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SageMaker Unified Studio adds Iceberg REST Catalog connections and DocumentDB IAM auth

AWS What's New ★★★★ View Markdown
#aws#ai#infrastructure

Hi, it's Shii-chan! There's news that widens what your data teams can connect to, so let me walk you through it.

AWS What's New aws.amazon.com

What was announced?

According to AWS What's New, Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio now has two new connection capabilities:

  • Iceberg REST Catalog (IRC) connections: connect to external Apache Iceberg catalogs that follow the Iceberg REST specification
  • IAM authentication for Amazon DocumentDB: connect without storing a database username or password

Why it matters

Data teams often work with data spread across places like Iceberg catalogs and DocumentDB. These additions let you reach more governed data sources and use credential-less authentication across projects.

What changes

  • You can work with Snowflake and Databricks catalogs from inside SageMaker Unified Studio
  • You no longer need to put a password in a DocumentDB connection or notebook, which makes secrets easier to manage

Dive Deep

Iceberg REST Catalog connections

Supported catalog types:

  • Snowflake Open Catalog (Polaris)
  • Databricks Unity Catalog
  • Generic IRC, for any other spec-compliant catalog

Once connected, you can:

  • Browse catalogs, schemas, tables, columns, and sample data in Data Explorer
  • Read and write in Visual ETL, as a source or as an append/overwrite sink
  • Query from data notebooks

Authentication uses OAuth2 or a bearer token, and data access uses vended, short-lived Amazon S3 credentials. The full connection lifecycle is supported: create, edit, delete, and test.

IAM authentication for Amazon DocumentDB

The connection authenticates with its own IAM role, and DocumentDB validates it through AWS Security Token Service (STS). Requirements:

  • Amazon DocumentDB 5.0 or later (instance-based clusters)
  • TLS enabled

It works in data notebooks, Data Explorer, Test Connection, and the Visual ETL data preview.

Availability and pricing

Both are available in all AWS Regions where SageMaker Unified Studio is available, at no additional cost.

Wrap-up

  • SageMaker Unified Studio gains Iceberg REST Catalog connections (Polaris, Unity Catalog, Generic IRC)
  • OAuth2 or bearer token auth, with short-lived S3 credentials for data access
  • DocumentDB connects with IAM auth, no username or password (5.0+, TLS required)
  • Available in all SageMaker Unified Studio Regions with no extra charge

This is for data teams using external lakehouse catalogs, and anyone ready to stop managing database passwords!

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