Data Mesh: Building Scalable, Resilient, and Decentralized Data Infrastructure for the Enterprise Part 1

By Tom Lesley

"Data Mesh" is a groundbreaking book that introduces a new way of designing and operating data infrastructure for modern enterprises. Drawing from real-world experiences and case studies, the book presents a decentralized approach to managing data, where small, cross-functional teams take ownership of their data domains and build self-contained data products.

 

The book explores the challenges that traditional centralized data architecture faces in the age of cloud computing, big data, and AI. It explains how Data Mesh can help enterprises achieve scalability, resilience, and agility in their data infrastructure while empowering individual teams to make decisions and innovate at their own pace.

 

The book covers the key principles, patterns, and practices of Data Mesh, including data product thinking, domain-driven design, data as a product, federated data governance, and infrastructure automation. It also provides practical guidance on how to get started with Data Mesh, how to measure success, and how to overcome common obstacles.

 

Whether you are a data engineer, data architect, data scientist, or business leader, "Data Mesh" offers a fresh perspective on how to harness the power of data for your organization. It is a must-read for anyone interested in building scalable, resilient, and decentralized data infrastructure for the enterprise.

• Language: English
• Publisher: May Reads
• Release date: Apr 19, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224110964

Book preview

Chapter 1: What Is Data Mesh?

Data mesh is a term that's been gaining popularity over the past few years. It refers to an architecture where data is available for use across multiple applications rather than being stored in one monolithic location. The idea of data mesh was first popularized by Microsoft Azure's CTO Mark Russinovich when he wrote about data gravity—the tendency for businesses to collect more and more data over time and then struggle to manage it all as they grow larger.

What Is a Data Mesh?

Data Mesh is a data fabric that connects the world's data. Data Mesh is the next generation of data architecture and enables organizations to discover, share and use their data across multiple platforms—and from any device.

The State of Data Mesh

Data mesh is a new way of building applications that is gaining popularity. It's a way to build more modular and more accessible to maintain applications, but it also makes it easier for your application to scale up as your business grows.

The idea behind data mesh is simple: instead of building one extensive database for an application, you create multiple databases that work together so they can share data when needed. This means you can use tools like SQLAlchemy or Django ORM (Object Relational Mapper) on one database while using something else entirely on another.

Data mesh isn't just useful in terms of scaling; it also makes maintenance much more accessible by ensuring all parts of your application are isolated from each other so they don't conflict when running simultaneously.

One way to think about data mesh is as a way for your application to be able to run multiple processes at once without any interference between them. For example, this could sometimes mean using SQLAlchemy on one database while using something else entirely on another.

The Future of Data Mesh

Data mesh is an emerging technology that is gaining traction in the industry. It's a way to build software applications where data is stored and processed in a distributed system rather than on one centralized server. The benefits are that your application will be more resilient, scalable, and easily manageable.

The future of data mesh is bright! As more companies realize the benefits of this approach, they will continue to adopt it. The greater adoption also means better tools as several open source projects are already available (such as Apache Kafka).

Why Data Mesh?

Data Mesh is a new approach to building applications. The name Data Mesh comes from the fact that it's about building distributed, resilient, and scalable applications. However, it also has some other characteristics:

Applications built with Data Mesh are easy to change and maintain. This means less time spent on debugging and more time for innovation in your product or service!

Applications built with Data Mesh are secure by default because each application component runs in its containerized environment on multiple servers instead of on a single machine (like most applications). This makes it much harder for hackers to compromise data or steal confidential information because they would need access to multiple servers simultaneously instead of just one server. As they would when attacking traditional architectures such as monolithic software stacks or microservices.

What Is a Monolith?

A monolith is a software system comprising a single, extensive application. It is the opposite of microservices, which are small, independently deployable services.

In general, monolithic applications have the following characteristics:

They can be difficult to scale because they are hard to partition and spread across multiple machines.

They are not designed for changeability; when you need to make changes to your application, it may require updating all parts at once—which can be very painful!

It is often difficult to innovate on a monolith because making changes without impacting other parts of the application is complicated.

In a Nutshell, a Monolith Is What Most Companies Have Today, and It Is the Most Common Way to Build Software Applications

In a nutshell, a monolith is what most companies have today, and it is the most common way to build software applications. Unfortunately, it's also the hardest model to scale: as your application grows, you must keep adding more resources like servers, databases, and load balancers.

Monolithic applications are hard to maintain because they are a single codebase with all parts of an application combined into one big build. In addition, they can be challenging to keep because they aren't modular or scalable.

A data mesh is a network of different data products that work together to serve your business needs. It's built with microservices architecture and uses APIs for communication.

This allows each product to be independently maintained and developed. Data products can be added or removed so