You can create a Platform assets catalog to share connections across your organization. Any user who you add as a collaborator to the catalog can see these connections.
You can add an unlimited number of collaborators and connection assets to the Platform assets catalog.
The Platform assets catalog also supports some watsonx.governance features in AI use cases, such as tracking third-party models, storing attachments, and generating reports. For more information on using the Platform assets catalog with inventories for AI uses cases, see Managing an inventory for AI use cases.
If you are signed up for both Cloud Pak for Data as a Service and watsonx, you share a single Platform assets catalog between the two platforms. Any connection assets that you add to the catalog on either platform are available in both platforms. However, if you add other types of assets to the Platform assets catalog on Cloud Pak for Data as a Service, you can't access those types of assets on watsonx.
Requirements
Before you create the Platform assets catalog, understand the required permissions and the requirements for storage and duplicate handling.
- Required permission
- You must have the IAM Administrator role in the IBM Cloud account.
To view your roles, go to Administration > Access (IAM). Then select Roles in the IBM Cloud console.
- Storage requirement
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Specify the IBM Cloud Object Storage instance that is configured during IBM Cloud account setup. If you are not an administrator for the IBM Cloud Object Storage instance, it must be configured to allow catalog creation.
- Duplicate asset handling
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Assets are considered duplicates if they have the same asset type and the same name.
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Select how to handle duplicate assets:
- Update original assets
- Overwrite original assets
- Allow duplicates (default)
- Preserve original assets and reject duplicates
You can change the duplicate handling preferences at any time on the catalog Settings page.
Creating the Platform assets catalog
To create the Platform assets catalog:
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From the main menu, choose Data > Connectivity.
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Click Create catalog.
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Select the IBM Cloud Object Storage service. If you don't have an existing service instance, create a IBM Cloud Object Storage service instance and then refresh the page.
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Click Create. The Platform assets catalog is created in a dedicated storage bucket. Initially, you are the only collaborator in the catalog.
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Add collaborators to the catalog. Go to the Access control page in the catalog and add collaborators. You assign each user a role:
- Assign the Admin role to at least one other user so that you are not the only person who can add collaborators.
- Assign the Editor role to all users who are responsible for adding connections to the catalog.
- Assign the Viewer role to the users who need to find connections and use them in projects.
You can give all the users access to the Platform assets catalog by assigning the Viewer role to the Public Access group. By default, all users in your account are members of the Public Access group. See add collaborators.
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Add connections to the catalog. You can delegate this step to other collaborators who have the Admin or Editor role. See Add connections to the Platform assets catalog.
Platform assets catalog collaborator roles
The Platform assets catalog roles provide the permissions in the following table.
| Action | Viewer | Editor | Admin |
|---|---|---|---|
| View connections | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Use connections in projects | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Use connections in spaces | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| View collaborators | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Add connections | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Modify connections | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Delete connections | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Add or remove collaborators | ✓ | ||
| Change collaborator roles | ✓ | ||
| Delete the catalog | ✓ |
Parent topic: Setting up the platform for administrators