Unable to use Auto Loader for External Location in Community Edition

[AanchalSoni]

Using Community Edition

I'm trying to create a pipeline(streaming) using auto loader (accessing external location) and each time my select query is thrown this error- " An error occurred while calling t.analyzeAndFormatResult. : java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException: Public DBFS root is disabled. Access is denied on path: /local_disk0/tmp/autoloader_schemas_DLTAnalysisID-ec51b16e-3b7e-37ba-a57d-eb79d79a4ab84641536424733736813/1280625787"

Is it not possible to use Autoloader to access external storage in community version? Please guide.

[szymon_dybczak]

Hi @AanchalSoni ,

To make it clear - are you using Free Edition or Community Edition? Because people confuses them all the time so it's better to clarify this first.

[AanchalSoni]

I believe I'm on free edition. (I have access to volumes, Genie, etc. DBFS option is not available). Sharing an image for reference.

[szymon_dybczak · Accepted solution]

Ok, so this is a common problem with Free Edition. Since DBFS root is disabled on Free Edition to use Autloader you need to use Volumes. So all your source file that you want to load along with autloader schema and checkpoint location should be defined on Volume.

You can follow below guide which deals with exact same issue as yours. Just replay the same steps as the author of the article and it will work 😉

When DBFS Is Not an Option: How Databricks Volumes Saved the Day for File-Based Learning on Free Edi...

[AanchalSoni]

Thanks for your guidance 🙂

[szymon_dybczak]

No problem @AanchalSoni , I'm glad that I could help 😉