Models in Unity Catalog: Governance and Lifecycle Management
Who this is for:
Architecture / Concept Overview: Models in Unity Catalog: Governance and Lifecycle Management
Unity Catalog extends its data governance model to ML artifacts, treating registered models as first-class securable objects.
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flowchart LR
classDef source fill:#3F4B59,stroke:#9CA3AF,stroke-width:2px,rx:8,ry:8,color:#E0E6ED
classDef ingestion fill:#5A4B36,stroke:#C9A86B,stroke-width:2px,rx:8,ry:8,color:#E0E6ED
classDef processing fill:#535072,stroke:#8E82B4,stroke-width:2px,rx:8,ry:8,color:#E0E6ED
classDef storage fill:#2E4A4A,stroke:#5FAFA8,stroke-width:2px,rx:8,ry:8,color:#E0E6ED
classDef serving fill:#3D5550,stroke:#6BB7AA,stroke-width:2px,rx:8,ry:8,color:#E0E6ED
classDef governance fill:#5A3F52,stroke:#C28BB0,stroke-width:2px,rx:8,ry:8,color:#E0E6ED
TRAIN[Training Run] -->|Register| MODEL[Registered Model in UC]
MODEL -->|Version| V1[Version 1]
MODEL -->|Version| V2[Version 2]
V1 -->|Alias| CHAMP[champion]
V2 -->|Alias| CHALL[challenger]
CHAMP -->|Deploy| EP[Serving Endpoint]
MODEL -->|Share| CROSS[Cross-Workspace Access]
MODEL -->|Lineage| LIN[Data-to-Model Lineage]
TRAIN:::source
MODEL:::governance
V1:::processing
V2:::processing
CHAMP:::serving
CHALL:::ingestion
EP:::serving
CROSS:::storage
LIN:::governance
*Model lifecycle in Unity Catalog: versions, aliases, cross-workspace sharing, and lineage.*
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graph TD
classDef source fill:#3F4B59,stroke:#9CA3AF,stroke-width:2px,rx:8,ry:8,color:#E0E6ED
classDef ingestion fill:#5A4B36,stroke:#C9A86B,stroke-width:2px,rx:8,ry:8,color:#E0E6ED
classDef processing fill:#535072,stroke:#8E82B4,stroke-width:2px,rx:8,ry:8,color:#E0E6ED
classDef storage fill:#2E4A4A,stroke:#5FAFA8,stroke-width:2px,rx:8,ry:8,color:#E0E6ED
classDef serving fill:#3D5550,stroke:#6BB7AA,stroke-width:2px,rx:8,ry:8,color:#E0E6ED
classDef governance fill:#5A3F52,stroke:#C28BB0,stroke-width:2px,rx:8,ry:8,color:#E0E6ED
UC[Unity Catalog] --> CAT[Catalog]
CAT --> SCH[Schema]
SCH --> REG_MODEL[Registered Model]
REG_MODEL --> VERS[Model Versions]
REG_MODEL --> ALIASES[Aliases]
REG_MODEL --> TAGS_M[Tags]
REG_MODEL --> DESC[Description]
VERS --> ART[Artifacts]
VERS --> SIG[Signature]
VERS --> RUN_LINK[MLflow Run Link]
UC:::governance
CAT:::governance
SCH:::storage
REG_MODEL:::processing
VERS:::ingestion
ALIASES:::serving
TAGS_M:::source
DESC:::source
ART:::ingestion
SIG:::source
RUN_LINK:::source
*Unity Catalog model hierarchy: catalog > schema > registered model > versions and aliases.*
Key Terms
Prerequisites and Setup
- Unity Catalog enabled in your Databricks workspace.
CREATE MODELprivilege on the target schema.mlflow.set_registry_uri("databricks-uc")called before registration.
Step-by-Step Implementation
Configuration Reference
| Parameter | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
registry_uri | "databricks" | Set to "databricks-uc" for Unity Catalog |
model_name | — | Three-level name: catalog.schema.model |
alias | — | Mutable pointer name (e.g., champion) |
tags | {} | Key-value pairs for filtering and search |
description | "" | Human-readable model description |