HDInsight Essentials

We live in an era in which data is generated with every action and a lot of these are unstructured; from Twitter feeds, Facebook updates, photos and digital sensor inputs. Current relational databases cannot handle the volume, velocity and variations of data. HDInsight gives you the ability to gain the full value of Big Data with a modern, cloud-based data platform that manages data of any size and type, whether structured or unstructured.

A hands-on guide that shows you how to seamlessly store and process Big Data of all types through Microsoft’s modern data platform; which provides simplicity, ease of management, and an open enterprise-ready Hadoop service all running in the Cloud. You will then learn how to analyze your Hadoop data with PowerPivot, Power View, Excel, and other Microsoft BI tools; thanks to integration with the Microsoft data platform, this will give you a solid foundation to build your own HDInsight solution, both on premise and on Cloud.

Firstly, we will provide an overview of Hadoop and Microsoft Big Data strategy, where HDinsight plays a key role. We will then show you how to set up your HDInsight cluster and take you through the 4 stages of collecting, processing, analysing and reporting. For each of these stages, you will see a practical example with working code.

You will then learn core Hadoop concepts like HDFS and MapReduce. You will also get a closer look at how Microsoft’s HDInsight leverages Hortonworks Data Platform that uses Apache Hadoop. You will then be guided through Hadoop commands and programming using open source software, such as Hive and Pig with HDInsight. Finally, you will learn to analyze and report using PowerPivot, Power View, Excel, and other Microsoft BI tools.

This guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to build a Big Data solution using HDInsight with open source software, provide useful Excel reports, and open up the full value of HDInsight.

What you will learn from this book

• Explore the characteristics of a Big Data problem
• Analyse and report your data using PowerPivot, Power View, Excel, and other Microsoft BI tools
• Explore the architectural considerations for scalability, maintainability, and security
• Understand the concept of Data Ingestion to your HDInsight cluster including community tools and scripts
• Administer and monitor your HDInsight cluster including capacity and process management
• Get to know the Hadoop ecosystem with various tools and software based on their roles
• Get to know the HDInsight differentiator and how it is built on top of Apache Hadoop
• Transform your data using open source software such as MapReduce, Hive, Pig and JavaScript

Approach
This book is a fast-paced guide full of step-by-step instructions on how to build a multi-node Hadoop cluster on Windows servers.

Who this book is for
If you are a data architect or developer who wants to understand how to transform your data using open source software, such as MapReduce, Hive, Pig and JavaScript, and also leverage the Windows infrastructure; this book is perfect for you. It is also ideal if you are part of a team who is starting or planning a Hadoop implementation, and you want to understand the key components of Hadoop, and how HDInsight provides added value in administration and reporting.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Hadoop and HDInsight in a Heartbeat
Chapter 2: Deploying HDInsight on Premise
Chapter 3: HDInsight Azure Cloud Service
Chapter 4: Administering Your HDInsight Cluster
Chapter 5: Ingesting Data to Your Cluster
Chapter 6: Transforming Data in Cluster
Chapter 7: Analyzing and Reporting Your Data
Chapter 8: Project Planning Tips and Resources