**Why Unity Catalog**: Centralized governance—access control, lineage, audit, discovery. Replaces table-level ACLs with a consistent model across workspaces. **Architecture**: Three-level hierarchy: Metastore → Catalog → Schema → Table. Metastore is account-level; catalogs group schemas; schemas contain tables. RBAC via grants (SELECT, MODIFY, etc.) on tables, views, schemas. **Lineage**: Tracks data flow from source to consumption; critical for impact analysis and compliance....
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