Data pipeline orchestration

Having covered how to scale ETL pipelines, let’s shift our focus to orchestrating them. If we think of our ETL pipeline as a production line, orchestration is about ensuring that each part of the line works in harmony, at the right time, and in the right order. Pipeline orchestration helps manage task synchronization as well as error handling in order to tie the entire pipeline process together into one clearly defined collection of resources.

Good orchestration can make your ETL pipelines more robust, efficient, and easier to manage. It involves several key elements:

Figure 12.7: ETL pipeline with orchestration tool

Task scheduling

This refers to defining when and in what sequence ETL tasks are executed. For example, data extraction might need to occur before transformation and loading. Or, you might want to run some tasks during off-peak times to minimize system load. Tools such as Apache Airflow and Luigi are...