Current name
Public Preview
External models
External models is the current Databricks name, previously MLflow AI Gateway (since December 2023).
MLflow AI Gateway External models
Third-party models hosted outside Databricks, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, served through a Model Serving endpoint so an organization can manage many LLM providers behind one unified interface.
- Its security pitch is a single place to keep secrets - API keys live in one secure location, so nobody has to paste them into code or look after them on their own.
- If your provider is not on the list, a custom provider option takes any model behind a proxy, as long as it speaks the OpenAI API.
- The docs sidebar now files it under Legacy endpoints, while the page itself points newcomers to registering providers as governed Unity Catalog objects instead.
Limitations: Depending on the external model you choose, your data might be processed outside the region where it originated; NCC support for external models, including AWS PrivateLink, is still in Public Preview.
Open in REbricked →- Category
- AI / ML
- Also known as
- External models through Model Serving, External model endpoints
- Verified
- 2026-09-27
Sources
- Official Official Databricks / Microsoft docs
- Official Databricks release notes: External models support in Model Serving is in Public Preview (December 11, 2023)
- Official Databricks docs: Model providers external to Databricks - providers registered as Unity Catalog model provider services
- Official Microsoft Learn: External models in Model Serving (Azure Databricks)