Fivetran Connector

This section provides guides and references to use the Fivetran connector. Configure and schedule Fivetran metadata workflows from the Collate UI:

• Requirements
• Metadata Ingestion
• Troubleshooting

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Requirements

To access Fivetran APIs, a Fivetran account on a Standard, Enterprise, or Business Critical plan is required.

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Permissions

Generate the API key and API secret from a Fivetran user with an account-level role that has read access to all destinations and connections, such as Account Reviewer. Collate needs to discover every destination and connector in the account. A destination-scoped role (for example, View Destination) is not enough, because it only covers destinations the user was explicitly invited to. For detailed, per-phase Pipeline Status (Extract/Process/Load), Collate also reads the fivetran_metadata.log table that Fivetran automatically publishes in each destination’s warehouse, using the Database Service already connected to that warehouse in Collate. The database user in that connection needs SELECT access to the fivetran_metadata.log table, along with whatever database- or schema-level privileges your warehouse requires to reach it (for example, USAGE on the schema/database in Snowflake). If this table isn’t reachable, Collate automatically falls back to Fivetran’s REST sync-history API for pipeline status.

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Metadata Ingestion

To ingest metadata from Fivetran, you need to create a service connection. The service connects Fivetran with Collate. Once you create a service, Collate automatically starts ingesting metadata.

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Step 1: Add New Service

1. In the left navigation, click Connections.
2. On the Connections page, click Add New Service.

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Step 2: Select a Service and Connector

From the service type dropdown, select Pipeline Services, then click the Fivetran connector tile.

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Step 3: Add Service Name and Description

• Enter a unique, descriptive Service Name. Collate identifies services by their service name. Enter a name that distinguishes this deployment from other Fivetran services you are ingesting metadata from.
• Optional: Enter a Description for the service.

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Step 4: Configure Connection Options

Specify where ingestion runs, provide your source credentials, and verify the connection.

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Select Ingestion Runner

Select an Ingestion Runner: the runner where the ingestion pipeline will execute.

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Enter Connection Details

Enter the connection details for Fivetran. The right-hand panel in the UI displays inline help for each field.

• apiKey: Fivetran API Key. Follow the steps below to generate the Fivetran API key and API secret:

1. Click your user name in your Fivetran dashboard.
2. Click API Key.
3. Click Generate API key. (If you already have an API key, then the button text is Generate new API key.)
4. Make a note of the key and secret as they won’t be displayed once you close the page or navigate away. For more detailed documentation visit here.

• apiSecret: Fivetran API Secret. From the above step where the API key is generated copy the API secret
• hostPort: HostPort of the Fivetran instance. By default, Collate will use https://api.fivetran.com to connect to the Fivetran APIs.
• limit: Fivetran API Limit For Pagination. This refers to the maximum number of records that can be returned in a single page of results when using Fivetran’s API for pagination.

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Test Connection

Once the credentials have been added, click on Test Connection and Save the changes.

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Step 5: Configure Ingestion Options

In the What to Ingest step, use filter patterns to control which assets Collate ingests from your pipeline service. Filter patterns use regular expressions applied to pipeline names.

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How Filter Patterns Work

• Include: Add one or more comma-separated regular expressions. Collate ingests only assets whose names match at least one expression. Leave blank to include all assets.
• Exclude: Add one or more comma-separated regular expressions. Collate skips any asset whose name matches an expression. Leave blank to exclude nothing.

Rules match asset names using one of five expressions:

• contains: matches any name containing the value. For example, sales matches my_sales_data and sales_2024.
• starts with: matches names beginning with the value. For example, prod_ matches prod_db and prod_schema.
• ends with: matches names ending with the value. For example, _raw matches events_raw and logs_raw.
• is exactly: matches the exact name only. For example, analytics matches only analytics.
• matches regex: matches names using a regular expression. For example, ^prod_.*_v\d+$ matches prod_events_v1.

When both Include and Exclude are set, Exclude takes priority. Filter Options The Pipeline section includes the following filter options:

• Pipeline: Controls which pipelines (DAGs, jobs, or workflows) Collate ingests from the source.

Each section provides the following controls:

• Scan Mode: You can choose between the following scan modes:
  • Scan all: Ingests every asset of that type the connector can access. This is the default.
  • Only specific: Enables include rules so only assets matching at least one rule are ingested.
• Exclude system toggle: Use this toggle to automatically filter out system-reserved names defined by the connector — for example, Exclude system databases for the Databases section.
• Always exclude: Add permanent exclusion rules (shown in red). Assets matching these rules are never ingested, regardless of include rules.
• Preview: Shows a real-time summary of what will be in scope based on your current rules.
• Include rules (available only in Only specific mode): Click + Add to define a rule. Added rules appear as chips; an asset is included if it matches any rule.

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Step 6: Create & Deploy

Click Create & Deploy to deploy the agent and start the first metadata ingestion run. Collate saves the service configuration and immediately begins pulling metadata from the source. To monitor ingestion progress or view the service you just added, go to Connections in the left navigation and select your service.

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Configure Metadata Agent and Schedule Ingestion

The Metadata Agent extracts pipelines, tasks, and other structural metadata from your source and keeps your Collate catalog in sync. It powers discovery, lineage, and governance across your data assets. When you click Create & Deploy, Collate automatically deploys a Metadata Agent for this service and triggers the first ingestion run. View its status and run history from the Agents tab on the service detail page. To configure the additional Metadata Agent and schedule ingestion, follow these steps:

1. In the left navigation, click Connections and select your service.
2. Click the Agents tab.
3. Click Add Agent and select Metadata from the dropdown. For some services, the dropdown is not available and clicking Add Agent takes you directly to the agent configuration page.
4. On the Configure Ingestion page, do the following and click Next.
   • Name this Ingestion: Enter a unique recognizable name for this ingestion pipeline.
   • Agent Setup: Configure the core parameters for this agent. The following fields are available:

     Field	Default	Description
     Ownership Update Mode	replace	Set how owners from source metadata update Pipeline owners. In replace mode, resolved owners from the current source replace existing owners. In append mode, resolved owners are appended to active existing Pipeline owners.
     Db Service Names	—	List of database service names used for lineage resolution.
     Storage Service Names	—	List of storage service names used for lineage resolution.
     Messaging Service Names	—	List of messaging service names used for lineage resolution.
     Status Lookback Days	1	Number of days of pipeline run status history to ingest. Only runs within the last N days will be fetched.
     Include Lineage	On	Turn off to stop fetching lineage from pipelines.
     Mark Deleted Pipeline	On	Soft-delete pipelines in Collate when they are removed from the source. Associated entities like lineage are also deleted.
     Include UnDeployed Pipelines	On	Toggle whether un-deployed pipelines should be ingested. If set to false, only deployed pipelines will be ingested.

     
   • Filter Patterns: Apply include or exclude rules to scope which pipelines this agent ingests. These follow the same filter options described in Step 5.
   • Scope & Behaviour: Control what metadata to include and how to handle deletions. Toggle each option on or off based on your needs:

     Toggle	Default	Description
     Enable Debug Log	Off	Sets the ingestion log level to DEBUG. Useful for troubleshooting.
     Override Metadata	Off	When on, source values overwrite existing descriptions, tags, owners, and display names in Collate. When off, Collate only updates fields that have no existing value.
     Override Lineage	Off	When on, existing lineage is replaced with newly extracted lineage on each run.

     
5. On the Schedule Interval page, set when the agent runs:
   • Schedule: Choose a preset interval (Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly) or enter a custom cron expression.
   • On-Demand: No automatic schedule; trigger the agent manually when needed.
   
6. Click Add to deploy the agent.

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Troubleshooting