Databases & Data Storage
Data Lake
Definition
A data lake is a centralized repository that allows you to store all your structured and unstructured data at any scale. You can store your data as-is, without having to first structure it, and run different types of analytics.
Why It Matters
Data lakes provide a flexible and cost-effective way to store massive amounts of raw data. This data can then be used for various purposes, such as big data analytics, machine learning, and data exploration, without the constraints of a traditional data warehouse.
Contextual Example
A company streams all its data—including application logs, user clickstream data, and social media feeds—into a data lake built on Amazon S3. Data scientists can then use tools like Apache Spark to query and analyze this raw data to discover insights.
Common Misunderstandings
- A data lake is different from a data warehouse. A data warehouse stores structured, filtered data for a specific purpose, while a data lake stores all data in its raw form ("schema-on-read").
- They are a key component of modern big data architectures.