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How to load data from Apify Dataset to S3

Learn how to use Airbyte to synchronize your Apify Dataset data into S3 within minutes.

TL;DR

This can be done by building a data pipeline manually, usually a Python script (you can leverage a tool as Apache Airflow for this). This process can take more than a full week of development. Or it can be done in minutes on Airbyte in three easy steps:

  1. set up Apify Dataset as a source connector (using Auth, or usually an API key)
  2. set up S3 as a destination connector
  3. define which data you want to transfer and how frequently

You can choose to self-host the pipeline using Airbyte Open Source or have it managed for you with Airbyte Cloud.

This tutorial’s purpose is to show you how.

What is Apify Dataset

Apify is a web scraping and automation platform that can extract structured data from any website or automate any workflow on the web. For example, imagine you found a website selling shoes and want to get a spreadsheet with all the shoe sizes, colors, prices, etc., but the website doesn't make that information accessible in tabular form. Youcould certainly manually create such a spreadsheet using copy and paste, but that would take a lot of time and cause a lot of frustration. Or you can set up Apify to do this for you in a few seconds.

What is S3

Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) is a cloud-based object storage service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is designed to store and retrieve any amount of data from anywhere on the web. S3 is highly scalable, secure, and durable, making it an ideal solution for businesses of all sizes. S3 allows users to store and retrieve data in the form of objects, which can be up to 5 terabytes in size. These objects can be accessed through a web interface or through APIs, making it easy to integrate with other AWS services or third-party applications. S3 also offers a range of features, including versioning, lifecycle policies, and access control, which allow users to manage their data effectively. It also provides high availability and durability, ensuring that data is always accessible and protected against data loss. Overall, S3 is a powerful and flexible tool that enables businesses to store and manage their data in a secure and scalable way, making it an essential component of many cloud-based applications and services.

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Prerequisites

  1. A Apify Dataset account to transfer your customer data automatically from.
  2. A S3 account.
  3. An active Airbyte Cloud account, or you can also choose to use Airbyte Open Source locally. You can follow the instructions to set up Airbyte on your system using docker-compose.

Airbyte is an open-source data integration platform that consolidates and streamlines the process of extracting and loading data from multiple data sources to data warehouses. It offers pre-built connectors, including Apify Dataset and S3, for seamless data migration.

When using Airbyte to move data from Apify Dataset to S3, it extracts data from Apify Dataset using the source connector, converts it into a format S3 can ingest using the provided schema, and then loads it into S3 via the destination connector. This allows businesses to leverage their Apify Dataset data for advanced analytics and insights within S3, simplifying the ETL process and saving significant time and resources.

Step 1: Set up Apify Dataset as a source connector

1. First, navigate to the Apify website and log in to your account.
2. Once you are logged in, click on the "API" tab in the top navigation bar.
3. Next, click on the "Credentials" tab and then click the "Create new token" button.
4. Give your token a name and select the appropriate permissions for your use case.
5. Copy the generated token to your clipboard.
6. Navigate to your Airbyte dashboard and click on the "Sources" tab.
7. Click on the "Add Source" button and select "Apify" from the list of available connectors.
8. In the "Connection Configuration" section, paste the token you copied from Apify into the "API Token" field.
9. Enter the name of the dataset you want to connect to in the "Dataset Name" field.
10. Click the "Test" button to ensure that the connection is successful.
11. If the test is successful, click the "Save" button to save your configuration.
12. You can now use the Apify source connector in Airbyte to extract data from your chosen dataset.

Step 2: Set up S3 as a destination connector

1. Log in to your Airbyte account and navigate to the "Destinations" tab on the left-hand side of the screen.

2. Click on the "Add Destination" button and select "S3" from the list of available connectors.

3. Enter your AWS access key ID and secret access key in the appropriate fields. If you don't have these credentials, you can generate them in the AWS console.

4. Choose the AWS region where you want to store your data.

5. Enter the name of the S3 bucket where you want to store your data. If the bucket doesn't exist yet, you can create it in the AWS console.

6. Choose the format in which you want to store your data (e.g. CSV, JSON, Parquet).

7. Configure any additional settings, such as compression or encryption, if desired.

8. Test the connection to ensure that Airbyte can successfully connect to your S3 bucket.

9. Save your settings and start syncing data from your source connectors to your S3 destination.

Step 3: Set up a connection to sync your Apify Dataset data to S3

Once you've successfully connected Apify Dataset as a data source and S3 as a destination in Airbyte, you can set up a data pipeline between them with the following steps:

  1. Create a new connection: On the Airbyte dashboard, navigate to the 'Connections' tab and click the '+ New Connection' button.
  2. Choose your source: Select Apify Dataset from the dropdown list of your configured sources.
  3. Select your destination: Choose S3 from the dropdown list of your configured destinations.
  4. Configure your sync: Define the frequency of your data syncs based on your business needs. Airbyte allows both manual and automatic scheduling for your data refreshes.
  5. Select the data to sync: Choose the specific Apify Dataset objects you want to import data from towards S3. You can sync all data or select specific tables and fields.
  6. Select the sync mode for your streams: Choose between full refreshes or incremental syncs (with deduplication if you want), and this for all streams or at the stream level. Incremental is only available for streams that have a primary cursor.
  7. Test your connection: Click the 'Test Connection' button to make sure that your setup works. If the connection test is successful, save your configuration.
  8. Start the sync: If the test passes, click 'Set Up Connection'. Airbyte will start moving data from Apify Dataset to S3 according to your settings.

Remember, Airbyte keeps your data in sync at the frequency you determine, ensuring your S3 data warehouse is always up-to-date with your Apify Dataset data.

Use Cases to transfer your Apify Dataset data to S3

Integrating data from Apify Dataset to S3 provides several benefits. Here are a few use cases:

  1. Advanced Analytics: S3’s powerful data processing capabilities enable you to perform complex queries and data analysis on your Apify Dataset data, extracting insights that wouldn't be possible within Apify Dataset alone.
  2. Data Consolidation: If you're using multiple other sources along with Apify Dataset, syncing to S3 allows you to centralize your data for a holistic view of your operations, and to set up a change data capture process so you never have any discrepancies in your data again.
  3. Historical Data Analysis: Apify Dataset has limits on historical data. Syncing data to S3 allows for long-term data retention and analysis of historical trends over time.
  4. Data Security and Compliance: S3 provides robust data security features. Syncing Apify Dataset data to S3 ensures your data is secured and allows for advanced data governance and compliance management.
  5. Scalability: S3 can handle large volumes of data without affecting performance, providing an ideal solution for growing businesses with expanding Apify Dataset data.
  6. Data Science and Machine Learning: By having Apify Dataset data in S3, you can apply machine learning models to your data for predictive analytics, customer segmentation, and more.
  7. Reporting and Visualization: While Apify Dataset provides reporting tools, data visualization tools like Tableau, PowerBI, Looker (Google Data Studio) can connect to S3, providing more advanced business intelligence options. If you have a Apify Dataset table that needs to be converted to a S3 table, Airbyte can do that automatically.

Wrapping Up

To summarize, this tutorial has shown you how to:

  1. Configure a Apify Dataset account as an Airbyte data source connector.
  2. Configure S3 as a data destination connector.
  3. Create an Airbyte data pipeline that will automatically be moving data directly from Apify Dataset to S3 after you set a schedule

With Airbyte, creating data pipelines take minutes, and the data integration possibilities are endless. Airbyte supports the largest catalog of API tools, databases, and files, among other sources. Airbyte's connectors are open-source, so you can add any custom objects to the connector, or even build a new connector from scratch without any local dev environment or any data engineer within 10 minutes with the no-code connector builder.

We look forward to seeing you make use of it! We invite you to join the conversation on our community Slack Channel, or sign up for our newsletter. You should also check out other Airbyte tutorials, and Airbyte’s content hub!

What should you do next?

Hope you enjoyed the reading. Here are the 3 ways we can help you in your data journey:

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What should you do next?

Hope you enjoyed the reading. Here are the 3 ways we can help you in your data journey:

flag icon
Easily address your data movement needs with Airbyte Cloud
Take the first step towards extensible data movement infrastructure that will give a ton of time back to your data team. 
Get started with Airbyte for free
high five icon
Talk to a data infrastructure expert
Get a free consultation with an Airbyte expert to significantly improve your data movement infrastructure. 
Talk to sales
stars sparkling
Improve your data infrastructure knowledge
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and get the community’s new enlightening content along with Airbyte’s progress in their mission to solve data integration once and for all.
Subscribe to newsletter

Connectors Used

Tags

Frequently Asked Questions

What data can you extract from Apify Dataset?

Apify's API provides access to a wide range of data types, including:  

1. Web scraping data: Apify's web scraping tools allow users to extract data from websites and APIs, including HTML, JSON, XML, and CSV formats.  
2. Social media data: Apify's API can be used to extract data from social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, including posts, comments, and user profiles.  
3. E-commerce data: Apify's API can be used to extract data from e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, eBay, and Shopify, including product listings, prices, and reviews.  
4. Search engine data: Apify's API can be used to extract data from search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo, including search results, rankings, and keyword data.  
5. Financial data: Apify's API can be used to extract financial data from sources such as stock exchanges, financial news websites, and investment platforms.  
6. Weather data: Apify's API can be used to extract weather data from sources such as weather APIs and weather news websites.  
7. Government data: Apify's API can be used to extract data from government websites and APIs, including census data, crime statistics, and public records.  

Overall, Apify's API provides access to a wide range of data types, making it a powerful tool for data extraction and analysis.

What data can you transfer to S3?

You can transfer a wide variety of data to S3. This usually includes structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data like transaction records, log files, JSON data, CSV files, and more, allowing robust, scalable data integration and analysis.

What are top ETL tools to transfer data from Apify Dataset to S3?

The most prominent ETL tools to transfer data from Apify Dataset to S3 include:

  • Airbyte
  • Fivetran
  • Stitch
  • Matillion
  • Talend Data Integration

These tools help in extracting data from Apify Dataset and various sources (APIs, databases, and more), transforming it efficiently, and loading it into S3 and other databases, data warehouses and data lakes, enhancing data management capabilities.