How to load data from Firebase Realtime Database to Apache Iceberg

Learn how to use Airbyte to synchronize your Firebase Realtime Database data into Apache Iceberg within minutes.

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Set up a Firebase Realtime Database connector in Airbyte

Connect to Firebase Realtime Database or one of 400+ pre-built or 10,000+ custom connectors through simple account authentication.

Set up Apache Iceberg for your extracted Firebase Realtime Database data

Select Apache Iceberg where you want to import data from your Firebase Realtime Database source to. You can also choose other cloud data warehouses, databases, data lakes, vector databases, or any other supported Airbyte destinations.

Configure the Firebase Realtime Database to Apache Iceberg in Airbyte

This includes selecting the data you want to extract - streams and columns -, the sync frequency, where in the destination you want that data to be loaded.

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TL;DR

set up Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database

The Firebase Real-time Database allows you to build rich, collaborative applications by allowing secure access to the database directly from client-side code. The Firebase Real-time Database is a NoSQL database from which we can store and sync the data between our users in real-time. Firebase Real-time Database is a solution that stores data in the cloud and offers an easy way to sync your data among various devices, and it is a cloud-hosted database. Data is stored as JSON and synchronized in real-time to every connected client.

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.

Integrate Firebase Realtime Database with Apache Iceberg in minutes

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Prerequisites

A Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database and Apache Iceberg, for seamless data migration.

When using Airbyte to move data from Firebase Realtime Database to Apache Iceberg, it extracts data from Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database data for advanced analytics and insights within Apache Iceberg, simplifying the ETL process and saving significant time and resources.

Step 1: Set up Firebase Realtime Database as a source connector

1. First, you need to create a Firebase project and obtain the necessary credentials. You can do this by going to the Firebase console and selecting your project. Then, navigate to the "Settings" tab and select "Service Accounts." From there, click on "Generate new private key" to download a JSON file containing your credentials.
2. In Airbyte, navigate to the "Sources" tab and select "Add Source." Choose "Firebase" from the list of available sources.
3. In the Firebase source configuration page, you will need to enter the following information: - Name: A unique name for your source - Firebase Project ID: The ID of your Firebase project - Firebase Credentials: Copy and paste the contents of the JSON file you downloaded earlier into this field
4. Once you have entered all the necessary information, click "Test Connection" to ensure that Airbyte can successfully connect to your Firebase source.
5. If the connection is successful, you can then configure the specific tables or collections you want to replicate in Airbyte. You can do this by selecting the "Schema" tab and choosing the tables or collections you want to replicate. 6. Finally, click "Create Source" to save your configuration and start replicating data from your Firebase source.

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 Firebase Realtime Database data to Apache Iceberg

Once you've successfully connected Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database data.

Use Cases to transfer your Firebase Realtime Database data to Apache Iceberg

Integrating data from Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database data, extracting insights that wouldn't be possible within Firebase Realtime Database alone.
Data Consolidation: If you're using multiple other sources along with Firebase Realtime Database, 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: Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database data.
Data Science and Machine Learning: By having Firebase Realtime Database data in Apache Iceberg, you can apply machine learning models to your data for predictive analytics, customer segmentation, and more.
Reporting and Visualization: While Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database 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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How to Sync Firebase Realtime Database to Apache Iceberg Manually

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Step 8:

FAQs

What is ETL?

ETL, an acronym for Extract, Transform, Load, is a vital data integration process. It involves extracting data from diverse sources, transforming it into a usable format, and loading it into a database, data warehouse or data lake. This process enables meaningful data analysis, enhancing business intelligence.

What is Firebase Realtime Database?

What data can you extract from Firebase Realtime Database?

Firebase's API gives access to a wide range of data types, including:

1. Real-time database: This includes data that is stored in real-time and can be accessed and updated in real-time.
2. Cloud Firestore: This is a NoSQL document database that stores data in documents and collections.
3. Authentication: This includes user data such as email, password, and authentication tokens.
4. Cloud Storage: This includes data such as images, videos, and other files that are stored in the cloud.
5. Cloud Functions: This includes data that is processed by serverless functions in the cloud.
6. Cloud Messaging: This includes data related to push notifications and messaging.
7. Analytics: This includes data related to user behavior and app usage.
8. Performance Monitoring: This includes data related to app performance and user experience.
9. Remote Config: This includes data related to app configuration and feature flags.

Overall, Firebase's API provides access to a wide range of data types that are essential for building modern web and mobile applications.

How do I transfer data from Firebase Realtime Database?

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 Firebase to Apache Iceberg as a source connector (using Auth, or usually an API key)
2. Choose a destination (more than 50 available destination databases, data warehouses or lakes) to sync data too and set it up as a destination connector
3. Define which data you want to transfer from Firebase to Apache Iceberg and how frequently
You can choose to self-host the pipeline using Airbyte Open Source or have it managed for you with Airbyte Cloud.

What is ELT?

ELT, standing for Extract, Load, Transform, is a modern take on the traditional ETL data integration process. In ELT, data is first extracted from various sources, loaded directly into a data warehouse, and then transformed. This approach enhances data processing speed, analytical flexibility and autonomy.

Difference between ETL and ELT?

ETL and ELT are critical data integration strategies with key differences. ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) transforms data before loading, ideal for structured data. In contrast, ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) loads data before transformation, perfect for processing large, diverse data sets in modern data warehouses. ELT is becoming the new standard as it offers a lot more flexibility and autonomy to data analysts.

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Databases

How to load data from Firebase Realtime Database to Apache Iceberg

Learn how to use Airbyte to synchronize your Firebase Realtime Database data into Apache Iceberg within minutes.

Try Airbyte Cloud free

Deploy Airbyte Open Source

TL;DR

What is Firebase Realtime Database

What is Apache Iceberg

Prerequisites

Step 1: Setup Firebase Realtime Database

Step 2: Setup Apache Iceberg

Step 3: Setup a connection Use Cases Wrapping Up

Example H2

Example H3

Sync data between Firebase Realtime Database and Apache Iceberg

Get your data syncing in minutes

Try Airbyte free

TL;DR

set up Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database

What is Apache Iceberg

Integrate Firebase Realtime Database with Apache Iceberg in minutes

Try for free now

Prerequisites

A Firebase Realtime Database 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.

Step 1: Set up Firebase Realtime Database as a source connector

Step 2: Set up Apache Iceberg as a destination connector

Step 3: Set up a connection to sync your Firebase Realtime Database data to Apache Iceberg

Once you've successfully connected Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database data.

Use Cases to transfer your Firebase Realtime Database data to Apache Iceberg

Integrating data from Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database data, extracting insights that wouldn't be possible within Firebase Realtime Database alone.
Data Consolidation: If you're using multiple other sources along with Firebase Realtime Database, 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: Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database data.
Data Science and Machine Learning: By having Firebase Realtime Database data in Apache Iceberg, you can apply machine learning models to your data for predictive analytics, customer segmentation, and more.
Reporting and Visualization: While Firebase Realtime Database 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 Firebase Realtime Database table that needs to be converted to a Apache Iceberg table, Airbyte can do that automatically.