

The connection becomes an organization connection. It stays attached to its Workspace, so nothing built on it changes. You can then attach it to other Workspaces as described above.

Keep in mind:

• Sharing can't be undone. An organization connection can't be made private again. To limit where it is used, change its Workspaces instead.
• If the organization already has a connection with the same name, sharing fails with "Your organization already has a connection with this name. Rename this one, then share it."
• Members without Manage organization don't see the button. They see "To use it in other Workspaces, ask an org admin to share it with the organization." Here "org admin" means a member with Manage organization.
• After sharing, the connection follows the rules for organization connections, including Restrict connection management.
• Sharing is recorded in the Audit log, together with the Workspace the connection came from.

Uploaded files

Uploaded CSV files stay in the Workspace they were uploaded to and can't be shared with other Workspaces. To use the same file in another Workspace, upload it there too. See CSV files.

Restrict connection management

By default, any member with the Edit capability in a Workspace can add, edit, re-test, and delete that Workspace's connections. A member with Manage organization can narrow this:

1. Go to Settings → Security (in the Administration group).
2. Turn on Restrict connection management ("Only Admins can add, edit, or delete data connections. Studio members keep read access.").

While the setting is on, only members who hold both Edit in the Workspace and Manage organization can, in Studio:

• add, edit, re-test, or delete warehouse connections, including private ones
• add, edit, or delete catalog connections
• upload or delete CSV files

Other members can still open connections, browse schemas, and use them in Models. They see "Data connections are managed by your organization's Admins." Manage organization alone isn't enough: you also need Edit in the Workspace.

When a Workspace is deleted

Deleting a Workspace permanently deletes:

• its private connections and uploaded files
• any organization connection that is attached to that Workspace only

Credentials are deleted with them. The delete dialog names these connections before you confirm. To keep an organization connection, attach it to another Workspace first. See Workspaces.

Connections moved from the previous product

If your organization was moved from the previous generation of the product, its connections arrived as private connections of the Workspace they were moved into. They aren't converted automatically. A member with Manage organization can share them with the organization when other Workspaces need them.