Using serverless to browse foreign catalogs.

Found the issue. My problem statement was incorrect. I thought I was querying the same connection in all 3 cases - notebook, query editor, and catalog browser. Instead I found that any connections I created that point to load-balancer are not working via serverless - this was due to NCC resource allowed was pointed at primary node rather than load-balancer. Where my connection is set to primary-node I can use serverless regardless of interface/method. This issue is due only to NCC configuration I set up was not matching connection definitions.

Hi @Ozment, Richard

1. Check your privileges

SHOW GRANTS ON CATALOG my_foreign_catalog;

SHOW GRANTS ON SCHEMA my_foreign_catalog.my_schema;

check your permissions.

if your admin allow the below persmissions.

GRANT USAGE ON CATALOG my_foreign_catalog TO <your principal>;

GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA my_foreign_catalog.my_schema TO <your principal>;

GRANT SELECT ON TABLE my_foreign_catalog.my_schema.my_table TO <your principal>;

2. Ensure the foreign catalog was created in Unity Catalog

Serverless cannot browse JDBC connections directly — only foreign catalogs created via Lakehouse Federation.

3. Confirm your warehouse is serverless + standard access mode

Foreign catalog browsing requires:

SQL Warehouse: Serverless

Access mode: Standard (not single-user or shared legacy)

Thanks.