SQL Reloaded: Documenting External Tables

When using serverless SQL pool, CETAS (aka Create External Table as Select) are the main mechanism of making data available from the Data Lake for queries. In case is needed to document them, sys.external_tables DMV can be used to export their metadata, much like sys.tables or sys.views can be used for the same:

-- CETAS metadata
SELECT TOP (50) ext.object_id
, ext.name
, schema_name(ext.schema_id) [schema_name]
, ext.type_desc
, ext.location
, ext.data_source_id
, ext.file_format_id
, ext.max_column_id_used
, ext.uses_ansi_nulls
, ext.create_date
, ext.modify_date
FROM sys.external_tables ext

It's interesting that CETAS have type_desc = 'USER_TABLE' in sys.all_objects, same like user-defined tables in SQL Server have:

-- CETAS' metadata via sys.all_objects
SELECT *
FROM sys.all_objects
WHERE object_id = object_id('<schema_name>.<CETAS name>')

The data source and file format can be retrieved via the sys.external_data_sources and sys.external_file_formats DMVs. Moreover, it's useful to include the logic into a view, like the one below:

 

-- drop view
--DROP VIEW IF EXISTS dbo.vAdminExternalTables

-- create view
CREATE VIEW dbo.vAdminExternalTables
AS
-- external tables - metadata 
SELECT ext.object_id
, sch.name + '.' + ext.name [unique_identifier]
, sch.name [schema]
, ext.name [object]
, ext.type_desc [type]
, ext.max_column_id_used 
, ext.location
, eds.name data_source 
, eff.name file_format 
, ext.create_date 
, ext.modify_date
FROM sys.external_tables ext
     JOIN sys.schemas sch
       ON ext.schema_id = sch.schema_id 
     JOIN sys.external_data_sources eds 
       ON ext.data_source_id = eds.data_source_id
     JOIN sys.external_file_formats eff
       ON ext.file_format_id = eff.file_format_id

-- testing the view
SELECT top 10 *
FROM dbo.vAdminExternalTables

The view can be used then for further queries, for example checking the CETAS created or modified starting with a given date:

 

-- external tables created after a certain date
SELECT *
FROM dbo.vAdminExternalTables ext
WHERE ext.create_date >= '20230101'
  OR ext.modify_date >= '20230101';

Or, when the CETAS are deployed from one environment to another, one can compare the datasets returned by the same view between environments, something like in the below query:

 

-- comparison external tables metadata between two databases
SELECT *
FROM (
    SELECT *
    FROM <test_database>.dbo.vAdminExternalTables
    WHERE [Schema] = '<schema_name>'
	) PRD
	FULL OUTER JOIN (
    SELECT *
    FROM <prod_database>.dbo.vAdminExternalTables
    WHERE [Schema] = '<schema_name>'
	) UAT
	ON PRD.[unique_identifier] = UAT.[unique_identifier]
-- WHERE PRD.[unique_identifier] IS NULL OR UAT.[unique_identifier] IS NULL

The definitions for multiple CETAS can be exported from the source database in one step via the Object Explorer Details >> Tables >> External tables >> (select CETAS) >> Script Table as >> ... . 

Happy coding!