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:
- set up ClickHouse as a source connector (using Auth, or usually an API key)
- set up Apache Iceberg as a destination connector
- 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 ClickHouse
An open-source database management system for online analytical processing (OLAP), ClickHouse takes the innovative approach of using a column-based database. It is easy to use right out of the box and is touted as being hardware efficient, extremely reliable, linearly scalable, and “blazing fast”—between 100-1,000x faster than traditional databases that write rows of data to the disk—allowing analytical data reports to be generated in real-time.
What is Apache Iceberg
For huge analytical tables, Apache Iceberg is a high-performance format. Using Apache Iceberg, engines such as Spark, Trino, Flink, Presto, Hive and Impala can safely work with the same tables, at the same time, providing the reliability and simplicity of SQL tables to big data. With Apache Iceberg, you can merge new data, update existing rows, and delete specific rows. Data files can be eagerly rewritten or deleted deltas can be used to make updates faster.
Prerequisites
- A ClickHouse account to transfer your customer data automatically from.
- A Apache Iceberg account.
- 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 ClickHouse and Apache Iceberg, for seamless data migration.
When using Airbyte to move data from ClickHouse to Apache Iceberg, it extracts data from ClickHouse using the source connector, converts it into a format Apache Iceberg can ingest using the provided schema, and then loads it into Apache Iceberg via the destination connector. This allows businesses to leverage their ClickHouse data for advanced analytics and insights within Apache Iceberg, simplifying the ETL process and saving significant time and resources.
Step 1: Set up ClickHouse as a source connector
1. First, navigate to the Airbyte dashboard and click on the "Destinations" tab on the left-hand side of the screen.
2. Next, click on the "Add Destination" button in the top right corner of the screen.
3. Select "ClickHouse" from the list of available destinations.
4. Enter the necessary information for your ClickHouse database, including the host, port, username, and password.
5. Choose the database and table you want to connect to from the dropdown menus.
6. Configure any additional settings, such as the batch size or maximum number of retries.
7. Test the connection to ensure that everything is working properly.
8. Once you have successfully connected to your ClickHouse database, you can begin syncing data from your source connectors to your ClickHouse destination.
Step 2: Set up Apache Iceberg as a destination connector
1. Open the Airbyte platform and navigate to the "Destinations" tab on the left-hand side of the screen.
2. Click on the "Apache Iceberg" destination connector and select "Create new connection."
3. Enter a name for your connection and provide the necessary credentials for your Apache Iceberg database, including the host, port, database name, username, and password.
4. Test the connection to ensure that it is successful. 5. Select the tables or data sources that you want to replicate to your Apache Iceberg database.
6. Configure any additional settings or options for your connection, such as the frequency of data replication or any transformations that you want to apply to your data.
7. Save your connection and start the replication process.
8. Monitor the progress of your data replication and troubleshoot any issues that may arise.
9. Once the replication process is complete, verify that your data has been successfully replicated to your Apache Iceberg database.
10. Use your Apache Iceberg database to analyze and query your data as needed.
Step 3: Set up a connection to sync your ClickHouse data to Apache Iceberg
Once you've successfully connected ClickHouse as a data source and Apache Iceberg as a destination in Airbyte, you can set up a data pipeline between them with the following steps:
- Create a new connection: On the Airbyte dashboard, navigate to the 'Connections' tab and click the '+ New Connection' button.
- Choose your source: Select ClickHouse from the dropdown list of your configured sources.
- Select your destination: Choose Apache Iceberg from the dropdown list of your configured destinations.
- 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.
- Select the data to sync: Choose the specific ClickHouse objects you want to import data from towards Apache Iceberg. You can sync all data or select specific tables and fields.
- 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.
- Test your connection: Click the 'Test Connection' button to make sure that your setup works. If the connection test is successful, save your configuration.
- Start the sync: If the test passes, click 'Set Up Connection'. Airbyte will start moving data from ClickHouse to Apache Iceberg according to your settings.
Remember, Airbyte keeps your data in sync at the frequency you determine, ensuring your Apache Iceberg data warehouse is always up-to-date with your ClickHouse data.
Use Cases to transfer your ClickHouse data to Apache Iceberg
Integrating data from ClickHouse to Apache Iceberg provides several benefits. Here are a few use cases:
- Advanced Analytics: Apache Iceberg’s powerful data processing capabilities enable you to perform complex queries and data analysis on your ClickHouse data, extracting insights that wouldn't be possible within ClickHouse alone.
- Data Consolidation: If you're using multiple other sources along with ClickHouse, syncing to Apache Iceberg 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.
- Historical Data Analysis: ClickHouse has limits on historical data. Syncing data to Apache Iceberg allows for long-term data retention and analysis of historical trends over time.
- Data Security and Compliance: Apache Iceberg provides robust data security features. Syncing ClickHouse data to Apache Iceberg ensures your data is secured and allows for advanced data governance and compliance management.
- Scalability: Apache Iceberg can handle large volumes of data without affecting performance, providing an ideal solution for growing businesses with expanding ClickHouse data.
- Data Science and Machine Learning: By having ClickHouse data in Apache Iceberg, you can apply machine learning models to your data for predictive analytics, customer segmentation, and more.
- Reporting and Visualization: While ClickHouse provides reporting tools, data visualization tools like Tableau, PowerBI, Looker (Google Data Studio) can connect to Apache Iceberg, providing more advanced business intelligence options. If you have a ClickHouse table that needs to be converted to a Apache Iceberg table, Airbyte can do that automatically.
Wrapping Up
To summarize, this tutorial has shown you how to:
- Configure a ClickHouse account as an Airbyte data source connector.
- Configure Apache Iceberg as a data destination connector.
- Create an Airbyte data pipeline that will automatically be moving data directly from ClickHouse to Apache Iceberg 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!
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