No, a data Catalog doesn't keep the actual data itself. It's more like a library index for all your organization data sets. For example, a data catalgo for a library shows you what books are available (your data assets), where they're stored (like which shelves), what they're about (brief descriptions and why they're important), and who can use them (like who owns them and who's allowed to access them) etc.,.

 

The main aim of a data catalog is to help people in a company find, understand, and trust the data they have. It's like a big storage space for data about the data, making it easy for people to look for datasets based on different details and find what they need. By giving lots of details about the data (like what it's used for and how it's organized), a data Catalog Helps people decide if a dataset is right for what they're working on without having to see the actual data.

 

When someone finds a dataset they're interested in using the data catalog, they can usually get to the data through links or connections provided in the catalog, as long as they have permission. But the actual data stays where it was originally stored, like in a database or a data warehouse.

 

Here's why data catalogs don't keep the actual data:

 

a.   Storing all that data in the catalog would take up way too much space, especially for big organizations with tons of data.

b.   It would slow things down a lot if the catalog had to handle all the actual data.

c.    There would be serious security risks if sensitive data were kept directly in the catalog.

Instead, the data catalog keeps metadata about the data. Metadata is just information about the data, like its name, where it is, what it looks like, who owns it, and who can use it. By giving this information, the data catalog helps people find and understand the data they need, without storing the data itself.

 

 

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