This course covers how to load your data efficiently using the COPY command in Amazon Redshift. You'll learn how it can be used to load multiple or a single large file into Amazon Redshift, as well as the different features that the COPY command has to offer and what data upserting is.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the essentials of the COPY command in Redshift and its features
- Learn how to load single or multiple large files into Redshift
- Learn what upserting is and why it's important
Intended Audience
This course is intended for people that want to learn more about how to load their data efficiently using the COPY command.
Prerequisites
To get the most from this course, you should have a basic understanding of Amazon Redshift and Data Analytics concepts.
That's what I wanted to cover in this course.
I covered Redshift's parallelism, the COPY command, and manifest files.
Then, I went over some of the features of the COPY command. This included information about the source and destination, authorization, and data transformations.
Finally, I stepped away from the COPY command to address how to merge data using an UPSERT process.
Though, there's more to learn about loading data in Redshift. It's a nuanced topic that is made more complicated by the rate of change in the cloud, the challenges around collecting data, and how every organization processes data differently.
If you've spent any significant amount of time running Big Data workloads, you might have heard about the five Vs of Big Data:
- Volume
- Veracity
- Variety
- Velocity
- Value
Each of these has its own importance and challenges. For Big Data--as well as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence--Variety is a never-ending challenge.=
Data comes from many sources and contexts. It's impossible to cover how to manage every type of variation in a course like this one. Instead, I've addressed the process of getting data into Redshift and how to do it with the least amount of friction.
The AWS documentation addresses more use cases and how to manage issues around compression, encryption, and data hygiene.
For Cloud Academy, I'm Stephen Cole. Enjoy your cloud journey. I'm looking forward to seeing how you change the world.
Stephen is the AWS Certification Specialist at Cloud Academy. His content focuses heavily on topics related to certification on Amazon Web Services technologies. He loves teaching and believes that there are no shortcuts to certification but it is possible to find the right path and course of study.
Stephen has worked in IT for over 25 years in roles ranging from tech support to systems engineering. At one point, he taught computer network technology at a community college in Washington state.
Before coming to Cloud Academy, Stephen worked as a trainer and curriculum developer at AWS and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in cloud technologies.
In his spare time, Stephen enjoys reading, sudoku, gaming, and modern square dancing.