> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.auxia.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Databricks > Connect Databricks tables to Auxia through Unity Catalog or an export to Amazon S3 [Databricks](https://www.databricks.com/) is a data lakehouse platform. Auxia connects to Databricks in one of two ways: by reading your **Unity Catalog** managed Delta tables directly, with short-lived credentials, or with **Delta Transfer**, where you export Parquet files to Amazon S3 on a schedule. Both are set up together with the Auxia team. Recommended · about 10 minutes About 30 minutes ## Choose a method | | Unity Catalog (recommended) | Delta Transfer | | - | - | - | | **How it works** | Auxia reads each table's data files directly, using short-lived credentials Unity Catalog issues per table | A scheduled Databricks notebook writes Parquet files to an S3 bucket you own, and Auxia reads from it | | **What you set up** | A service principal and a few grants | An S3 bucket, a bucket policy, and export notebooks | | **Ongoing work on your side** | None | Keep the export jobs running | | **Compute cost** | No Databricks compute on either side — Auxia reads the files directly | Your cluster or SQL warehouse runs the exports | | **Freshness** | A schedule you choose | Whenever your export jobs run (hourly or daily) | | **Choose it when** | Your tables are Unity Catalog managed Delta tables on Amazon S3 | Unity Catalog direct read isn't an option | ## Features | Feature | Unity Catalog | Delta Transfer | Notes | | - | - | - | - | | Setup | Assisted | Assisted | Coordinated with your Auxia solutions engineer | | Nothing copied or exported on your side | ✅ | ❌ | Delta Transfer writes Parquet files to your bucket | | No credentials exchanged | ✅ | ✅ | Unity Catalog issues credentials that expire in about an hour; Delta Transfer grants read access with a bucket policy | | Incremental reads | ✅ | ✅ | Unity Catalog uses Change Data Feed; Delta Transfer supports watermark and Change Data Feed patterns | | Full-table snapshots | — | ✅ | Delta Transfer pattern for small, slowly changing tables | | Audit trail | ✅ | — | Credential issuance appears in Unity Catalog audit logs, and file reads in your cloud storage logs | | Instant revocation | ✅ | ✅ | Remove the grant or disable the service principal; or remove the bucket policy | | Data Health monitoring | ✅ | ✅ | | ## How it works **Unity Catalog.** Auxia authenticates as a service principal you create, asks Unity Catalog for short-lived credentials scoped to one table at a time, and reads that table's underlying files directly from your storage — read-only. Change Data Feed lets Auxia read only what changed since the last run, so enable it on each table before the first load. Auxia runs the initial historical load, then recurring incremental reads, and validates row counts before go-live. **Delta Transfer.** You export each table to a dedicated S3 bucket as partitioned Parquet with a scheduled notebook, using one of three patterns — append-only, Change Data Feed, or full snapshot — and grant Auxia read access with a bucket policy. Auxia reads from the bucket the same way as the [Amazon S3](/data-ingestion/data-connections/amazon-s3) connector. ## Limitations * Both methods are set up with the Auxia team, not in the self-serve wizard. * Unity Catalog direct read requires a Databricks workspace on AWS, with table data on Amazon S3, and Unity Catalog **managed Delta** tables. * Share base tables rather than views. * See [Source data requirements](/data-ingestion/overview#source-data-requirements) for requirements shared by all connectors. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.