To store, save, and access files of various types in the cloud, data lakes provide the perfect solution for small to large companies. Data lake management enables these companies to deliver and use the data stored in these data lakes in a consistent, accessible, and secure way.
Whether your company needs a place to store historical or current data, data lakes can offer the accessibility you need, but first, you need to know how to manage the data and data lake effectively.
Before jumping into the ins and outs of data lake management, let’s briefly go over what a data lake is and how it’s different from a regular database or a data warehouse.
What is a data lake, and what can you store?
The beauty of a data lake is its ability to store all kinds of data and types of files, differentiating it from the limitations of a regular database.
A data lake allows you to store all your information, no matter the file type. In a data lake, you can store structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data taken from various applications, like social networks, videos, web apps, devices, and much more. These files could be CSV, PDF, JPEG, Excel files, etc., and can be stored alongside each other.
What is the difference between a data lake and a data warehouse?
Despite their similar concepts, data lakes and data warehouses are not synonymous terms. While they can both store data from various sources and can feed data to multiple apps, data lakes offer more data storage options.
A data warehouse stores data categorically, assisting businesses with processing their analytics. Data stored in a data warehouse can take data from multiple sources, but it must have a consistent data structure.
However, as mentioned before, a data lake can store data in any format from multiple sources, making it a less limiting and more affordable option than data warehouses.
What is data lake management?
Data lake management involves the transferring of data from one or multiple sources to a data lake (where it can be stored), while making the necessary considerations for those sources and connectors. This includes cleaning up data and being mindful of data security along the way.
Who is in charge of data lake management?
With data coming from multiple locations, it’s important that data be managed, monitored, and cleaned up regularly.
In any company, the responsibility of managing data may be given to multiple team members. However, the following roles are generally the most vital to data lake management.
- Regular tasks involved in data lake management are typically done by data engineers who build and maintain the data that comes in and out of the data lakes.
- Business analysts often play a part in data lake management. They also manage data quality and business objectives.
- The chief data officer in an organization is at the executive level and oversees all data use.
In general, managing a data lake is not easy. Figuring out the capacity of the host infrastructure to support scalability and maintaining data integrity are just a few of the concerns that come up, whether an organization is using an open-source or a managed platform.
This is why many companies choose to use integration platforms like Popdock to automate and manage data from their systems, third-party applications, and the data lake.
Learn more about data lake management
In our next article, we’ll cover the perks of data lake management and why it’s so effective for companies of all sizes to manage their data and daily needs.
Whether you need to access your data from a data lake, migrate historical data to your new system, connect and work amongst multiple cloud-based apps, perform seamless integrations from your on-prem systems to a cloud-based app, or a number of other scenarios, eOne’s virtual integration solution, Popdock, can provide exactly the help, support, and performance you need.
To learn how Popdock can provide solutions for data lake management, contact our sales team at sales@eonesolutions.com or 888-319-3663 ext. 1 for more personalized help in answering your questions. They are always eager to provide help and answers for your data access and migration needs.
