Hi @fehrin1,

This is expected behavior on the Databricks Free Edition. The Free Edition documentation confirms that "outbound internet access is restricted to a limited set of trusted domains."

https://docs.databricks.com/aws/en/getting-started/free-edition-limitations

This means DNS resolution (nslookup) and actual network connectivity will only succeed for domains on that trusted allowlist. Package repositories like pypi.org are included because they are needed for installing Python libraries, but general-purpose sites like wikipedia.org are not on the list. That is why your nslookup for de.wikipedia.org returns REFUSED while pypi.org resolves successfully.

A FEW THINGS TO NOTE

1. There is no publicly documented list of the specific trusted domains. The allowlist includes domains required for core Databricks functionality and common package repositories.

2. The behavior you observed where another community member (@szymon_dybczak) in a different region could resolve wikipedia.org may reflect differences in how the restrictions are applied across regions or rollout timing. The restriction is the documented intended behavior.

3. This restriction applies specifically to the Free Edition's serverless compute environment. Paid Databricks workspaces on AWS, Azure, or GCP do not have these outbound network restrictions (though administrators can configure their own network policies).

WORKAROUNDS

If you need to work with data from a site that is blocked:

1. Download the data to your local machine first, then upload it to your Databricks workspace using the file upload feature in the UI or through a Volume.

2. If you are working with public datasets, check whether they are available through a package repository that is already on the allowlist (for example, datasets available via pip-installable Python packages).

3. For more flexible network access, consider upgrading to a Databricks trial with a cloud provider account (AWS, Azure, or GCP), which provides a 14-day full-featured trial without these egress restrictions.

https://docs.databricks.com/aws/en/getting-started/free-trial

* This reply used an agent system I built to research and draft this response based on the wide set of documentation I have available and previous memory. I personally review the draft for any obvious issues and for monitoring system reliability and update it when I detect any drift, but there is still a small chance that something is inaccurate, especially if you are experimenting with brand new features.