Authentication and access control

This article introduces authentication and access control in Azure Databricks. For information about securing access to your data, see Data governance with Unity Catalog.

Single sign-on using Microsoft Entra ID

Single sign-on in the form of Microsoft Entra ID-backed login is available in Azure Databricks account and workspaces by default. You use Microsoft Entra ID single sign-on for both the account console and workspaces. You can enable multi-factor authentication via Microsoft Entra ID.

Azure Databricks also supports Microsoft Entra ID conditional access, which allows administrators to control where and when users are permitted to sign in to Azure Databricks. See Conditional access.

Sync users and groups from Microsoft Entra ID

You can sync users and groups automatically from Microsoft Entra ID to your Azure Databricks account using SCIM. SCIM is an open standard that allows you to automate user provisioning. SCIM enables a consistent onboarding and offboarding process. It uses Microsoft Entra ID to create users and groups in Azure Databricks and give them the proper level of access. When a user leaves your organization or no longer needs access to Azure Databricks, admins can terminate the user in Microsoft Entra ID, and that user’s account is also removed from Azure Databricks. This prevents unauthorized users from accessing sensitive data. For more information, see Sync users and groups from Microsoft Entra ID.

For more information on how to best configure users and groups in Azure Databricks, see Identity best practices.

Secure API authentication with OAuth

Azure Databricks OAuth supports secure credentials and access for resources and operations at the Azure Databricks workspace level and supports fine-grained permissions for authorization.

Databricks also supports personal access tokens (PATs), but recommends you use OAuth instead. To monitor and manage PATs, see Monitor and revoke personal access tokens and Manage personal access token permissions.

For more information on authenticating to Azure Databricks automation overall, see Authenticate access to Azure Databricks resources.

Access control overview

In Azure Databricks, there are different access control systems for different securable objects. The table below shows which access control system governs which type of securable object.

Azure Databricks also provides admin roles and entitlements that are assigned directly to users, service principals, and groups.

For information about securing data, see Data governance with Unity Catalog.

Access control lists

In Azure Databricks, you can use access control lists (ACLs) to configure permission to access workspace objects such as notebooks and SQL Warehouses. All workspace admin users can manage access control lists, as can users who have been given delegated permissions to manage access control lists. For more information on access control lists, see Access control lists.

Account role based access control

You can use account role based access control to configure permission to use account-level objects such as service principals and groups. Account roles are defined once, in your account, and apply across all workspaces. All account admin users can manage account roles, as can users who have been given delegated permissions to manage them, such as group managers and service principal managers.

Follow these articles for more information on account roles on specific account-level objects:

• Roles for managing service principals
• Manage roles on a group using the account console

Admin roles and workspace entitlements

There are two main levels of admin privileges available on the Azure Databricks platform:

• Account admins: Manage the Azure Databricks account, including enabling Unity Catalog and user management.

• Workspace admins: Manage workspace identities, access control, settings, and features for individual workspaces in the account.

There are also feature-specific admin roles with a narrower set of privileges. To learn about the available roles, see Azure Databricks administration introduction.

An entitlement is a property that allows a user, service principal, or group to interact with Azure Databricks in a specified way. Workspace admins assign entitlements to users, service principals, and groups at the workspace-level. For more information, see Manage entitlements.