Map Data Catalog API methods to Knowledge Catalog

Data Catalog is deprecated. If you are migrating programmatic workflows, scripts, client libraries, or Terraform configurations from Data Catalog to Knowledge Catalog, you must update your code to use the Dataplex API.

This document provides a comprehensive mapping of Data Catalog resources, features, and API methods to their equivalents in the Dataplex API.

For the step-by-step migration process, see Transition from Data Catalog to Knowledge Catalog. For API reference documentation, see the Dataplex API REST documentation and Dataplex API RPC documentation.

Resource mapping

The following table describes how resources in Data Catalog correspond to resources in Knowledge Catalog:

Data Catalog resource	Knowledge Catalog resource	Description
Public tag template	Aspect type (global)	Tag templates are regional resources in Data Catalog that can be used across regions. They correspond to global aspect types in Knowledge Catalog.
Public tag	Optional aspect	Public tags correspond to optional aspects attached to an entry or column in Knowledge Catalog.
Entry group	Entry group	Entry groups serve as organizational and security containers in both services. For Google Cloud sources, system entry groups such as @bigquery are established automatically per project.
Custom entry	Custom entry (with required aspects)	Standard custom entry properties are modeled as required aspects defined by the custom entry's EntryType.
System (Google Cloud) entry	System entry (with required aspects)	Metadata describing built-in entities (such as Schema for BigQuery tables) is captured in required aspects of system-defined aspect types.
Business glossaries	Business glossaries	Taxonomies of business terms standardizing business context across the enterprise.

Feature comparison

The following table compares the metadata management capabilities of Knowledge Catalog and Data Catalog:

Feature	Knowledge Catalog	Data Catalog
Supported Google Cloud sources	All sources described in Supported Google Cloud sources.	All sources described in Data Catalog documentation.
Custom sources ingestion	Ingestion into custom entries with governed structure defined by entry types. Data Catalog custom entries and entry groups are made available in Knowledge Catalog under the generic entry type.	Ingestion into generic custom entries.
Metadata enrichment	Captured using business glossaries, aspects, and aspect types. Entry links are supported. You can attach aspects directly to entry links.	Captured using business glossaries, tags, and tag templates. Entry links aren't supported.
Entry links	Supported. Built-in types such as synonym, definition, related, and schema-join let you connect entries and columns.	Not available.
Metadata change feeds	Near-real-time metadata change notifications streamed to Pub/Sub.	Not available.
Search	Search is performed over all supported Google Cloud sources, custom entries, aspects, and migrated Data Catalog content within the same organization and VPC Service Controls perimeter.	Search is performed over supported sources, custom entries, and tags created in Data Catalog.
Data lineage	Retrieves entry details for asset nodes using the Dataplex API. Displays attached aspects in the Google Cloud console.	Retrieves entry details using the Data Catalog API.
Business glossaries	Lets you build taxonomies of business terms and associate them with both data assets (entries) and columns.	Lets you associate terms with columns.

Map Data Catalog API methods to Knowledge Catalog

The following tables provide a method-by-method mapping between the Data Catalog API (google.cloud.datacatalog.v1) and the Dataplex API (google.cloud.dataplex.v1.CatalogService).

Entry groups

The concept of entry groups is consistent across both services:

Data Catalog API method	Dataplex API method
projects.locations.entryGroups.create (REST) CreateEntryGroup (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.create (REST) CreateEntryGroup (RPC)
projects.locations.entryGroups.get (REST) GetEntryGroup (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.get (REST) GetEntryGroup (RPC)
projects.locations.entryGroups.patch (REST) UpdateEntryGroup (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.patch (REST) UpdateEntryGroup (RPC)
projects.locations.entryGroups.delete (REST) DeleteEntryGroup (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.delete (REST) DeleteEntryGroup (RPC)
projects.locations.entryGroups.list (REST) ListEntryGroups (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.list (REST) ListEntryGroups (RPC)

Entries

The concept of entries, representing data assets, is consistent across both services:

Data Catalog API method	Dataplex API method
projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.create (REST) CreateEntry (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.create (REST) CreateEntry (RPC)
projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.get (REST) GetEntry (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.get (REST) GetEntry (RPC)
projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.patch (REST) UpdateEntry (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.patch (REST) UpdateEntry (RPC) Note: You can also use the projects.locations.modifyEntry (REST) and ModifyEntry (RPC) methods to update system entries using source-system permissions instead of catalog permissions.
projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.delete (REST) DeleteEntry (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.delete (REST) DeleteEntry (RPC)
projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.list (REST) ListEntries (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.list (REST) ListEntries (RPC)
entries.lookup (REST) LookupEntry (RPC)	projects.locations.lookupEntry (REST) LookupEntry (RPC) Note: To use lookupEntry, you must provide the entry name. To translate a BigQuery SQL name, fully qualified name, or linked resource name to an entry name, first call projects.locations.searchEntries (REST) or SearchEntries (RPC).
projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.modifyEntryContacts (REST) ModifyEntryContacts (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.patch (REST) UpdateEntry (RPC) Note: Use update_mask to modify only the contacts aspect.
projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.modifyEntryOverview (REST) ModifyEntryOverview (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.patch (REST) UpdateEntry (RPC) Note: Use update_mask to modify only the overview aspect.
projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.tags.reconcile (REST) ReconcileTags (RPC)	projects.locations.metadataJobs.create (REST) CreateMetadataJob (RPC), projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.patch (REST) UpdateEntry (RPC) Note: Use CreateMetadataJob with the import job type to import metadata content for multiple entries in batch. To update all aspects for a single entry, use UpdateEntry.
catalog.search (REST) SearchCatalog (RPC)	projects.locations.searchEntries (REST) SearchEntries (RPC) Note: searchEntries searches within the caller's organization. Cross-organization searches must be issued separately per organization.

Tag templates and aspect types

Aspect types are the successor to Data Catalog tag templates:

Data Catalog API method	Dataplex API method
projects.locations.tagTemplates.create (REST) CreateTagTemplate (RPC)	projects.locations.aspectTypes.create (REST) CreateAspectType (RPC)
projects.locations.tagTemplates.get (REST) GetTagTemplate (RPC)	projects.locations.aspectTypes.get (REST) GetAspectType (RPC)
projects.locations.tagTemplates.patch (REST) UpdateTagTemplate (RPC)	projects.locations.aspectTypes.patch (REST) UpdateAspectType (RPC)
projects.locations.tagTemplates.delete (REST) DeleteTagTemplate (RPC)	projects.locations.aspectTypes.delete (REST) DeleteAspectType (RPC)
catalog.search (REST) with type=tag_template SearchCatalog (RPC) with type=tag_template	projects.locations.aspectTypes.list (REST) ListAspectTypes (RPC)

Tag template fields

Tag template fields correspond to the contents of the metadata_template field in an aspect type. Use UpdateAspectType with the modified metadata_template to create, update, rename, or delete fields:

Data Catalog API method	Dataplex API method
projects.locations.tagTemplates.fields.create (REST) CreateTagTemplateField (RPC)	projects.locations.aspectTypes.patch (REST) UpdateAspectType (RPC)
projects.locations.tagTemplates.fields.patch (REST) UpdateTagTemplateField (RPC)	projects.locations.aspectTypes.patch (REST) UpdateAspectType (RPC)
projects.locations.tagTemplates.fields.rename (REST) RenameTagTemplateField (RPC)	projects.locations.aspectTypes.patch (REST) UpdateAspectType (RPC)
projects.locations.tagTemplates.fields.delete (REST) DeleteTagTemplateField (RPC)	projects.locations.aspectTypes.patch (REST) UpdateAspectType (RPC)

Tag template field enum values

Modify enum values by updating the metadata_template field in the corresponding aspect type:

Data Catalog API method	Dataplex API method
projects.locations.tagTemplates.fields.enumValues.rename (REST) RenameTagTemplateFieldEnumValue (RPC)	projects.locations.aspectTypes.patch (REST) UpdateAspectType (RPC)

Tags and aspects

Aspects are the successor to Data Catalog tags. Aspects are encapsulated directly in their parent entries or entry links, and are managed using the UpdateEntry method with update_mask:

Data Catalog API method	Dataplex API method
projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.tags.create (REST) CreateTag (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.patch (REST) UpdateEntry (RPC)
projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.tags.list (REST) ListTags (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.get (REST) GetEntry (RPC) Note: To filter aspects in the response, use the views, aspect_types, and paths parameters.
projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.tags.patch (REST) UpdateTag (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.patch (REST) UpdateEntry (RPC)
projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.tags.delete (REST) DeleteTag (RPC)	projects.locations.entryGroups.entries.patch (REST) UpdateEntry (RPC)

Policy tags and taxonomies

The APIs for policy tags and taxonomies aren't changing and don't require migration.

Features not supported in Knowledge Catalog

The following Data Catalog behaviors and features aren't supported or operate differently in Knowledge Catalog:

• Private aspect types: The concept of private aspects and private aspect types (the counterparts to private tags and private tag templates in Data Catalog) doesn't exist. All custom aspect types are governed by project and entry group Identity and Access Management permissions.
• Policy tag search: Searching for policy tags using the policytag or policytagid predicates isn't supported in catalog search.
• Permissions transfer: When you import Data Catalog custom entry groups, custom entries, tag templates, and tags into Knowledge Catalog, their original permissions don't carry over. You must configure IAM permissions for the imported resources. For a detailed comparison of legacy and replacement permissions, see Map IAM permissions between Data Catalog and Knowledge Catalog.
• Sensitive Data Protection inspection results: Sending Sensitive Data Protection inspection results directly to Knowledge Catalog isn't supported. Instead, send inspection results to Data Catalog and transition the results to Knowledge Catalog.
• Cross-project type listing: Listing entry types, entry link types, and aspect types across projects in a single API call isn't supported; requests must be scoped to a single project.
• Administrator search: Administrator search (full recall) isn't supported. Instead, export metadata to Cloud Storage and query it using BigQuery.

What's next

Guide

Transition from Data Catalog

Step-by-step guide to migrate tag templates, custom entries, and workflows.

Concept

About metadata in Knowledge Catalog

Learn about the Knowledge Catalog flexible metamodel and Active Context Graph.

Reference

Dataplex REST API reference

Browse the REST API reference documentation for the Dataplex Catalog service.

Reference

Dataplex RPC API reference

Browse the gRPC API reference documentation for the Dataplex Catalog service.