Data Lake Formation (DLF) is generally available by region starting December 16, 2025.
Introduction
DLF is a fully managed platform that unifies metadata, data storage, and data management. It offers enterprise-grade security while remaining open and compatible with open-source products. Designed for omnimodal data storage and management, DLF supports a variety of lake storage formats including Apache Paimon, Apache Iceberg, Lance Table, Object Table, and Format Table. It provides both table and file interfaces for reading, writing, and processing omnimodal data. With comprehensive features for metadata management, permission control, storage analysis, and optimization, DLF empowers enterprises to concentrate on business innovation and building Data+AI applications.
Key benefits of DLF:
Cost-effective
Reduced storage costs: Features like intelligent, pay-as-you-go lake table optimization, intelligent storage tiering, observable storage metrics, and snapshot version rollbacks collectively reduce overall storage costs by up to 30%.
Improved maintenance efficiency: Paimon table maintenance efficiency is increased by 50%.
Enhanced query performance: End-to-end query performance from the engine to storage is doubled.
Fully managed
Unified management: Offers unified management and O&M for Paimon metadata and storage services.
Open and ready-to-use: Provides a unified, open, and readily deployable, fully managed lake table service.
Open-source compatibility: Seamlessly integrates with various open-source file formats, serving as an essential component for big data and AI applications.
Enterprise-grade security
Dual access control: Implements dual access control for API and data permissions.
Granular permissions: Supports granular access control at the catalog, database, table, and field levels.
Robust data protection: Provides zone-redundant storage and cross-account data sharing to ensure data security, compliance, and stability.
Open-source compatibility and ecosystem integration
Commercial value-add: Extends Paimon with commercial capabilities, offering superior features and compatibility.
Robust ecosystem: Integrates with Alibaba Cloud's big data, search, and AI engines to create a powerful ecosystem.
Uniform access and management: Provides uniform access for all engines and offers unified management of metadata, storage, and permissions across them.
For more information, see What is DLF?.
Access the DLF console: DLF console.
Billing
Following the commercial launch, all DLF services will be billed according to standard rates. For specific pricing details, see Billing.
SLA
After the commercial launch, DLF will provide an official service-level agreement to ensure service availability and stability. For more information, see SLA.
Contact us
If you have any questions, join our DingTalk group (ID: 106575000021) for assistance.