Practical Lakehouse Architecture

Chapter 8. Lakehouse in the Real World

We are approaching the end of this book and, so far, we’ve discussed various components, design considerations, tools and technologies, and best practices for implementing a lakehouse platform. In all these discussions, we’ve looked at the ideal design approaches and optimized solutions for building a lakehouse. However, as we all know, reality is much different than the ideal world. Implementing a lakehouse in the real world comes with several unforeseen challenges. To overcome these challenges, you will have to make some practical decisions and technical adjustments based on your judgment and experience.

In this chapter, I’ll discuss what it means to build a lakehouse in the real world—a world where projects get delayed by months (if not years), requirements keep changing, budgets keep reducing, and old platforms never get decommissioned! We will discuss several technical and non-technical challenges across the planning, design, implementation, and support phases of a lakehouse project.

Building a data platform is a long journey that can take several months to years. In the sections that follow, I’ll guide you through estimating, planning, and executing your lakehouse project and help you overcome some common, practical challenges. I’ll also provide you with a list of project deliverables and reference architectures that can help you kickstart your lakehouse journey.

Delivering a Real-World Lakehouse

As discussed in the previous chapters, ...