This chapter explores advanced Apache Iceberg features and use cases for experienced practitioners. It covers complex scenarios, advanced configurations, and cutting-edge techniques for maximizing Iceberg's capabilities.
- Strategy 1: Periodic Full Table Backup - Notebooks sample. This approach represents the most straightforward backup implementation for Apache Iceberg tables. It involves periodically running a backup job that leverages CREATE TABLE AS SELECT (CTAS) statements to read the latest snapshot of your Iceberg table and create a duplicate table in a designated backup location. This backup location—including both the AWS Glue Data Catalog and S3 storage—can reside in the same region or, for enhanced fault tolerance, in a different AWS region.
- Strategy 3: Iceberg rewrite_table_path procedure - Notebook sample demonstrating full + incremental sync. Rewrite metadata files for backup buckets leveraging the
rewrite_table_pathIceberg Spark procedure, copy Iceberg files between buckets and replicate Glue Catalog table metadata.
- Conflict Management Example - PySpark application example. Production-ready conflict resolution using Spark Structured Streaming.
- Medallion Architecture - Notebook sample. End-to-end example of Medallion Architecture (Bronze-Silver-Gold) implementation using Apache Iceberg and Spark. This demonstration shows how to incrementally propagate changes across bronze, silver, and gold layers while maintaining data integrity.