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Silver ⭐️⭐️
October 15, 2025
Question

how to setup okta authentication with cdh impala

I have a cdp 7.3.1 instance, and I want to hookup okta authentication to the impala service, so that when tableau connects to the impala, it will trigger authentication / call back with a okta server(I already have admin controls of it, and have scope/application etc).

on this instance, I already enabled kerberos, knox and not sure if I need to enable ssl as well, I can't find any documentation for it, can some one walk me through the setup? I mostly rely on chapgpt, and had some issues. 

 

6 replies

DianaTorres
Community Manager
DianaTorres
Community Manager
October 16, 2025

Hi @jAnshula @ChethanYM @Boris G @Saurabhatiyal Hello team
Do you have any insights here? Thanks!

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Regards, Diana Torres, Senior Community Moderator
jAnshula
Gold ⭐️
jAnshula
Gold ⭐️
October 17, 2025

Hi @tableau 

The Impala ODBC/JDBC drivers don’t natively support SAML authentication.
You need to use Apache Knox as the SAML Service Provider (SP). Knox handles authentication with Okta (IdP) and then proxies the authenticated session to Impala using Kerberos delegation.

Okta → SAML → Knox SSO (Gateway) → Kerberos delegation → Impala

SSL (HTTPS) is required for SAML authentication to work securely.
Please refer to the following Cloudera documentation for setup details:

https://docs.cloudera.com/cdp-private-cloud-base/7.3.1/knox-authentication/topics/security-knox-authe-saml.html 

https://docs.cloudera.com/cdp-private-cloud-base/7.3.1/knox-authentication/topics/security-knox-tls-mutual-authentication.html 

Let us know if you have any questions on the same.

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DanielR
DanielR
Silver ⭐️⭐️
October 17, 2025

You can use oauth which is available in Impala now

See: https://docs.cloudera.com/cdp-private-cloud-base/7.1.9/impala-secure/topics/impala-oauth.html

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DianaTorres
Community Manager
DianaTorres
Community Manager
October 24, 2025

@tableau Has the reply helped resolve your issue? If so, please mark the appropriate reply as the solution, as it will make it easier for others to find the answer in the future. Thanks.

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Regards, Diana Torres, Senior Community Moderator
tableau
tableauAuthor
Silver ⭐️⭐️
October 28, 2025

I need time to test the flow, and if there is a more detailed tutorial on how it is done, please send it my way. Thanks.

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tableau
tableauAuthor
Silver ⭐️⭐️
October 28, 2025

I have a okta server and application / scope information, and I need guidance on how to implement the okta provider in the knox setup. The current documentation talks more about ldap, and not helpful on okta setup.

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