Cloudera Sentry

Cloudera Sentry is a security management and authorization tool specifically designed for the Hadoop ecosystem. It provides fine-grained access control and authorization for Hadoop clusters, ensuring that only authorized users and applications can access and manipulate data stored in Hadoop components like HDFS, Hive, Impala, HBase, and more. Here are some key features and aspects of Cloudera Sentry:

1. Fine-Grained Authorization:

   • Sentry allows administrators to define fine-grained access control policies, specifying which users or groups have access to specific data, tables, columns, or functions within the Hadoop ecosystem. This fine-grained control enhances security and compliance.

2. Role-Based Access Control:

   • Sentry supports role-based access control (RBAC), where users are assigned roles with specific permissions. Roles can be defined at various levels, such as database, table, or column, and users are assigned to roles based on their responsibilities.

3. Integration with Hadoop Ecosystem:

   • Cloudera Sentry integrates with multiple Hadoop ecosystem components, including HDFS, Hive, Impala, HBase, Solr, and more. This ensures consistent and centralized access control across the entire data processing stack.

4. SQL Support:

   • Sentry provides SQL-like syntax for defining access control policies, making it easier for users who are familiar with SQL to create and manage security policies.

5. Auditing and Logging:

   • Sentry includes auditing and logging capabilities, allowing organizations to track and monitor user activities and access to sensitive data. Auditing helps with compliance requirements and security investigations.

6. Dynamic Authorization:

   • Sentry supports dynamic authorization, which means that access permissions can be enforced in real-time as queries or operations are executed. This ensures that users only have access to the data they are authorized to access, even in interactive query scenarios.

7. Multi-Tenant Environments:

   • Sentry is suitable for multi-tenant Hadoop environments where different departments or teams share the same cluster. It ensures that data access is restricted according to defined policies, preventing unauthorized data access or modifications.

8. Security Policies in Metadata:

   • Sentry stores security policies in a central metadata store, ensuring that policies are consistently applied across the cluster. This centralization simplifies policy management and enforcement.

9. Kerberos Integration:

   • Sentry can integrate with Kerberos authentication to enhance security further. It ensures that users must authenticate themselves before access control policies are applied.

10. Customization and Extensibility:

    • Sentry can be customized and extended to meet specific security and compliance requirements through custom plugins and extensions.

11. Compliance and Regulatory Requirements:

    • Cloudera Sentry helps organizations meet regulatory compliance requirements such as HIPAA, GDPR, and others by enforcing data access controls and providing auditability.