Iceberg Foreign Table

Apache Iceberg is an open table format designed for large-scale data lakes, providing ACID transactions, schema evolution, and time travel capabilities. This guide covers integrating Iceberg tables with Tacnode through REST Catalog APIs.

Apache Iceberg Overview

Apache Iceberg provides enterprise-grade table format capabilities for data lakes:

Key Features

FeatureBenefitUse Case
ACID TransactionsData consistency guaranteesConcurrent operations, data integrity
Schema EvolutionNon-breaking schema changesAdding columns, data type changes
Time TravelQuery historical data statesAudit trails, data recovery
Partition EvolutionChange partitioning without rewritesPerformance optimization over time
Hidden PartitioningAutomatic partition managementSimplified queries, better performance

Catalog Types

Iceberg supports multiple catalog implementations:

  • REST Catalog: HTTP-based catalog service
  • Hive Metastore: Traditional Hive-compatible catalog
  • AWS Glue: Managed AWS catalog service
  • Hadoop: Filesystem-based catalog

REST Catalog Integration

Install Iceberg FDW Extension

-- Install Apache Iceberg foreign data wrapper
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS iceberg_fdw;
 
-- Verify installation
SELECT extname, extversion 
FROM pg_extension 
WHERE extname = 'iceberg_fdw';
 
-- Check FDW capabilities
\des+ iceberg_fdw

Create Iceberg Foreign Server

-- Production Iceberg REST Catalog
CREATE SERVER iceberg_production FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER iceberg_fdw
OPTIONS (
    endpoint 'https://iceberg-catalog.company.com/api/catalog',
    catalog 'production_catalog'
);
 
-- Development catalog
CREATE SERVER iceberg_dev FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER iceberg_fdw
OPTIONS (
    endpoint 'http://localhost:8181/api/catalog',
    catalog 'dev_catalog'
);

Configure Authentication

Authentication

-- authentication headers
CREATE USER MAPPING FOR current_user SERVER iceberg_tenant_a
OPTIONS (
    token 'principal:data-reader;realm:company-realm'
);

Schema Management

Import Iceberg Schemas

-- Import entire namespace
IMPORT FOREIGN SCHEMA "sales_analytics"
FROM SERVER iceberg_production
INTO sales_schema;
 
-- Import specific tables
IMPORT FOREIGN SCHEMA "customer_data"
    LIMIT TO (customer_profiles, purchase_history, loyalty_metrics)
FROM SERVER iceberg_production
INTO customer_schema;

Best Practices

Best Practices Summary

  1. Use REST Catalog for scalable metadata management
  2. Enable time travel for audit trails and data recovery
  3. Implement proper partitioning for large datasets
  4. Monitor schema evolution and plan for backward compatibility
  5. Use materialized views for complex analytical queries
  6. Implement data quality checks at regular intervals
  7. Plan snapshot retention policies to control storage costs
  8. Use appropriate batch sizes for bulk operations

Limitations

  • Some advanced Iceberg features may require specific catalog implementations
  • Write performance depends on catalog and storage configuration
  • Schema evolution capabilities vary by deployment setup
  • Snapshot cleanup requires careful planning to avoid data loss
  • Cross-catalog operations are not supported

This comprehensive approach to Apache Iceberg integration enables you to leverage advanced table format capabilities while maintaining optimal performance and data governance in your data lake architecture.

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