Last time we mastered API integration. Now let's explore the most sophisticated ingestion approach: streaming and database replication. These handle real-time data flows—think live transactions, user clicks, and instant database updates.
Unlike batch files or scheduled API calls, streaming captures data the moment it happens.
Engagement Message
When would you need to know about a customer action within seconds instead of hours?
Event streaming platforms like Kafka and Kinesis act as high-speed data highways. They capture events (user login, purchase, page view) and deliver them to multiple systems simultaneously.
Think of it as a live news feed that multiple applications can subscribe to and process.
Engagement Message
What is one business event that multiple systems might need to know about immediately?
Change Data Capture (CDC) monitors your databases for any changes—inserts, updates, or deletes—and streams those changes to other systems in real-time.
Instead of asking "what changed since yesterday?", CDC tells you "this record just changed right now."
Engagement Message
What's one benefit of receiving database changes in real time instead of waiting for a daily snapshot?
Event schemas define the structure of streaming data. A "user_login" event might include user_id, timestamp, device_type, and location.
Good schemas are backwards-compatible—adding new fields won't break existing consumers. This prevents cascading system failures when data structures evolve.
Engagement Message
What is one possible consequence if a schema change breaks downstream applications?
Here's an example of a "user_login" event schema in JSON:
