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Is there an Open Source Metadata Management Solution? I'd like to create a Metadata Repository that will hold the details of the metadata of database schemas, tables and data items of hundreds of Enterprise databases.

I'm especially interested in something that can automatically query the schema data of the databases to be able to track changes in the metadata related to tables. i.e. changes to column data sizes, tables and columns added etc.

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  • Has there been any update or progress in finding an Open Source Metadata Management Solution, since you posted this in 2011? Thx, Jeff
    – user32709
    Commented Jan 10, 2014 at 16:49
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    This is an old question, but I've been working on an open-source metadata management system called the Aristotle Metadata Registry. Its open-source, relatively modern and based on existing government big data management platforms. Worth a look.
    – user99984
    Commented Jul 13, 2016 at 5:24

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I'm not aware of any open-source tool that would scale to 'hundreds of enterprise databases.' The closest things that come to mind are:

  • Dia has a basic modelling engine that could be used to create UML models. However, I think you would have to write a lot of glue to get the models into Dia in the first place.

  • Eclipse Modelling Framework (EMF) has modelling features and also a model diff/merge tool, which might get you somewhere towards your change tracking requirement. However, I think you would still have to write an awful lot of glue to make this work.

Beyond that, you're probably up for a commercial repository tool like Powerdesigner, Erwin or Embarcadero. If you're actually working for an outfit that has 'hundreds of enterprise databases' on the books there's a chance they might have something like this on the books already.

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MIKE?

What is MIKE2.0?

MIKE2.0 which stands for Method for an Integrated Knowledge Environment, is an open source methodology for Enterprise Information Management that provides a framework for information development . The MIKE2.0 Methodology is part of the overall Open Methodology Framework.

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  • Thank you! This is very interesting. Though it doesn't suggest a particular Open Source Metadata Management tool, it does define many best practices. Thanks for pointing it out.
    – Stuart Woodward
    Commented Jun 20, 2012 at 5:32
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How about Pentaho Metadata Editor?

A Conceptual Overview of the Pentaho Metadata Editor

Pentaho Metadata Editor documentation

Another option would be to use a tool like liquibase to manage all database schema changes and keep those changes in git source control.

PostgreSQL has a "comment" feature which lets you add comments to database objects, which you could use to help analysts understand things. For example, we put Javadoc style comments in PG comments, and generate docs based on that.

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