---
title: "Client Access to the VAST Catalog"
slug: "client-access-to-the-vast-catalog"
updated: 2026-10-27T17:23:45Z
published: 2026-10-27T17:23:45Z
canonical: "docs.vastdata.com/client-access-to-the-vast-catalog"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vastdata.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Client Access to the VAST Catalog

You can access the VAST Catalog using a number of client applications:

- The [VAST Catalog CLI](/docs-5-3/docs/en/vast-database-cli-quick-start-guide)VAST Database CLI Quick Start Guide
- Third-party query engines connected to the VAST Database, such as [Trino](/docs-5-3/docs/en/installing-and-configuring-the-vast-connector-for-trino) and [Spark](/docs-5-3/docs/en/installing-the-vast-connector-for-spark)Installing and Configuring the VAST Connector for Trino
- The [VAST DB SDK](https://github.com/vast-data/vastdb_sdk)

The following are required for the client to access the Catalog:

- A host IP address on the cluster
- An Identity Policy providing access to the Catalog
- A user associated with the Identity Policy
- S3 access keys for the user

## Providing a Host IP to Access the VAST Catalog

Use one of the following as a host IP for the client:

- One or more virtual IPs from a VAST Cluster [virtual IP pool](/docs-5-3/docs/en/managing-virtual-ip-pools).Managing Virtual IP Pools
- An external management IP of the cluster's VMS CNode. To identify the VMS CNode from the VAST Web UI, browse to the CNodes tab of the Infrastructure page, and look for the CNode that has Yes in the VMS column. Take the IP from the Management IP column.

## Granting User Access and Permission to Query the VAST Catalog

In order to be able to query VAST Catalog from the VAST Catalog CLI or another client, such as Trino, users need an S3 access key pair and permission to perform the `TabularQueryData` action on the relevant data set. You can grant permission to query all data on the cluster or restrict permission to a given path. Permission is granted through an identity policy.

For example, to grant query permission and an S3 access key pair to a user with UID 513, you could do the following:

1. Create an identity policy to provide query access to the VAST Catalog:

```plaintext
vcli: admin> identitypolicy create --name data_query --policy '{
                 "Version": "2012-10-17",
                 "Id": "S3PolicyId1",
                 "Statement": [
                 {
                     "Sid": "AllowTabularQueryData",
                     "Effect": "Allow",
                     "Action": "s3:TabularQueryData",
                     "Resource":["arn:aws:s3:::vast-big-catalog-bucket/*","arn:aws:s3:::vast-big-catalog-bucket"]
                  }]
               }'
```
2. Retrieve the ID of the policy:

```plaintext
vcli: admin> identitypolicy list
+----+-------------+-----------+--------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ID | Name        | Users     | Groups | Policy                                                                                                         |
+----+-------------+-----------+--------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 11 | data_query  | ['auser'] | []     | {"Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [{"Effect": "Allow", "Action": "s3:TabularQueryData", "Resource":"*"}]} |
+----+-------------+-----------+--------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
```
3. Attach the policy to the user:

```plaintext
vcli: admin> user query --uid 513 --identity-policies-ids 11
```
4. Generate an S3 access key pair for the user, valid for the default tenant:

```plaintext
vcli: admin> user generate-key --uid 513
{'access_key': '*************',
 'secret_key': '*************************'}
```

For more information, see the following sections:

- Identity Policies: [Managing Identity Policies](/docs-5-3/docs/managing-identity-policies)
- Granting S3 Access Keys and Attaching Identity Policies to Users: [Managing User S3 Permissions](/docs-5-3/docs/en/managing-user-s3-permissions)Managing User S3 Permissions