What Is a Data Pipeline and how it Works ?

What Is a Data Pipeline?

Data pipeline definition is that it is a sequence of steps in the processing of data. If the data has not yet been loaded into the data platform, it is in the pipeline at the start of the data pipeline. There is a sequence of steps where each step generates an output that acts as an input to the following step. The process will continue until it is finished. In certain situations, separate steps could be executed in parallel.

Data pipelines comprise three elements: a source, a transformation of data, and a final destination.

  1. A data source could be an internal database, such as one that’s a transactional production database that is powered with MongoDB or PostgreSQL or a cloud-based platform like Salesforce, Shopify, or MailChimp or an external source of data like Nielsen and Qualtrics.
  2. Data transformation can be accomplished with tools like Trifacta or debt, or it can be created manually with a mixture of different tools like Python, Apache Airflow, and similar tools. These tools are typically employed to create information from outside sources pertinent to each specific business scenario.
  3. Destinations are where data is kept after extraction, for example, data lakes or data warehouses.

Data pipeline process

To better understand the way a data pipeline operates consider any pipe that receives data from a source and then carries it to a final destination. The way the information is handled in the process is dependent on the specific business need and the destination. It can be a straightforward process of data extraction and loading or, it might be specifically designed to process information in more complex methods, like training datasets to aid in machine learning.

Data Pipeline VS ETL 

The data pipeline is a term used to describe the process of moving data between systems. It refers to the vast array of procedures that allow data to be transferred between systems. ETL pipelines are a specific kind that is a type of data pipeline. 

Data pipelines don’t need to be run in batches. ETL pipelines typically transfer data to the system they are targeting in regular collections according to a time. Certain pipelines, however, allow real-time processing through a streaming computation that permits data sets to be constantly updated. This enables real-time analytics and reporting and may trigger different applications and systems.

What Is AWS Data Pipeline?

AWS Data Pipeline is a web service that automates data transformation and movement. It allows you to create data-driven workflows. This makes it possible to be dependent on previous tasks. Data Pipeline AWS will enforce the logic you have established by defining the parameters for your data transformations.

A data scientist will assign a job for AWS Data Pipeline to access log data from Amazon S3 each hour. Then, it transfers the data to a NoSQL or relational database for further analysis. For example, It can convert data to SQL, make copies, send data via Amazon Elastic MapReduce applications (Amazon EMR), or process scripts that send data to Amazon S3, Amazon Relational Database Service, or Amazon DynamoDB.

This service can be used to connect to AWS data sources as well as to third-party data sources. The Java-based Task Runner package can be installed on local servers to continuously poll Data Pipeline AWS and allow it to connect to on-premises resources.

Importance Of Data pipelines

When you think about the technologies that drive the success of a company, the data pipelines aren’t always at the top of the agenda. Although many advanced companies realize that data is among the most important assets they have, the significance of data engineering is usually overlooked.

However, modern data pipelines permit your company to swiftly and effectively access the information within your company. They let you extract information from the source and transform it into a suitable format, and then import the data into your systems so that you can make use of it to make a better decision. If you do it right, you’ll enjoy faster advancement, improved quality (with higher reliability) and lower costs, and satisfied customers. If you do it wrong, you may lose a significant amount of money, not have important information, or get inaccurate data.

Steps to Build Data Pipeline

How to build a data pipeline? The process of creating reliable Data pipelines involves a basic six-step procedure that includes:

  1. Controlling and cataloging the data provides access to secure and compliant information at the scale of an entire enterprise.
  2. You are effectively ingesting data from different sources like on-premises databases, databases, SaaS applications, IoT sources, and streaming applications to create a cloud data lake.
  3. Integrating data through cleaning, enriching, and changing it by creating zones like a landing area, enrichment zone, or enterprise zone.
  4. We are implementing data quality standards to manage and cleanse information while making it available to all employees to facilitate DataOps.
  5. It ensures that data that has been cleaned and refined is transferred to a cloud-based data warehouse that can be used for self-service analysis and data science use instances.
  6. Stream processing is used to extract insights from live data gathered from streaming sources like Kafka and then transfer it to a cloud-based data warehouse to be used for analytics.