DataPrep Orchestrator

Type	Pre-Set
Image	$DATAOPS_DATAPREP_RUNNER_IMAGE

The DataPrep orchestrator is a pre-set orchestrator that allows the processing and synchronizing of files between two locations, such as two different AWS S3 buckets or a local folder and an Azure Storage Blob.

All the files present in the input/source location are compared to the output/target location. Files that are not present at the target location are downloaded from the source, processed, and uploaded to the target.

The file processing is handled by either Python or bash scripts, with the following locations supported and interchangeable:

AWS S3 Bucket
Local Directory
Azure Storage Blob Container

Usage

The DataPrep orchestrator workflow is as follows:

Check the defined storage locations
- For both input and output storage locations, check for required keys
- Configure the environment
- Test the connections with the supplied credentials
Fetch the list of files
- Fetch the list of files located in the input storage location
- Fetch the list of files located in the output storage location
Compare the file list by name
Start synchronization for each file present in the input but not the output.
- Download the file from the input storage location
- Process the file using the user-specified script
- Upload the processed file to the output storage location

Modes

The DataPrep orchestrator supports the following modes:

1. SYNC mode

Consider the following storage location layouts:

/<input storage>
  /$DATAPREP_INPUT_PREFIX

/<output storage>
  /$DATAPREP_OUTPUT_PREFIX

The workflow to process these files in SYNC Mode is as follows:

Compare the input and output storage locations
Process the files that are present at the input but not at the output location
Upload the processed file to the output storage location

2. ARCHIVE mode

Consider the following storage location layouts:

/<input storage>
  /$DATAPREP_INPUT_PREFIX
      /$DATAPREP_ERROR_PREFIX
      /$DATAPREP_ARCHIVE_PREFIX

/<output storage>
  /$DATAPREP_OUTPUT_PREFIX

The workflow to process these files in ARCHIVE Mode is as follows:

Compare the input and output storage locations with a pagination methodology
Process files that are present in input but not in the output location
For the successfully processed file
- Move the raw input file to the archive folder in the input storage location
For the failed processed file
- Move the raw input file to the error folder in the input storage location
Delete processed files from the input storage

Lastly, here is an example of how to structure a YAML file for a DataPrep orchestrator file sync job:

pipelines/includes/local_includes/dataprep_jobs/dataprep.yml
"Prep My Data":
  extends:
    - .agent_tag
  stage: "Clean Input Data"
  image: $DATAOPS_DATAPREP_RUNNER_IMAGE
  variables:
    PREP_ACTION: SYNC
    DATAPREP_SCRIPT_PATH: $CI_PROJECT_DIR/dataops/dataprep/
    DATAPREP_SCRIPT_NAME: clean-input-file.sh
    # storage-specific configuration
    ## input storage
    DATAPREP_INPUT_STORAGE: AWS
    DATAPREP_INPUT_BUCKET: s3-input-bucket
    DATAPREP_INPUT_PREFIX: "your/input/"
    ## output storage
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_STORAGE: AWS
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_BUCKET: s3-output-bucket
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_PREFIX: "your/output/"
    # file filter
    DATAPREP_FILE_FORMAT: all
  script:
    - /dataops
  icon: DATAPREP_ICON

Supported parameters

The following parameters can be added to the file sync job:

Parameter	Required/Default	Description
`PREP_ACTION`	REQUIRED	Must be `SYNC` or `ARCHIVE`
`DATAPREP_SCRIPT_NAME`	REQUIRED	The script name to be run to process the file
Storage Specific Configuration	REQUIRED	Storage specific configuration. See Storage Specific Configuration
`DATAPREP_INPUT_STORAGE`	Optional. Defaults to `AWS`	Storage to be used as input location. Must be one of `AWS`, `Azure`, or `Local` - case insensitive
`DATAPREP_OUTPUT_STORAGE`	Optional. Defaults to `AWS`	Storage to be used as the output location. Must be one of `AWS`, `Azure`, or `Local` - case insensitive
`DATAPREP_SCRIPT_PATH`	Optional. Defaults to `CI_PROJECT_DIR`	File path where the script is saved
`DATAPREP_RUN_ENV`	Optional. Defaults to `bash`	Environment in which the script will be run. Must be one of `bash`, `python`, `python3`, `python2`, `node` or `r` - case sensitive
`DATAPREP_INPUT_PREFIX`	Optional	Prefix/folder to be set as the directory for input files
`DATAPREP_OUTPUT_PREFIX`	Optional	Prefix/folder to be set as the directory for output files
`DATAPREP_ARCHIVE_PREFIX`	Optional. Defaults to `archive`	Prefix/folder to be set as the directory for archive files in ARCHIVE mode
`DATAPREP_ERROR_PREFIX`	Optional. Defaults to `error`	Prefix/folder to be set as the directory for error files in ARCHIVE mode
`DATAPREP_FILE_FORMAT`	Optional. Defaults to `csv`	File format to select and filter files from both storage locations
`DATAPREP_MAX_JOBS`	Optional. Defaults to the number of cores on system	Number of files-sync/jobs to run in parallel
`PAGE_SIZE`	Optional. Defaults to `200`	Value for Page Size in ARCHIVE mode

The following points describe several environment variables in detail:

`DATAPREP_FILE_FORMAT`

If no format is specified in the environment variable DATAPREP_FILE_FORMAT, only files ending with .csv are selected from both the input and output storage locations.

If multiple file formats are to be selected by the DataPrep orchestrator, you can specify all file formats as comma-separated values in this variable.

For example, you can match multiple file types at once. If .csv, .tsv, and .txt files must be processed, use:

pipelines/includes/local_includes/dataprep_jobs/dataprep.yml
"Prep My Data":
  extends:
    - .agent_tag
  stage: "Clean Input Data"
  image: $DATAOPS_DATAPREP_RUNNER_IMAGE
  variables:
    PREP_ACTION: SYNC
    DATAPREP_SCRIPT_PATH: $CI_PROJECT_DIR/dataops/dataprep/
    DATAPREP_SCRIPT_NAME: clean-input-file.sh
    DATAPREP_INPUT_STORAGE: AWS
    DATAPREP_INPUT_BUCKET: s3-input-bucket
    DATAPREP_INPUT_PREFIX: "your/input/"
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_STORAGE: AWS
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_BUCKET: s3-output-bucket
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_PREFIX: "your/output/"
    DATAPREP_FILE_FORMAT: "csv,tsv,txt"
  script:
    - /dataops
  icon: DATAPREP_ICON

tip

If all files present in the input storage location are to be selected by the DataPrep orchestrator, the variable DATAPREP_FILE_FORMAT must be set to all.

tip

If the storage location has files with the extension .all, you must set the DATAPREP_FILE_FORMAT value to all, to specify as file extension and not all files.

`DATAPREP_MAX_JOBS`

The value set in DATAPREP_MAX_JOBS determines how many data-prep operations are runnable in parallel. The default value equals the number of CPU cores present on the system if there is no value in this environment variable.

Setting this variable as a high value increases the number of parallel jobs executed at the cost of system resource usage.

In case the files being used are very large or the user-script running requires high CPU usage or system availability is low, setting a small value to the variable DATAPREP_MAX_JOBS may be advantageous.

Files created by the DataPrep orchestrator are deleted when they are no longer needed to prevent the system from running out of disk space.

After running the user script, the downloaded/input file is deleted. Once the generated/output is uploaded, it is deleted as well.

`PAGE_SIZE`

In ARCHIVE mode, instead of fetching the list of all files present in the storage location, the orchestrator retrieves only a small number. This number of files retrieved at a time is controlled by the variable PAGE_SIZE.

The orchestrator uses the pagination functionality of the orchestrator to fetch a limited number of files defined in the variable PAGE_SIZE (defaults to 2000) which form a batch. The orchestrator can now start processing all the files available in the batch. The number of files processed at a time is controlled by the variable DATAPREP_MAX_JOBS.

Once all the files in the batch are processed by the orchestrator, then it fetches a new set of files to initialize another batch. This process is repeated until all the files present in the storage location have been processed.

See section Improving CPU utilization in ARCHIVE mode to read more about improving performance.

AWS storage specific configuration

AWS as input storage

"Prep My Data":
  variables:
    DATAPREP_INPUT_BUCKET: bucket
    DATAPREP_INPUT_AWS_REGION: us-west-2
    DATAPREP_INPUT_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: $MY_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
    DATAPREP_INPUT_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: $MY_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

Parameter	Required or Optional (and default)	Description
DATAPREP_INPUT_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID	REQUIRED	`AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID` to be used for connecting to the input storage
DATAPREP_INPUT_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY	REQUIRED	`AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` to be used for connecting to the input storage
DATAPREP_INPUT_BUCKET	REQUIRED	Bucket to be used for the input storage location
DATAPREP_INPUT_AWS_REGION	Optional - defaults to `us-west-2`	Region to be used
DATAPREP_INPUT_PROFILE_NAME	Optional - defaults to `input`	Name with which the profile for input storage is saved

AWS as output storage

"Prep My Data":
  variables:
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_BUCKET: bucket
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_AWS_REGION: us-west-2
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: $MY_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: $MY_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

Parameter	Required or Optional (and default)	Description
DATAPREP_OUTPUT_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID	REQUIRED	`AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID` to be used for connecting to the output storage
DATAPREP_OUTPUT_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY	REQUIRED	`AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` to be used for connecting to the output storage
DATAPREP_OUTPUT_BUCKET	REQUIRED	Bucket to be used for the output storage location
DATAPREP_OUTPUT_AWS_REGION	Optional - defaults to `us-west-2`	Region to be used for output storage
DATAPREP_OUTPUT_PROFILE_NAME	Optional - defaults to `output`	Name with which the profile for output storage is saved

Azure storage specific configuration

Azure as input storage

"Prep My Data":
  variables:
    DATAPREP_INPUT_CONTAINER: sample-container
    DATAPREP_INPUT_AZURE_ACCOUNT: $MY_INPUT_AZURE_ACCOUNT
    DATAPREP_INPUT_AZURE_SAS_TOKEN: $MY_INPUT_AZURE_SAS_TOKEN

Parameter	Required or Optional (and default)	Description
DATAPREP_INPUT_AZURE_ACCOUNT	REQUIRED	Azure account to be used for connecting to the input storage
DATAPREP_INPUT_AZURE_SAS_TOKEN	REQUIRED	Azure SAS token to be used for connecting to the input storage
DATAPREP_INPUT_CONTAINER	REQUIRED	Container to be used for the input storage location

Azure as output storage

"Prep My Data":
  variables:
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_CONTAINER: sample-container
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_AZURE_ACCOUNT: $MY_OUTPUT_AZURE_ACCOUNT
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_AZURE_SAS_TOKEN: $MY_OUTPUT_AZURE_SAS_TOKEN

Parameter	Required or Optional (and default)	Description
DATAPREP_OUTPUT_AZURE_ACCOUNT	REQUIRED	Azure account to be used for connecting to the output storage
DATAPREP_OUTPUT_AZURE_SAS_TOKEN	REQUIRED	Azure SAS token to be used for connecting to the output storage
DATAPREP_OUTPUT_CONTAINER	REQUIRED	Container to be used for the output storage location

Local storage specific configuration

Local storage requires that the orchestrator has access to the directories you want to process. For large files, this will require modifying the DataOps Runner setup and adding additional docker volumes. For smaller files that are being passed between jobs, you can reference the pipeline cache.

Local as input storage

"Prep My Data":
  variables:
    DATAPREP_INPUT_DIRECTORY: "/agent_cache/filetransfer/in"

Parameter	Required or Optional (and default)	Description
DATAPREP_INPUT_DIRECTORY	REQUIRED	Path of the directory to be used as input storage location

Local as output storage

"Prep My Data":
  variables:
    DATAPREP_INPUT_DIRECTORY: "/agent_cache/filetransfer/out"

Parameter	Required or Optional (and default)	Description
DATAPREP_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY	REQUIRED	Path of the directory to be used as output storage location

`DATAPREP_RUN_ENV`

variables:
  DATAPREP_RUN_ENV: bash

The DataPrep orchestrator supports the following environments to run the script in:

bash
- Default environment is no environment is specified
- Version: GNU bash, version 4.4.20(1)-release
python
- Uses Python3
- Version: 3.6.9
python3
- Version: 3.6.9
python2
- Version: 2.7.17
r
- Version: 4.0.4 (2021-02-15) -- "Lost Library Book"
node
- Version: v8.10.0
perl
- Version: perl 5, version 26, subversion 1 (v5.26.1)

`DATAPREP_SCRIPT_NAME`

The DataPrep orchestrator allows users to run their own scripts modifying the data as per their needs. For each file detected by data-prep to be processed, the following are passed to the script to be run in the given order:

File Name - the name of the input file
Input Folder - the folder in which the file exists
Output Folder - the folder in which the output file(s) are to be saved

The script can then perform the necessary changes to mold the file as per the requirement and save file(s) in the output folder specified.

For each file to be processed, the file name, the input folder path and the output folder path are passed to the user-provided script. At the end of the execution of the script, DataPrep assumes the file(s) to present in the specified output folder.

We recommend placing your custom scripts into your DataOps project folder /dataops/dataprep. During job execution on an orchestrator, refer to it with $CI_PROJECT_DIR/dataops/dataprep/your_script.

To get you started, below are sample scripts, available in the orchestrator's /scripts/ directory, that copy the file from the input folder to the output folder:

Shell
Python
R
JavaScript
Perl

/scripts/copy.sh
# Save file name and folder paths in variables from the command line argument
FILE_NAME="$1"
INPUT_FOLDER="$2"
OUTPUT_FOLDER="$3"

INPUT_FILE_PATH="$INPUT_FOLDER/$FILE_NAME"
OUTPUT_FILE_PATH="$OUTPUT_FOLDER/$FILE_NAME"
echo "Starting copy from $INPUT_FILE_PATH to $OUTPUT_FILE_PATH"
# Copy the file from the input path to the output path
cp -v "$INPUT_FILE_PATH" "$OUTPUT_FILE_PATH"
echo "Copy Complete"

/scripts/copy.py
import shutil
import sys

# Save file name and folder paths in variables from the command line argument
file_name = sys.argv[1]
input_folder = sys.argv[2]
output_folder = sys.argv[3]

input_file_path = f"{input_folder}/{file_name}"
output_file_path = f"{output_folder}/{file_name}"

print(f"Starting copy from {input_file_path} to {output_file_path}")
# Copy the file from the input path to the output path
shutil.copyfile(input_file_path, output_file_path)
print("Copy Complete")

/scripts/copy.r
# Save file name and folder paths in variables from the command line argument
args <- commandArgs()
filename <- args[6]
inputFolder <- args[7]
outputFolder <- args[8]

inputFilePath <- paste(inputFolder, filename, sep="/")
outputFilePath <- paste(outputFolder, filename, sep="/")

("Starting copy from", inputFolder, "to", outputFolder, sep=" ")
# Copy the file from the input path to the output path
file.copy(inputFolder, outputFolder)
print("Copy Complete")

/scripts/copy.js
const fs = require("fs");
// Save file name and folder paths in variables from the command line argument
const fileName = process.argv[2];
const inputFolder = process.argv[3];
const outputFolder = process.argv[4];

const inputFilePath = `${inputFolder}/${fileName}`;
const outputFilePath = `${outputFolder}/${fileName}`;

console.log(`Starting copy from ${inputFolder} to ${outputFolder}`);
// Copy the file from the input path to the output path
fs.copyFile(inputFilePath, outputFilePath, (err) => {
  if (err) throw err;
  console.log("Copy Complete");
});

/scripts/copy.pl
use warnings FATAL => 'all';
use strict;
use File::Copy;

# Save file name and folder paths in variables from the command line argument
my $fileName = $ARGV[0];
my $inputFolder = $ARGV[1];
my $outputFolder = $ARGV[2];

my $inputFilePath = $inputFolder + "/" + $fileName;
my $outputFilePath = $outputFolder + "/" + $fileName;

print("Starting copy from $inputFilePath to $outputFilePath\n");
# Copy the file from the input path to the output path
copy($inputFilePath,$outputFilePath) or die "Copy failed: $!";
print("Copy Complete")

Improving CPU utilization in ARCHIVE mode

The following tips can be used to improve CPU utilization and overall performance.

Small number of cores

If the runner system has a small number of cores, then using the default or a small value for PAGE_SIZE can improve the performance. As the batch size initialized would be relatively high, there would always be a file to be processed by the orchestrator.

Once the batch has been completed, only then the next set of files are retrieved to create a new batch. This leaves only a small window during new batch initialization where all the CPU cores are not being utilized.

Large number of cores

If the runner system has a large number of cores, then using a large value in PAGE_SIZE would yield a better result. Using a large number initializes a large batch for the orchestrator. Even if the files are processed relatively fast (a few seconds), there would still be a long queue waiting to be processed.

Improving Performance

PAGE_SIZE should be set to 3-4 times the number of CPU cores. If the average processing time of a file is small, then further increasing the value would help improve performance

Example jobs

The following is an example of a DataPrep job in SYNC mode:

pipelines/includes/local_includes/dataprep_jobs/dataprep_erp_sync.yml
"Prep ERP Data":
  extends:
    - .agent_tag
  stage: "Snowflake orch and prep"
  image: $DATAOPS_DATAPREP_RUNNER_IMAGE
  variables:
    PREP_ACTION: SYNC
    DATAPREP_INPUT_BUCKET: XXXXX
    DATAPREP_INPUT_PREFIX: "input/"
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_BUCKET: XXXXX
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_PREFIX: "dataprep_aws_output/"
    DATAPREP_RUN_ENV: perl
    DATAPREP_SCRIPT_NAME: copy.pl
    DATAPREP_SCRIPT_PATH: /scripts/
  script:
    - /dataops
  icon: DATAPREP_ICON

The following is an example of a DataPrep job in ARCHIVE mode

pipelines/includes/local_includes/dataprep_jobs/dataprep_erp_archive.yml
"Archive ERP Data":
  extends:
    - .agent_tag
  stage: "Batch ingestion"
  image: $DATAOPS_DATAPREP_RUNNER_IMAGE
  variables:
    PREP_ACTION: ARCHIVE
    DATAPREP_INPUT_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: XXXXX
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: XXXXX
    DATAPREP_INPUT_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: XXXXX
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: XXXXX
    DATAPREP_INPUT_BUCKET: XXXXX
    DATAPREP_INPUT_PREFIX: "input_archive/"
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_BUCKET: XXXXX
    DATAPREP_OUTPUT_PREFIX: "dataprep_aws_output/"
    DATAPREP_RUN_ENV: perl
    DATAPREP_SCRIPT_NAME: copy.pl
    DATAPREP_SCRIPT_PATH: /scripts/
    PAGE_SIZE: 20
  script:
    - /dataops
  icon: DATAPREP_ICON

Usage​

Modes​

1. SYNC mode​

2. ARCHIVE mode​

Supported parameters​

DATAPREP_FILE_FORMAT​

DATAPREP_MAX_JOBS​

PAGE_SIZE​

AWS storage specific configuration​

AWS as input storage​

AWS as output storage​

Azure storage specific configuration​

Azure as input storage​

Azure as output storage​

Local storage specific configuration​

Local as input storage​

Local as output storage​

DATAPREP_RUN_ENV​

DATAPREP_SCRIPT_NAME​

Improving CPU utilization in ARCHIVE mode​

Small number of cores​

Large number of cores​

Example jobs​