BIG DATA PROJECT: Covid-Data-Process

WARNING: This project only runs on ARM64 chips.

Table of Contents

1. Project Objective
2. Datasets Selection
3. System Architecture
   • Data Ingestion
   • Real-Time Data Streaming
   • Data Storage
   • Data Process
   • Containerization
   • Data Visualization
4. Technologies Used
5. Installation and Deployment
   • Set up environment
   • Running the Project
6. Troubleshooting
   • Common Issues
   • Logs and Monitoring
7. Results and Analysis
8. Future Work
9. References
10. Authors

Project Objective

The Covid Data Process project aims to design and implement a comprehensive, real-time data processing pipeline specifically tailored to manage the continuous influx of COVID-19 data. This project seeks to build a scalable and efficient system capable of ingesting, processing, storing, and visualizing COVID-19 data in real-time, enabling stakeholders to make informed decisions based on the most current information available.

Datasets Selection

The dataset, sourced from the COVID-19 API, offers comprehensive and regularly updated reports on the global spread and impact of COVID-19. It encompasses a wide range of data points that track the pandemic's progression across various regions, including countries, states, and provinces. This dataset captures essential metrics such as the number of confirmed cases, deaths, recoveries, and active cases, providing a granular view of the pandemic's evolution over time.

Data from API format example:

  {
      "data":
          [
              0:{
                  "date":"2023-03-09"
                  "confirmed":209451
                  "deaths":7896
                  "recovered":0
                  "confirmed_diff":0
                  "deaths_diff":0
                  "recovered_diff":0
                  "last_update":"2023-03-10 04:21:03"
                  "active":201555
                  "active_diff":0
                  "fatality_rate":0.0377
                  "region":{
                      "iso":"AFG"
                      "name":"Afghanistan"
                      "province":""
                      "lat":"33.9391"
                      "long":"67.7100"
                      "cities":[]
              }
              ...
            ]
  }

System Architecture

The system architecture for this COVID-19 data processing pipeline is designed to ensure efficient data ingestion, processing, storage, and visualization. It leverages a combination of open-source technologies and cloud services to provide a scalable, robust, and flexible framework for managing and analyzing large volumes of real-time data.

The system is divided into several components, each responsible for specific tasks within the data process:

Data Ingestion:

• Data Source: COVID-19 data is retrieved from the API https://covid-api.com/api/ using HTTP requests. NiFi handles data ingestion, performing initial cleaning and transformation to prepare the data for further processing.

• Producer/Consumer: NiFi acts as both producer and consumer, forwarding processed data to Apache Kafka for streaming.

Real-Time Data Streaming:

• Message Brokering: Kafka serves as the message broker, streaming data between system components in real-time.

• Monitoring: Redpanda monitors Kafka’s performance, ensuring system stability.

• Streaming Analytics: Spark Streaming processes the data in real-time, performing computations like aggregations and filtering as data flows through Kafka.

Data Storage:

• Distributed Storage: Data is stored in Hadoop HDFS, providing scalable, reliable storage.

• Data Warehousing: Apache Hive on HDFS enables efficient querying of large datasets.

Data Process:

• Job Scheduling: Airflow orchestrates and schedules the system’s workflows, ensuring smooth execution of data ingestion, processing, and storage tasks.

• Batch processing: Apache Spark processing on data stored in HDFS, facilitating complex data analysis tasks.

Containerization:

• Consistency & Deployment: Docker containers ensure consistent environments across development, testing, and production, and are deployed on AWS EC2 for scalability.

Data Visualization:

• Interactive Dashboards: Amazon QuickSight visualizes the processed data, allowing for the creation of interactive dashboards and reports.

Technologies Used

Environment

• Amazon EC2: Hosts the system in a scalable and flexible cloud environment.
• Docker: Containerizes the system components, ensuring consistency and easy deployment.

Frameworks and Tools

• Apache NiFi: Handles data ingestion and initial processing from the COVID-19 API.
• Apache Kafka: Enables real-time data streaming between system components.
• Redpanda: Monitors Kafka to ensure stable data flow and system performance.
• Apache Spark: For both real-time and batch data processing.
• Hadoop HDFS: Provides distributed storage for large volumes of processed data.
• Apache Hive: Allows SQL-like querying and analysis of data stored in HDFS.
• Apache Airflow: rchestrates and schedules the workflow of the entire system.

Visualization

• Amazon QuickSight: Provides business intelligence and data visualization capabilities for insightful reporting and analysis.

Installation and Deployment

Set up environment

1. Create an AWS EC2 Instance

1.1. Log in to AWS Management Console:

• Visit the AWS Management Console and log in with your credentials.

1.2. Launch a New EC2 Instance:

• Navigate to the EC2 Dashboard.

• Click on Launch Instance.

• Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI):

  • Amazon Linux 2 AMI (HVM) - Kernel 5.10, SSD Volume Type

    

• Choose an Architecture

  • This project only run on architecture ARM64

    

• Choose an Instance Type:

  • For this project, t4g.2xlarge is recommended for its balance between performance and cost.

    

• Configure Instance Details:

  • Ensure that Auto-assign Public IP is set to "Enable".

• Configure Storage:

  • You should increase to 60GB for this project.

    

• Configure Security Group:

  • Add the following rules:

    • SSH: Port 22, Source: Replace 0.0.0.0 with your IP.
    • Custom TCP Rule: Port (0-10000), Source: Replace 0.0.0.0 with your IP.
    

• Review and Launch the instance.

• Download the key pair (.pem file) and keep it safe; it’s needed for SSH access.

1.3. Access the EC2 Instance

• Open your terminal.

• Navigate to the directory where the .pem file is stored.

• Run the following command to connect to your instance:

  ssh -i "your-key-file.pem" ec2-user@your-ec2-public-ip

2. Install Docker on the EC2 Instance

2.1: Update the Package Repository

• Run the following commands to ensure your package repository is up to date:

  sudo yum update -y

2.2. Install Docker

• Install Docker by running the following commands:

  sudo yum install -y docker

• Start Docker and enable it to start at boot:

  sudo systemctl start docker
  sudo systemctl enable docker

• Verify Docker installation:

  docker --version

3. Install Docker Compose

3.1. Install Docker Compose

• Docker Compose is not available in the default Amazon Linux 2 repositories, so you will need to download it manually:

    sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.19.1/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

3.2. Apply Executable Permissions

• Apply executable permissions to the binary:

  sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

3.3. Verify Docker Compose Installation

• Verify the installation by checking the version:

  docker-compose --version

Running the Project

1. Clone the Project Repository

1.1. Install Git (if not already installed)

• Install Git to clone the repository:

  sudo yum install -y git

1.2. Clone the Repository

• Run the following command to clone the project repository:

  git clone https://github.com/your-username/covid-data-process.git

• Navigate to the project directory:

  cd covid-data-process

2.Running the Project

2.1. Port forwarding to the AWS EC2 Instance

• Use the SSH command provided:

  ssh -i "your-key-file.pem" \
     -L 6060:localhost:6060 \
     -L 8088:localhost:8088 \
     -L 8080:localhost:8080 \
     -L 1014:localhost:1010 \
     -L 9999:localhost:9999 \
     -L 8443:localhost:8443 \
     ec2-user@eec2-user@your-ec2-public-ip

  • This command establishes a secure SSH connection to your EC2 instance and sets up port forwarding, allowing you to access various services running on your instance from your local machine.

2.2. Grant Execution Permissions for Shell Scripts

• Once connected, ensure all shell scripts have the correct execution permissions:

  chmod +x ./*

  • This command grants execute permissions to all .sh files in the project directory, allowing them to be run without any issues.

2.3. Initialize the Project Environment

• Run the init-pro.sh script to initialize the environment:

  ./init-pro.sh

• This script performs the following tasks:

  • Sets the AIRFLOW_UID environment variable to match the current user's ID.
  • Creates necessary directories for Spark and NiFi.
  • Prepares the environment for running Airflow by initializing it with Docker.

2.4. Start the Docker Containers

• Next, bring up all the services defined in the docker-compose file:

  docker-compose --profile all up

  • This command starts all the necessary containers for the project, including those for NiFi, Kafka, Spark, Hadoop, Hive, and Airflow.

2.5. Post-Deployment Configuration

• After the Docker containers are running, execute the after-compose.sh script to perform additional setup:

  ./after-compose.sh

• This script:

  • Sets up HDFS directories and assigns the appropriate permissions.
  • Creates Kafka topics (covidin and covidout).
  • Submits a Spark job to process streaming data.

2.6. Configure and Run Apache NiFi

• Now, you need to configure and start your data workflows in Apache NiFi:

  • Open the NiFi Web UI by navigating to http://localhost:8080/nifi in your browser.

  • Add the template for the NiFi workflow:

    

  • Start the NiFi workflow to begin ingesting and processing COVID-19 data.

2.7. Monitor Kafka Using Redpanda

• To monitor Kafka, you can use Redpanda, which provides an easy-to-use interface for Kafka monitoring:

  • Open Redpanda Console by navigating to http://localhost:1010 in your browser.

    

  • In the Redpanda Console, you can monitor Kafka topics, consumer groups, and producer metrics.

  • Use this interface to ensure that the Kafka topics (covidin and covidout) are receiving and processing data as expected.

2.7. Finalize Setup and Execute SQL Commands

• Once the NiFi workflow is running, execute the final setup script after-nifi.sh:

  ./after-nifi.sh

• This script:

  • Ensures that all HDFS directories have the correct permissions.
  • Starts the SSH service in the Spark master container.
  • Runs the SQL script in Spark to set up the necessary databases and tables.

2.8. Run Apache Airflow DAGs

• Open the Airflow Web UI by navigating to http://localhost:8080 in your browser

• Add a new connection and fill in the following details:

  • Connection Id: spark_conn

  • Connection Type: SSH

  • Host: spark-master

  • User: root

  • Password: ren294

  • Port: 22

    

• Activate the two DAGs that were set up for this project.

  

2.9. Visualize Data in AWS QuickSight

• Log in to your AWS QuickSight account.

• Connect to the Hive database to access the processed COVID-19 data.

• Create dashboards and visualizations to analyze and present the data insights.

  

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Issue: Docker Containers Fail to Start

• Symptom: When running docker-compose --profile all up, one or more containers fail to start.
• Solution:

  • Check if Docker is running properly on your EC2 instance by using docker ps.

    

  • Review the docker-compose logs using docker-compose logs to identify the cause of the failure.

  • Ensure that the .env file is correctly set up, especially the AIRFLOW_UID variable.

  • Verify that the necessary directories (nifi, spark, etc.) have been created with the correct permissions using chmod -R 777.

2. Issue: Airflow DAGs Fail to Trigger

• Symptom: DAGs in Airflow do not execute when triggered.
• Solution:
  • Ensure the connection to Spark (spark_conn) is correctly configured in Airflow by checking it under Admin > Connections.
  • Review the Airflow logs for errors related to Spark or Kafka integration.
  • Restart the Airflow services using docker-compose restart airflow.

3. Issue: Data Not Appearing in HDFS

• Symptom: Data is not visible in the HDFS directories even after the NiFi workflow is running.
• Solution:
  • Check the NiFi logs to ensure that the processors are correctly writing data to HDFS.
  • Verify that HDFS directories /data/covid_data and /data/kafka_data exist and have the correct permissions.
  • Manually inspect the HDFS file system using the command docker exec -it namenode hdfs dfs -ls /data/ to check for the presence of data files.

4. Issue: Spark Jobs Fail or Hang

• Symptom: Spark jobs do not complete or get stuck in a certain stage.
• Solution:
  • Monitor the Spark Web UI for any signs of resource exhaustion (e.g., memory or CPU limits).
  • Check the Spark logs for errors that might indicate misconfiguration or issues with input data.
  • Restart the Spark services and re-submit the jobs if necessary.

Logs and Monitoring

1. Viewing Docker Container Logs

• Command: To view logs from a specific container, use:

  docker logs <container_name>

2. Airflow Logs

• Accessing Logs: In the Airflow Web UI, navigate to the specific task instance under the DAG runs.

  

• Direct Logs: Logs are also available directly within the container:

  docker exec -it airflow-worker tail -f /opt/airflow/logs/<dag_id>/<task_id>/log.txt
  

3. NiFi Logs

• View NiFi logs by accessing the NiFi container:

  docker exec -it nifi tail -f /nifi/logs/nifi-app.log
  

• View folder mounted: nifi/logs/

• Web UI: You can also monitor processor status and logs directly within the NiFi Web UI by clicking on individual processors.

4. Kafka Logs

• Command: Access Kafka logs by connecting to the Kafka container:

  docker exec -it kafka tail -f /var/log/kafka/kafkaServer.log
  

5. Monitoring Kafka with Redpanda

• Access: Navigate to http://localhost:1010 to access the Redpanda Console.

• Usage: Use the Redpanda Console to monitor Kafka brokers, topics, and consumer groups.

  

6. Spark Job Monitoring with Spark Web UI

• Access: Navigate to http://localhost:8088 to open the Spark Web UI.

• Usage: The Spark Web UI provides detailed information about the running and completed Spark jobs, including stages, tasks, and executor logs.

  

7. Running Jupyter Lab for Testing

• Open your web browser and go to http://localhost:9999

  

• Run the following script to retrieve the token required to log into Jupyter Lab:

  ./token_notebook.sh
  

• Paste the token obtained from the token_notebook.sh script to log in.

  

Results and Analysis

By connecting the processed data to AWS QuickSight, the project provides a powerful visualization platform that enables stakeholders to derive meaningful insights from the data.

Future Work

Scalability Improvements:

• As data volumes grow, optimizing the pipeline for scalability will be crucial. Implementing advanced partitioning strategies in Kafka and improving the resource allocation for Spark jobs could help the system handle larger datasets more efficiently.
• Exploring container orchestration tools like Kubernetes could also enable better management and scaling of Docker containers across multiple nodes.

Enhanced Data Analytics:

• Integrating more advanced analytics, such as machine learning models for predicting future COVID-19 trends, could provide deeper insights. This would involve extending the Spark jobs to include model training and inference within the pipeline.
• Implementing a dashboard that provides real-time visualizations of predictive analytics alongside the current trends would add significant value.

Support for Additional Data Sources:

• Expanding the pipeline to ingest and process data from additional sources, such as vaccination data or mobility reports, could provide a more comprehensive view of the pandemic's impact.
• Incorporating external data sources like weather or demographic data could also allow for more granular analyses and correlations.

Improved Monitoring and Alerting:

• Enhancing the monitoring setup by integrating automated alerting mechanisms, such as those provided by Prometheus and Grafana, could help quickly identify and respond to any issues within the pipeline.
• Implementing detailed logging and tracking of data lineage would improve transparency and make troubleshooting easier.

Cloud-Native Integration:

• Fully migrating the project to a cloud-native architecture using managed services like AWS MSK (Managed Streaming for Kafka), AWS EMR (Elastic MapReduce), and AWS Glue could simplify maintenance and improve overall performance.
• Leveraging AWS Lambda for serverless processing tasks could reduce operational costs and improve the responsiveness of the system.

Data Privacy and Security Enhancements:

• Adding layers of data privacy and security, such as encryption at rest and in transit, as well as implementing fine-grained access controls, would ensure the data pipeline meets stringent compliance requirements.
• Implementing audit trails and data masking techniques could further protect sensitive information.

References

• Apache NiFi Documentation

• Apache Kafka Documentation

• Apache Spark Documentation

• Hadoop Documentation

• Hive Documentation

• Docker and Docker Compose Documentation

• AWS EC2 Documentation

• Jupyter Lab Documentation

• Redpanda Documentation

Authors

Nguyen Trung Nghia

• Contact: [email protected]
• GitHub: Ren294
• Linkedln: tnghia294