topic Re: Error updating schema: SCHEMA_FOREIGN_SQLSERVER update_mask requirement. in Data Engineering

Error updating schema: SCHEMA_FOREIGN_SQLSERVER update_mask requirement.

AngelShrestha — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 03:37:22 GMT

What I tried:Updating the description via UI (AI Suggested Description / manual edit

I’m running into an issue while trying to update the description for the schema.

Context:

Type: SCHEMA_FOREIGN_SQLSERVER
Error message:
Failed to save description. Please try again later.
Securable `dbo` of type SCHEMA_FOREIGN_SQLSERVER can only be updated by specifying update_mask field with the list of fields to update (unless it's ownership transfer), and only the owner, managed_storage_root, securable_kind, predictive_optimization fields can be updated.

Re: Error updating schema: SCHEMA_FOREIGN_SQLSERVER update_mask requirement.

Sumit_7 — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 08:08:10 GMT

Hey Shrestha,

It clearly seems to be a permission issue here as seen in the Error Message. Do contact your Workspace/Account admin.

Thanks.

Re: Error updating schema: SCHEMA_FOREIGN_SQLSERVER update_mask requirement.

emma_s — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 09:29:02 GMT

HI,

This isn't a permissions issue but a known limitation of Lakehouse Federation. Foreign securables (like SCHEMA_FOREIGN_SQLSERVER) only allow a restricted set of metadata fields to be
updated — description and comment are not among them.

This is because foreign schema metadata is mirrored from the source system, and Unity Catalog currently treats it as read-only for most fields.

This has been raised as a feature request and is being tracked by the product team. If this is important for your use case, I'd recommend raising it with your Databricks account team so your request gets added to the prioritization.

Thanks,

Emma

Re: Error updating schema: SCHEMA_FOREIGN_SQLSERVER update_mask requirement.

AngelShrestha — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:25:26 GMT

Thank you @emma_s ,
In my knowledge if we use lakeflow connect, it gets treated as the Managed tables,
Can you confirm if its true, and if we can use Lakeflow connect to connect to SQL Servers and use the metadata then?

Re: Error updating schema: SCHEMA_FOREIGN_SQLSERVER update_mask requirement.

emma_s — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:50:05 GMT

Hi, Yes 100%, if you use Lakeflow connect, it will ingest the data and they will become managed tables. Which will support the descriptions and comments. You should also get some query improvement as you're actually moving the data rather than querying it in place.

Re: Error updating schema: SCHEMA_FOREIGN_SQLSERVER update_mask requirement.

AngelShrestha — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 01:10:33 GMT

Hi @emma_s ,
Can you confirm, if I create catalog from here, will this be considered Lakeflow connect?