Databricks Geos: Data residency

This article describes how Databricks Geos manage data residency when processing customer content for features known as Designated Services.

How does Databricks manage data residency when processing customer content?

In Databricks architecture, there is a “control plane”, a “classic compute plane” and a “serverless compute plane” that are provided on a region-specific basis.

Designated Services, including those that power Generative AI workloads, are available on a Databricks Geos basis. Designated Services are always managed by Databricks on the customer’s behalf.

Customer content is only processed in the same Geo as your workspace, except for certain Designated Services. If a Designated Service is not available in your workspace Geo, an account admin may be able to use the feature by explicitly giving permission to process relevant data in another Geo.

What is a Databricks Geo?

A Geo is a group of data center regions that Databricks groups together to give customers predictability and transparency regarding where your data is processed.

For more information, see Availability of Designated Services in each Geo.

The following table describes the available Databricks Geos and the regions it includes:

Databricks Geo

Comprising regions in:

Americas

  • United States

  • Brazil

  • Canada

Asia

  • Hong Kong

  • Japan

  • Korea

  • Singapore

Australia and New Zealand

  • Australia

  • New Zealand

Europe

  • European Economic Area (EEA)

  • Switzerland

  • United Kingdom

India

  • India

Mainland China

  • Mainland China

Middle East and Africa

  • Qatar

  • South Africa

  • United Arab Emirates

Designated Services offered on a Geo basis

For Designated Services, such as those that depend on GPUs or other advanced processing, customer content is processed in the workspace Databricks Geos. For more information see Databricks Designated Services

Will my data be sent out of a Geo?

Customer content is processed in Geos similar to how the classic compute plane processes data within a specific region.

Customer content is only processed within the same Geo as your workspace, unless you give Databricks permission to send data to another Geo.

Enable cross-Geo processing

Account admins can enable cross-Geo processing that allows data for Designated Services to be processed outside of their workspace Geo. If a designated service is not available in your workspace Geo, you may be able to use the feature by giving permission to process relevant data in another Geo.

To enable cross-Geo processing:

  1. As an account admin, go to the account console.

  1. In the sidebar, click Workspaces.

  2. To find the workspace you want to control Geo settings for, use the search box.

  3. Click the workspace name, and click the Security and compliance tab.

  4. Disable Enforce data processing within workspace Geography for AI features.

Toggle for enabling or disabling cross-Geo data processing for a workspace.

Will my existing compute planes be moved to a different region in the same Geo?

No. In both the serverless and classic compute planes, regional compute planes remain in their region for all existing services. The classic compute plane operates in an account under your control, and you must specify the region in which it operates. Serverless compute plane resources, such as serverless SQL warehouses, are offered on a regional basis and do not process data outside of your selected region.

How do Geos affect Preview features?

Preview features may involve processing data across Geos unless otherwise noted in the documentation.

Additional resources