Default storage in serverless workspaces

This page explains how to use default storage on serverless workspaces.

Default storage provides a fully managed storage location for Unity Catalog catalogs, which allows you to create managed tables and volumes without configuring storage credentials or external locations on Unity Catalog.

If you are enabled for the serverless workspaces Private Preview, you can add a new catalog backed by default storage to an existing Unity Catalog-enabled workspace.

Requirements

Default storage is only available in serverless workspaces, which are only available in Databricks accounts created with express setup or accounts enabled for the serverless workspaces Private Preview.

Create a catalog with default storage

note

By default, catalogs that use default storage are only accessible from the workspace where they are created. You can grant other workspaces access, but they must use serverless compute to access data in the catalog. See Limit catalog access to specific workspaces.

You must have CREATE CATALOG privileges to create a catalog with default storage. See Unity Catalog privileges and securable objects.

Complete the following steps to create a new catalog using default storage:

1. Click Catalog in the sidebar. Catalog Explorer appears.
2. Click Create catalog. The Create a new catalog dialog appears.
3. Provide a Catalog name that is unique in your account.
4. Select the option to Use default storage.
5. Click Create.

In serverless workspaces, you can also use the following SQL command to create a new catalog in your default storage. You do not need to specify a location for the catalog.

SQL

CREATE CATALOG [ IF NOT EXISTS ] catalog_name
    [ COMMENT comment ]

Work with default storage

All interactions with default storage require serverless, Unity Catalog-enabled compute.

Resources backed by default storage use the same privilege model as other objects in Unity Catalog. You must have sufficient privileges to create, view, query, or modify data objects. See Unity Catalog privileges and securable objects.

You work with default storage by creating and interacting with managed tables and managed volumes backed by default storage. See Unity Catalog managed tables in Databricks for Delta Lake and Apache Iceberg and What are Unity Catalog volumes?.

You can use Catalog Explorer, notebooks, the SQL editor, and dashboards to interact with data objects stored in default storage.

Example tasks

The following are examples of tasks you can complete with default storage:

• Upload local files to a managed volume or to create a managed table. See Upload files to a Unity Catalog volume and Create or modify a table using file upload.
• Query data with notebooks. See Tutorial: Query and visualize data from a notebook.
• Create a dashboard. See Create a dashboard.
• Query data with SQL and schedule SQL queries. See Write queries and explore data in the new SQL editor.
• Ingest data from an external volume to a managed table. See Using Auto Loader with Unity Catalog.
• Ingest data to a managed table with Fivetran. See Connect to Fivetran.
• Use BI tools to explore managed tables. See Connect Tableau and Databricks and Connect Power BI to Databricks.
• Run serverless notebooks. See Serverless compute for notebooks.
• Run serverless jobs. See Run your Lakeflow Jobs with serverless compute for workflows.
• Run model serving endpoints. See Deploy models using Mosaic AI Model Serving.
• Run serverless Lakeflow Declarative Pipelines. See Configure a serverless pipeline.
• Use predictive optimization on your tables. See Predictive optimization for Unity Catalog managed tables.

Limitations

The following limitations apply:

• Classic compute (any compute that is not serverless) cannot interact with data assets in default storage.
• Delta Sharing supports sharing data assets within the same Databricks account, but not to other Databricks account or open Delta Sharing clients.
• External readers and writers cannot access default storage.
• Customer-managed keys must be configured using the Key configuration API with the use case set to a managed services. See Configure customer-managed keys for encryption.
• You cannot create a new catalog on default storage using the CREATE CATALOG catalog_name SQL command.
• Front-end PrivateLink is not fully supported with default storage. Features such as Cloud Fetch from external clients are not supported.