DataArts Lake Formation review
A Huawei Cloud governance layer for metadata, permissions, and cross-service sharing.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Nov 2026
DataArts Lake Formation is a cloud service for building and operating data lakes, with a focus on centralized metadata management, governance, permissions, and cross-service sharing. It is designed for organizations using Huawei Cloud analytics and big-data services, including MRS, DWS, DLI, ModelArts, and DataArts Studio. Teams can manage catalogs, databases, tables, functions, and data-access policies through a web console, REST APIs, and SDKs. Its deployment model is serverless, with elastic scaling and cross-AZ deployment.
The standout capability is governance depth. Permissions can be applied at the catalog, database, table, column, function, and OBS path levels, giving administrators fine-grained control over data access. Hive metadata model compatibility supports existing catalog structures, while Ranger permission model compatibility and synchronization APIs provide a path for organizations with Ranger-based governance practices. Connected compute engines can share metadata across services, which suits environments where multiple Huawei Cloud workloads need consistent definitions and access policies.
Pricing uses a paid, pay-per-use plan. LakeFormation instances are billed according to usage, with metadata objects and API calls treated as billable items; billing is calculated by the second and settled hourly. The published plan also describes free usage allowances. This model may suit variable workloads, but teams will need to track both service activity and governance-object growth. DataArts Lake Formation is a strong choice for Huawei-centered data-lake governance and multi-engine metadata management. Organizations seeking a standalone platform with a primary emphasis on ingestion or query execution should evaluate alternatives focused on those workloads.
Questions about DataArts Lake Formation
What does DataArts Lake Formation run on? Web. It runs in the cloud.
What does DataArts Lake Formation integrate with? 8 integrations, including MapReduce Service (MRS), Data Warehouse Service (DWS), Data Lake Insight (DLI), ModelArts and DataArts Studio.
Who is DataArts Lake Formation built for? Enterprises and mid-market companies (our editorial estimate).
DataArts Lake Formation pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Fine-grained controls span catalogs, tables, columns, functions, and OBS paths
- Hive and Ranger compatibility support established governance models
- Integrates with Huawei analytics, AI, warehouse, and data studio services
- Where it doesn't
- Paid usage billing can make costs depend on metadata objects and API calls
- Its strongest fit is for organizations built around Huawei Cloud services
- LakeFormation’s core positioning centers on governance rather than data processing
DataArts Lake Formation fact sheet, pricing and score →
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