The lake service account requires administrator permissions on the
Cloud Storage buckets or BigQuery datasets.
Dataplex Universal Catalog creates external tables in BigQuery for
tables discovered in Cloud Storage. Dataplex Universal Catalog also makes
available BigQuery table metadata, and tables discovered in the
Cloud Storage bucket, in a Dataproc Metastore service. The
Dataproc Metastore is located within the data lake project.
Cloud Storage settings and limitations
Region: Dataplex Universal Catalog supports single region and
multi-region buckets in some Google Cloud regions.
Storage class: Cloud Storage buckets of all
storage classes are supported
(Standard, Nearline, Coldline, Archive).
Additional data retrieval costs might incur for accessing or scanning
Nearline, Coldline, or Archive data.
Requester Pays: Cloud Storage buckets with the
Requester Pays feature enabled aren't
supported.
Security and permissions guidance
Dataplex Universal Catalog requires adding the Dataplex Universal Catalog
service accounts
as an administrative service account on managed buckets and datasets.
Dataplex Universal Catalog enables analysts to access Cloud Storage buckets
and BigQuery datasets across many projects. To enable this access,
Dataplex Universal Catalog requires adding the Dataplex Universal Catalog service
accounts with administrative controls to these projects.
For Discovery, Dataplex Universal Catalog adds the
Dataproc Metastore service account to the Cloud Storage
buckets. If you have your own Dataproc Metastore cluster, you
might want to make the Dataplex Universal Catalog lake use your
Dataproc Metastore service, which is an option when you create
your lake.
If you choose to add a Cloud Storage bucket with
fine-grained access to a lake,
Dataplex Universal Catalog will provide full access to that bucket through the lake
because Dataplex Universal Catalog permissions are propagated to all objects in the
bucket. If you require fine-grained access, it's recommended that you split
the data in your bucket into multiple buckets.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-09-03 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eDataplex lakes must reside within a project that shares the same VPC Service Controls perimeter as the data, and the lake service account needs admin permissions on the associated Cloud Storage buckets or BigQuery datasets.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eDataplex supports single region and multi-region Cloud Storage buckets of all storage classes, but only with uniform access controls and without the Requester Pays feature enabled.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eTo allow access to Cloud Storage buckets and BigQuery datasets across multiple projects, Dataplex service accounts require administrative controls on those projects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eDataplex provides full access to any Cloud Storage bucket with fine-grained access added to a lake, recommending data be split into multiple buckets for fine-grained access needs.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAvoid restricting VPC peering with organization policy constraints as it can cause errors with Dataproc Metastore.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# Best practices for Dataplex Universal Catalog\n\nThis document provides guidance and best practices for using\nDataplex Universal Catalog.\n\nChoose a project for your lake\n------------------------------\n\nWhen you select the project in which to host your lake, consider the following\nfactors:\n\n- The project must belong to the same\n [VPC Service Controls perimeter](/vpc-service-controls/docs/service-perimeters)\n as the data destined to be within the lake.\n\n- The lake service account requires administrator permissions on the\n Cloud Storage buckets or BigQuery datasets.\n Dataplex Universal Catalog creates external tables in BigQuery for\n tables discovered in Cloud Storage. Dataplex Universal Catalog also makes\n available BigQuery table metadata, and tables discovered in the\n Cloud Storage bucket, in a Dataproc Metastore service. The\n Dataproc Metastore is located within the data lake project.\n\nCloud Storage settings and limitations\n--------------------------------------\n\n- Region: Dataplex Universal Catalog supports single region and\n multi-region buckets in some [Google Cloud regions](/dataplex/docs/locations).\n\n- Storage class: Cloud Storage buckets of all\n [storage classes](/storage/docs/storage-classes) are supported\n (Standard, Nearline, Coldline, Archive).\n Additional data retrieval costs might incur for accessing or scanning\n Nearline, Coldline, or Archive data.\n\n- Bucket ACL: Dataplex Universal Catalog supports Cloud Storage buckets with\n [uniform access controls](/storage/docs/uniform-bucket-level-access) only.\n Fine-grained access controls aren't supported.\n\n- Requester Pays: Cloud Storage buckets with the\n [Requester Pays](/storage/docs/requester-pays) feature enabled aren't\n supported.\n\nSecurity and permissions guidance\n---------------------------------\n\nDataplex Universal Catalog requires adding the Dataplex Universal Catalog\n[service accounts](/dataplex/docs/iam-and-access-control#service-accounts)\nas an administrative service account on managed buckets and datasets.\n\nDataplex Universal Catalog enables analysts to access Cloud Storage buckets\nand BigQuery datasets across many projects. To enable this access,\nDataplex Universal Catalog requires adding the Dataplex Universal Catalog service\naccounts with administrative controls to these projects.\n\nFor Discovery, Dataplex Universal Catalog adds the\nDataproc Metastore service account to the Cloud Storage\nbuckets. If you have your own Dataproc Metastore cluster, you\nmight want to make the Dataplex Universal Catalog lake use your\nDataproc Metastore service, which is an option when you create\nyour lake.\n| **Note:** Don't set the [organization policy constraints](/resource-manager/docs/organization-policy/org-policy-constraints) to restrict VPC peering. If you specify `constraints/compute.restrictVpcPeering`, your Dataproc Metastore creation request fails with an `INVALID_ARGUMENT` error.\n\nIf you choose to add a Cloud Storage bucket with\n[fine-grained](/storage/docs/access-control) access to a lake,\nDataplex Universal Catalog will provide full access to that bucket through the lake\nbecause Dataplex Universal Catalog permissions are propagated to all objects in the\nbucket. If you require fine-grained access, it's recommended that you split\nthe data in your bucket into multiple buckets.\n\nWhat's next\n-----------\n\n- [Build a data mesh](/dataplex/docs/build-a-data-mesh)\n- [Create a lake](/dataplex/docs/create-lake)\n- [Secure your lake](/dataplex/docs/lake-security)"]]
