BYOD Preferences Reference Table Setup

Help customers create and upload a k9_ownership_preferences reference table to customize how the Ownership Agent determines resource owners.

Read first

• references/schema.md — full schema, column details, validation rules, and per-type examples
• assets/example.csv — complete working CSV with all three preference types

Overview

The Ownership Agent infers owners for cloud resources with security findings. Ownership preferences let customers customize this by providing rules in a Datadog reference table. The agent reads them automatically.

With preferences you can:

• Map tags to owners: Resources with specific tag values belong to a particular team or person
• Exclude accounts: Prevent bot accounts or shared infrastructure from appearing as owners
• Provide custom guidance: Give the AI engine organization-specific context

Reference Table Details

• Table name: k9_ownership_preferences (exact name, must match)
• Effect delay: Changes take effect within 24 hours of upload
• Schema: 12 columns, all STRING — see references/schema.md for details

Workflow

Step 1: Determine Needs

Ask the customer:

• Tag mappings: "Do you have tags on your cloud resources that indicate ownership? (e.g., cost-center, team, project)"
• Exclusions: "Are there bot accounts, service accounts, or shared accounts that should never appear as owners?"
• Prompt text: "Any organization-specific context that would help determine ownership? (e.g., naming conventions, team structure)"

Step 2: Generate CSV

Read references/schema.md for the full column spec and assets/example.csv for a working template. Build a CSV with all 12 column headers. Each row gets a unique sequential id and fills columns relevant to its preference_type, leaving the rest empty.

Step 3: Upload Instructions

Option A — CSV Upload (UI):

1. Go to Integrations > Reference Tables in Datadog
2. Click New Reference Table
3. Upload the CSV
4. Set table name to k9_ownership_preferences
5. Choose primary key: preference_type, tag_key, tag_value, handle
6. Save

Manual uploads support files up to 4 MB.

Option B — Cloud Storage Sync (S3, Azure Blob, GCS): Best for automated, recurring updates. Store your CSV in a cloud storage bucket and Datadog periodically imports it.

1. Upload CSV to S3 / Azure Blob / GCS
2. In Datadog, go to Integrations > Reference Tables
3. Click New Reference Table, select Cloud Storage as source
4. Provide storage path and credentials
5. Set table name to k9_ownership_preferences
6. Datadog re-imports the file periodically

Cloud storage uploads support files up to 200 MB.

Option C — Terraform: Use the datadog_reference_table resource in the Datadog Terraform provider to manage the table as infrastructure-as-code.

Option D — API: You can manage reference tables programmatically through the Reference Tables API. See the API documentation for available endpoints. Replace the API domain with your Datadog site URL if applicable.

Step 4: Verify

Changes take effect within 24 hours. To verify:

1. Identify a resource that matches one of your tag mappings
2. After 24 hours, check the ownership suggestion for that resource in the Datadog UI
3. The suggested owner should reflect your configured mapping

Key Behaviors

• Case-insensitive matching: Tag keys, tag values, handles, exclusion types, and resource types are all matched case-insensitively
• AND-logic exclusions: All non-empty exclusion fields must match. Empty fields act as wildcards
• Tag mappings complement, not override: Direct ownership indicators (like team: or service: tags) take precedence. Tag mappings augment, not replace
• Graceful degradation: If the table doesn't exist or is empty, ownership detection works normally without preferences
• Empty table clears preferences: Deleting all rows or deleting the table causes cached preferences to expire and be left empty
• All-or-nothing validation: Any validation failure rejects the entire preference set for that cycle

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Preferences not taking effect after 24h	Table name is wrong	Must be exactly k9_ownership_preferences
Preferences not taking effect after 24h	Missing column headers	All 12 columns must exist as CSV headers
Preferences not taking effect after 24h	Feature not enabled for org	Contact support to enable ownership preferences
All preferences rejected	Invalid characters	See references/schema.md Allowed Characters. No angle brackets, curly braces, or pipes
All preferences rejected	Missing required field	Check required fields for each preference type in references/schema.md
All preferences rejected	Duplicate or conflicting rows	See Duplicate Detection in references/schema.md
All preferences rejected	Size limit exceeded	50 tag mappings, 20 exclusions, 3 prompt texts. 1024 bytes/field, 4096/prompt
Tag mapping not matching	Spelling mismatch	Matching is case-insensitive but verify exact tag key/value on resource
Exclusion not applying	Scoping too narrow	All non-empty fields must match (AND). Leave filters empty for broad exclusions
Preferences cleared unexpectedly	Table emptied or deleted	Both cause cached preferences to expire. Upload a valid CSV to restore