Air-gapped deployment means no internet. No external calls, no cloud pipelines, no accidental leaks. For Databricks, this isn’t just a checkbox—it’s a deliberate architecture choice. When security or compliance demands total isolation, every part of the system must live and run inside the perimeter.
Databricks in air-gapped mode changes how you think about access control. Without a connection to the outside, you need internal identity management, role assignment, and permission enforcement that works without cloud identity providers. No OAuth redirect. No SAML handshake reaching beyond your firewall. The system must verify and grant access on its own.
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) becomes the backbone. Clear permissions at the workspace, cluster, notebook, and job levels ensure that teams can work without crossing data boundaries. Fine-grained policies allow only the exact actions required. Data governance rules—like Unity Catalog—have to run locally, with metadata stores deployed and synced inside the air-gapped environment.
Database objects and files need strict classification and limits. Engineers should bind permissions to groups, not individuals, to reduce complexity and avoid drift. Every change to user roles should be audited, logged, and stored in a place unreachable from the internet.