Create and manage compute policies
This article explains how to create and manage policies in your workspace. For information on writing policy definitions, see Compute policy reference.
Note
Policies require the Premium plan.
What are compute policies?
A policy is a tool workspace admins can use to limit a user or group’s compute creation permissions based on a set of policy rules.
Policies provide the following benefits:
Limit users to creating clusters with prescribed settings.
Limit users to creating a certain number of clusters.
Simplify the user interface and enable more users to create their own clusters (by fixing and hiding some values).
Control cost by limiting per cluster maximum cost (by setting limits on attributes whose values contribute to hourly price).
Create a policy
These are the basic instruction to create a policy. To learn how to define a policy, see Compute policy reference.
Click
Compute in the sidebar.Click the Policies tab.
Click Create policy.
Name the policy. Policy names are case insensitive.
Optionally, select a policy family from the Family dropdown. This determines the template from which you build the policy.
Enter a Description of the policy. This helps others know the purpose of the policy.
In the Definitions tab, enter a policy definition.
In the Permissions tab, assign permissions for the policy and optionally set the maximum number of resources a user can create using that policy.
Click Create.
Use a policy families
When you create a policy, you can choose to use a policy family. Policy families are Databricks-provide policy templates with pre-populated rules, designed to address common compute use cases.
When using a policy family, the rules for your policy are inherited from the policy family. After selecting a policy family, you can create the policy as-is, or choose to add rules or override the given rules.
Policy permissions
By default, workspace admins have permissions on all policies. Non-admin users must be granted permissions on a policy for them to have access to the policy.
If a user has unrestricted cluster creation permissions, then they will also have access to the Unrestricted policy. This allows them to create fully configurable compute resources.
If a user doesn’t have access to any policies, the policy dropdown does not display in their UI.
Restrict the number of compute resources per users
Policy permissions allow you to set a max number of compute resources per user. This determines how many resources a user can create using that policy. If the user exceeds the limit, the operation fails.
To restrict the number of resources a user can create using a policy, enter a value into the Max compute resources per user setting under the Permissions tab in the policies UI.
Note
Databricks doesn’t proactively terminate resources to maintain the limit. If a user has three compute resources running with the policy and the workspace admin reduces the limit to one, the three resources will continue to run. Extra resources must be manually terminated to comply with the limit.
Manage a policy
After you create a policy, you can edit, clone, and delete it.
You can also monitor the policy’s adoption by viewing the compute resources that use the policy. From the Policies page, click the policy you want to view. Then click the Compute or Jobs tabs to see a list of resources that use the policy.
Edit a policy
You might want to edit a policy to update its permissions or its definitions. To edit a policy, select the policy from the Policies page then click Edit. After you click Edit you can click the Permissions tab to update the policy’s permissions. You can also then update the policy’s definition.
Note
After you update a policy’s definitions, the compute that uses that policy does not automatically update to adhere to the new policy rules, but the policy rules will be in effect if the user attempts to edit the compute resource.