Setting up and using the Collibra - Databricks MCP

Setting up the Collibra - Databricks MCP requires an administrator to configure 3 components: the external Identity Provider (IdP), the Databricks platform, and the Collibra environment. This setup includes granting users the necessary permissions to access the MCP Server. Once configured and access is granted, users can then interact with the model.

Admin flow: Setting up the Collibra - Databricks MCP

Set up your Identity Provider (IdP)

In your Identity Provider (IdP), create an OIDC application and enable the "Authorization Code" grant type.

The following steps are the instructions for Okta. They may differ depending on the IdP you use.

  1. Log in to your IdP, in our case Okta.
  2. Go to Applications ® Applications and click Create App Integration.
  3. In Sign-in method, select OIDC - OpenID Connect.
  4. In Application type, select Web Application.

  5. Click Next.
  6. Select Refresh token.
  7. Set up Sign-in URLs to your Databricks workspace:
    https://<workspace-id>.cloud.databricks.com/login/oauth/http.html
  8. Select Skip group assignment for now.
  9. Remember the Client ID and Client Secret as those values are needed later when configuring the connection in Databricks. Depending on the IdP you use, you may also need to obtain other information, such as Authorization and Token endpoints.
  10. Click Save.
  11. Navigate to Directory ® People to assign the new application to a user.
  12. Select the user and click Assign Applications.
  13. Select the new application and click Assign.
    The Username must be an email address of that user.
  14. Click Save and go back.
  15. (One time only) Navigate to Security ® API to enable access to the Okta account.
    1. Edit the default authorization server.
    2. Go to the Access Policies tab.
    3. Click Add New Access Policy.
    4. Define a name and description.
    5. Click the created access policy and then Add Rule.
      Access to your Okta server is now enabled.

Configure Collibra

  1. Open Collibra Console and configure your Collibra environment to trust the external JWT provider.
    For detailed information on how JWT authentication works and how to set it up, go to JSON Web Token authentication.
    1. In Collibra Console, navigate to section JWT.
    2. Enter the values for JSON Web Key Set URL, JWT Issuer, JWT Audience, and JWT Principal ID Claim Name.
      The values depend on your IdP.

  2. Restart your environment.
  3. Create users in IdP (in our case Okta) and in Collibra, and make sure their username matches the value of the sub claim in JWT issued by IdP.
    We recommend using email. In our case, the user name in Okta and in Collibra would be the user's email address.
  4. In Collibra, give these users a global role with the Product Rights / AI Copilot global permission.

Configure Databricks

  1. Navigate to the Databricks Marketplace and search for Collibra MCP Server.
  2. Click Install.
    Once installed this button becomes unavailable. No worries, if new tools are added, they will automatically be present in the Databricks offering. No reinstallation is needed.
  3. Complete the form.
    1. The Client ID and Client secrets are the ones you obtained during the initial setup of the OIDC application in IdP, for example Okta.
    2. Some fields are prepopulated and can't be edited at this point.
      You will, however, need to update the Authorization and Token endpoints after installing the Collibra MCP Server, for the connection to work. The values can be obtained from IdP.
  4. Click Install.
  5. Click Edit for the created Collibra MCP Server Connection.
  6. Update the Authorization endpoint and Token endpoint as provided by your IdP.
  7. (optional) Share the connection with your users.
    By granting users access to the connection, the user flow becomes much simpler because users don't need to create their own, individual connections. They can log in and start using the connection.
    1. Click the Permissions tab.
    2. Click Grant.
    3. Define the Principals (select all or some users).
    4. Select the USE CONNECTION option.
    5. Click Confirm.

User flow: Use the MCP server

If you have been given access to the server and the connection, you can use the MCP tools, for example, to ask questions about the information collected in Collibra or start actions, such as adding or removing data classes to assets.

  1. In Databricks, navigate to Catalog and select Connect ®Connections.
    You can also follow a direct link: https://<workspace-id>.cloud.databricks.com/explore/connections/ai-dgc-mcp.
  2. Go to the provided connection and click Login.
  3. Go to Playground and select a model, for example Claude 3.7 Sonnet.
    Not all models support MCP. The following icons are added to the models that support MCP.
  4. For the selected model, open the Tools drop-down list and click Add tool.
    The Add tools dialog box opens.
  5. In the MCP Servers tab, in the External MCP Servers drop-down list, select MCP server and the connection.
  6. Click Save.
    You can start using the available tools. For a full overview of the tools, go to Collibra Marketplace: Databricks - Collibra MCP server.
    You can, for example, ask "Give me a list of all the certified data products for customer sales".

Related topics

About Collibra Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Helpful resources