Development of custom watchdog system for metabase access management

About project:

Client overview

A data-driven organization faced significant challenges in managing access rights across multiple Metabase instances. Their complex setup required precise control over table permissions, but manual management led to frequent errors and lacked transparency in tracking access changes. The client needed a robust solution to streamline and secure their data access management system while maintaining compliance and accountability.

Tech Stack:

Manual access management, basic access control lists (ACLs)

Tech stack after migration:

Automated permission watchdog system with Python for scripting, a database PostgreSQL for storing access rights, and a Grafana for monitoring, Alerts with python and output in slack

Time to deliver project:

8-12 Weeks

Problem

  • The client was struggling with managing access rights for tables in Metabase. With multiple Metabases in use, there was a high risk of errors in rights distribution. Additionally, there was no central place to view all objects accessible to Metabases, making it difficult to track and manage changes in access rights.

Inspection

  • To solve this, we developed a watchdog permission script that relies on a YAML document collecting all available rights to various objects. This script regularly checks the rights against this file and automatically corrects any discrepancies. If rights are mistakenly granted when creating an object in the DWH, the script removes them and notifies a designated Slack channel. To grant access rights, users now simply update the YAML document, submit it for review, and push the changes to the repository. The script then automatically assigns the correct rights, maintaining a clear history of rights distribution and cleanup, and protecting against accidental rights assignments.

Recommendation

  • Always monitor and control the rights you grant to users to prevent unwanted data loss or leakage. Implementing automated tools like a permission watchdog can significantly enhance security and streamline access management.

Resolution

We implemented a permission watchdog system, automating the management of access rights. This system eliminated errors in rights distribution, centralized the management of access rights, and ensured that all changes were tracked and controlled. The result was a 90% reduction in access-related errors and improved security across all Metabases.

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