Digital Resource¶

A digital resource is a resource that is implemented in software - a database, a file, a topic, an API, a report, a machine learning model, a running application.

The distinction from a physical resource matters because a digital resource can be reached programmatically. Egeria can not only describe it, it can connect to it: to survey its contents, to check it is still there, to read its schema, or to move data in and out of it.

Two elements are involved, and keeping them apart is central to how Egeria works:

• The digital resource is the real thing, sitting in the technology that hosts it.
• The asset is the metadata element that catalogues it. This is where the ownership, classifications, governance requirements, glossary links and lineage are recorded.

The bridge between the two is the digital resource connector. Its connection is attached to the asset, so any process holding the asset can obtain a connector to the resource itself without needing to know what technology it runs on or where the credentials are kept.

Physical resources - buildings, equipment, people - are also catalogued using assets, but they have no connector, because there is nothing to connect to.

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