Introducing the setup Command in Apache Polaris

By Yong Zheng |

Introduction🔗

As data platforms grow, managing Apache Polaris entities—such as catalogs, principals, and their associated roles—quickly becomes a complex orchestration problem. Traditionally, setting up a new Apache Polaris environment meant executing a series of individual CLI commands or API calls.

To simplify this workflow, the Apache Polaris Python CLI now includes a setup command. This feature introduces an infrastructure-as-code approach, allowing you to define your Polaris configuration in a single YAML file and apply it with a single command.

Why Use the setup Command?🔗

The setup command supports two main use cases:

  1. Bootstrapping: Quickly initialize a new Apache Polaris environment with a predefined set of entities.
  2. Migration & Backup: Export the configuration of an existing environment so it can be reused, replicated, or version-controlled.

Exporting Your Configuration🔗

If you already have an Apache Polaris environment, you can export its current state to a YAML file using the export subcommand:

1polaris setup export > polaris_bootstrap.yaml

This generates a readable YAML file containing principals, principal roles, catalogs, and their associated namespaces and catalog roles.

Applying a Configuration🔗

To bootstrap a new environment or extend an existing one, use the apply subcommand. This command reads your YAML file and performs the necessary create and grant operations in the correct order.

Example Configuration (simple-setup-config.yaml)🔗

 1# ==================================
 2#        Global Entities
 3# ==================================
 4principals:
 5  quickstart_user:
 6    roles:
 7      - quickstart_user_role
 8
 9principal_roles:
10  - quickstart_user_role
11
12# ==================================
13#     Catalog-Specific Entities
14# ==================================
15catalogs:
16  - name: "quickstart_catalog"
17    storage_type: "file"
18    default_base_location: "file:///var/tmp/quickstart_catalog/"
19    allowed_locations:
20      - "file:///var/tmp/quickstart_catalog/"
21    roles:
22      quickstart_catalog_role:
23        assign_to: 
24          - quickstart_user_role
25        privileges:
26          catalog:
27            - CATALOG_MANAGE_CONTENT
28    namespaces:
29      - dev_namespace

Applying the Setup🔗

Before making any changes, you can preview what will be executed using the --dry-run flag:

1polaris setup apply --dry-run site/content/guides/assets/polaris/simple-setup-config.yaml

Once satisfied, run the command to apply the changes:

1polaris setup apply site/content/guides/assets/polaris/simple-setup-config.yaml

Known limitations🔗

The current implementation focuses on simplifying initial setup, with a few limitations to be aware of:

  • Non-declarative updates: The command is create-only. If an entity already exists, it will be skipped rather than updated. There is no state reconciliation yet.
  • Policy attachment export: Policy attachments are not included in setup export due to performance considerations. However, they can still be defined in YAML and applied during setup apply.
  • External Catalog Testing: Support for external catalogs (e.g., Hive Metastore) exists, but full end-to-end testing has not yet been completed. It is recommended to validate configurations in a non-production environment first.

Conclusion🔗

The setup command makes it easier to manage Apache Polaris at scale by treating metadata as code. This approach helps maintain consistency across environments and reduces the overhead of manual setup and configuration.