Integrating R and Hadoop for Big Data Analysis

Analyzing and working with big data could be very diffi cult using classical means like relational database management systems or desktop software packages for statistics and visualization. Instead, big data requires large clusters with hundreds or even thousands of computing nodes. Offi cial statistics is increasingly considering big data for deriving new statistics because big data sources could produce more relevant and timely statistics than traditional sources. One of the software tools successfully and wide spread used for storage and processing of big data sets on clusters of commodity hardware is Hadoop. Hadoop framework contains libraries, a distributed fi le-system (HDFS), a resource-management platform and implements a version of the MapReduce programming model for large scale data processing. In this paper we investigate the possibilities of integrating Hadoop with R which is a popular software used for statistical computing and data visualization. We present three ways of integrating them: R with Streaming, Rhipe and RHadoop and we emphasize the advantages and disadvantages of each solution.Comment: Romanian Statistical Review no. 2 / 201

Real-Time Context-Aware Microservice Architecture for Predictive Analytics and Smart Decision-Making

The impressive evolution of the Internet of Things and the great amount of data flowing through the systems provide us with an inspiring scenario for Big Data analytics and advantageous real-time context-aware predictions and smart decision-making. However, this requires a scalable system for constant streaming processing, also provided with the ability of decision-making and action taking based on the performed predictions. This paper aims at proposing a scalable architecture to provide real-time context-aware actions based on predictive streaming processing of data as an evolution of a previously provided event-driven service-oriented architecture which already permitted the context-aware detection and notification of relevant data. For this purpose, we have defined and implemented a microservice-based architecture which provides real-time context-aware actions based on predictive streaming processing of data. As a result, our architecture has been enhanced twofold: on the one hand, the architecture has been supplied with reliable predictions through the use of predictive analytics and complex event processing techniques, which permit the notification of relevant context-aware information ahead of time. On the other, it has been refactored towards a microservice architecture pattern, highly improving its maintenance and evolution. The architecture performance has been evaluated with an air quality case study

MapReduce is Good Enough? If All You Have is a Hammer, Throw Away Everything That's Not a Nail!

Hadoop is currently the large-scale data analysis "hammer" of choice, but there exist classes of algorithms that aren't "nails", in the sense that they are not particularly amenable to the MapReduce programming model. To address this, researchers have proposed MapReduce extensions or alternative programming models in which these algorithms can be elegantly expressed. This essay espouses a very different position: that MapReduce is "good enough", and that instead of trying to invent screwdrivers, we should simply get rid of everything that's not a nail. To be more specific, much discussion in the literature surrounds the fact that iterative algorithms are a poor fit for MapReduce: the simple solution is to find alternative non-iterative algorithms that solve the same problem. This essay captures my personal experiences as an academic researcher as well as a software engineer in a "real-world" production analytics environment. From this combined perspective I reflect on the current state and future of "big data" research

A Tale of Two Data-Intensive Paradigms: Applications, Abstractions, and Architectures

Scientific problems that depend on processing large amounts of data require overcoming challenges in multiple areas: managing large-scale data distribution, co-placement and scheduling of data with compute resources, and storing and transferring large volumes of data. We analyze the ecosystems of the two prominent paradigms for data-intensive applications, hereafter referred to as the high-performance computing and the Apache-Hadoop paradigm. We propose a basis, common terminology and functional factors upon which to analyze the two approaches of both paradigms. We discuss the concept of "Big Data Ogres" and their facets as means of understanding and characterizing the most common application workloads found across the two paradigms. We then discuss the salient features of the two paradigms, and compare and contrast the two approaches. Specifically, we examine common implementation/approaches of these paradigms, shed light upon the reasons for their current "architecture" and discuss some typical workloads that utilize them. In spite of the significant software distinctions, we believe there is architectural similarity. We discuss the potential integration of different implementations, across the different levels and components. Our comparison progresses from a fully qualitative examination of the two paradigms, to a semi-quantitative methodology. We use a simple and broadly used Ogre (K-means clustering), characterize its performance on a range of representative platforms, covering several implementations from both paradigms. Our experiments provide an insight into the relative strengths of the two paradigms. We propose that the set of Ogres will serve as a benchmark to evaluate the two paradigms along different dimensions.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure

Data locality in Hadoop

Current market tendencies show the need of storing and processing rapidly growing amounts of data. Therefore, it implies the demand for distributed storage and data processing systems. The Apache Hadoop is an open-source framework for managing such computing clusters in an effective, fault-tolerant way. Dealing with large volumes of data, Hadoop, and its storage system HDFS (Hadoop Distributed File System), face challenges to keep the high efficiency with computing in a reasonable time. The typical Hadoop implementation transfers computation to the data, rather than shipping data across the cluster. Otherwise, moving the big quantities of data through the network could significantly delay data processing tasks. However, while a task is already running, Hadoop favours local data access and chooses blocks from the nearest nodes. Next, the necessary blocks are moved just when they are needed in the given ask. For supporting the Hadoop’s data locality preferences, in this thesis, we propose adding an innovative functionality to its distributed file system (HDFS), that enables moving data blocks on request. In-advance shipping of data makes it possible to forcedly redistribute data between nodes in order to easily adapt it to the given processing tasks. New functionality enables the instructed movement of data blocks within the cluster. Data can be shifted either by user running the proper HDFS shell command or programmatically by other module like an appropriate scheduler. In order to develop such functionality, the detailed analysis of Apache Hadoop source code and its components (specifically HDFS) was conducted. Research resulted in a deep understanding of internal architecture, what made it possible to compare the possible approaches to achieve the desired solution, and develop the chosen one