Stream data using the Storage Write API

This document describes how to use the BigQuery Storage Write API to stream data into BigQuery.

In streaming scenarios, data arrives continuously and should be available for reads with minimal latency. When using the BigQuery Storage Write API for streaming workloads, consider what guarantees you need:

  • If your application only needs at-least-once semantics, then use the default stream.
  • If you need exactly-once semantics, then create one or more streams in committed type and use stream offsets to guarantee exactly-once writes.

In committed type, data written to the stream is available for query as soon as the server acknowledges the write request. The default stream also uses committed type, but does not provide exactly-once guarantees.

Use the default stream for at-least-once semantics

If your application can accept the possibility of duplicate records appearing in the destination table, then we recommend using the default stream for streaming scenarios.

The following code shows how to write data to the default stream:

Java

To learn how to install and use the client library for BigQuery, see BigQuery client libraries. For more information, see the BigQuery Java API reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

import com.google.api.core.ApiFuture;
import com.google.api.core.ApiFutureCallback;
import com.google.api.core.ApiFutures;
import com.google.api.gax.core.FixedExecutorProvider;
import com.google.api.gax.retrying.RetrySettings;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQuery;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQueryOptions;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.QueryJobConfiguration;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.TableResult;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.AppendRowsRequest;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.AppendRowsResponse;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.BigQueryWriteClient;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.BigQueryWriteSettings;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.Exceptions;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.Exceptions.AppendSerializationError;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.Exceptions.MaximumRequestCallbackWaitTimeExceededException;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.Exceptions.StorageException;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.Exceptions.StreamWriterClosedException;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.JsonStreamWriter;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.TableName;
import com.google.common.util.concurrent.MoreExecutors;
import com.google.protobuf.ByteString;
import com.google.protobuf.Descriptors.DescriptorValidationException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
import java.util.concurrent.Phaser;
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
import javax.annotation.concurrent.GuardedBy;
import org.json.JSONArray;
import org.json.JSONObject;
import org.threeten.bp.Duration;

public class WriteToDefaultStream {

  public static void runWriteToDefaultStream()
      throws DescriptorValidationException, InterruptedException, IOException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String projectId = "MY_PROJECT_ID";
    String datasetName = "MY_DATASET_NAME";
    String tableName = "MY_TABLE_NAME";
    writeToDefaultStream(projectId, datasetName, tableName);
  }

  private static ByteString buildByteString() {
    byte[] bytes = new byte[] {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
    return ByteString.copyFrom(bytes);
  }

  // Create a JSON object that is compatible with the table schema.
  private static JSONObject buildRecord(int i, int j) {
    JSONObject record = new JSONObject();
    StringBuilder sbSuffix = new StringBuilder();
    for (int k = 0; k < j; k++) {
      sbSuffix.append(k);
    }
    record.put("test_string", String.format("record %03d-%03d %s", i, j, sbSuffix.toString()));
    ByteString byteString = buildByteString();
    record.put("test_bytes", byteString);
    return record;
  }

  public static void writeToDefaultStream(String projectId, String datasetName, String tableName)
      throws DescriptorValidationException, InterruptedException, IOException {
    TableName parentTable = TableName.of(projectId, datasetName, tableName);

    DataWriter writer = new DataWriter();
    // One time initialization for the worker.
    writer.initialize(parentTable);

    // Write two batches of fake data to the stream, each with 10 JSON records.  Data may be
    // batched up to the maximum request size:
    // https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/quotas#write-api-limits
    for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
      JSONArray jsonArr = new JSONArray();
      for (int j = 0; j < 10; j++) {
        JSONObject record = buildRecord(i, j);
        jsonArr.put(record);
      }

      writer.append(new AppendContext(jsonArr));
    }

    // Final cleanup for the stream during worker teardown.
    writer.cleanup();
    verifyExpectedRowCount(parentTable, 12);
    System.out.println("Appended records successfully.");
  }

  private static void verifyExpectedRowCount(TableName parentTable, int expectedRowCount)
      throws InterruptedException {
    String queryRowCount =
        "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM `"
            + parentTable.getProject()
            + "."
            + parentTable.getDataset()
            + "."
            + parentTable.getTable()
            + "`";
    QueryJobConfiguration queryConfig = QueryJobConfiguration.newBuilder(queryRowCount).build();
    BigQuery bigquery = BigQueryOptions.getDefaultInstance().getService();
    TableResult results = bigquery.query(queryConfig);
    int countRowsActual =
        Integer.parseInt(results.getValues().iterator().next().get("f0_").getStringValue());
    if (countRowsActual != expectedRowCount) {
      throw new RuntimeException(
          "Unexpected row count. Expected: " + expectedRowCount + ". Actual: " + countRowsActual);
    }
  }

  private static class AppendContext {

    JSONArray data;

    AppendContext(JSONArray data) {
      this.data = data;
    }
  }

  private static class DataWriter {

    private static final int MAX_RECREATE_COUNT = 3;

    private BigQueryWriteClient client;

    // Track the number of in-flight requests to wait for all responses before shutting down.
    private final Phaser inflightRequestCount = new Phaser(1);
    private final Object lock = new Object();
    private JsonStreamWriter streamWriter;

    @GuardedBy("lock")
    private RuntimeException error = null;

    private AtomicInteger recreateCount = new AtomicInteger(0);

    private JsonStreamWriter createStreamWriter(String tableName)
        throws DescriptorValidationException, IOException, InterruptedException {
      // Configure in-stream automatic retry settings.
      // Error codes that are immediately retried:
      // * ABORTED, UNAVAILABLE, CANCELLED, INTERNAL, DEADLINE_EXCEEDED
      // Error codes that are retried with exponential backoff:
      // * RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED
      RetrySettings retrySettings =
          RetrySettings.newBuilder()
              .setInitialRetryDelay(Duration.ofMillis(500))
              .setRetryDelayMultiplier(1.1)
              .setMaxAttempts(5)
              .setMaxRetryDelay(Duration.ofMinutes(1))
              .build();

      // Use the JSON stream writer to send records in JSON format. Specify the table name to write
      // to the default stream.
      // For more information about JsonStreamWriter, see:
      // https://googleapis.dev/java/google-cloud-bigquerystorage/latest/com/google/cloud/bigquery/storage/v1/JsonStreamWriter.html
      return JsonStreamWriter.newBuilder(tableName, client)
          .setExecutorProvider(FixedExecutorProvider.create(Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(100)))
          .setChannelProvider(
              BigQueryWriteSettings.defaultGrpcTransportProviderBuilder()
                  .setKeepAliveTime(org.threeten.bp.Duration.ofMinutes(1))
                  .setKeepAliveTimeout(org.threeten.bp.Duration.ofMinutes(1))
                  .setKeepAliveWithoutCalls(true)
                  .setChannelsPerCpu(2)
                  .build())
          .setEnableConnectionPool(true)
          // If value is missing in json and there is a default value configured on bigquery
          // column, apply the default value to the missing value field.
          .setDefaultMissingValueInterpretation(
              AppendRowsRequest.MissingValueInterpretation.DEFAULT_VALUE)
          .setRetrySettings(retrySettings)
          .build();
    }

    public void initialize(TableName parentTable)
        throws DescriptorValidationException, IOException, InterruptedException {
      // Initialize client without settings, internally within stream writer a new client will be
      // created with full settings.
      client = BigQueryWriteClient.create();

      streamWriter = createStreamWriter(parentTable.toString());
    }

    public void append(AppendContext appendContext)
        throws DescriptorValidationException, IOException, InterruptedException {
      synchronized (this.lock) {
        if (!streamWriter.isUserClosed()
            && streamWriter.isClosed()
            && recreateCount.getAndIncrement() < MAX_RECREATE_COUNT) {
          streamWriter = createStreamWriter(streamWriter.getStreamName());
          this.error = null;
        }
        // If earlier appends have failed, we need to reset before continuing.
        if (this.error != null) {
          throw this.error;
        }
      }
      // Append asynchronously for increased throughput.
      ApiFuture<AppendRowsResponse> future = streamWriter.append(appendContext.data);
      ApiFutures.addCallback(
          future, new AppendCompleteCallback(this, appendContext), MoreExecutors.directExecutor());

      // Increase the count of in-flight requests.
      inflightRequestCount.register();
    }

    public void cleanup() {
      // Wait for all in-flight requests to complete.
      inflightRequestCount.arriveAndAwaitAdvance();

      client.close();
      // Close the connection to the server.
      streamWriter.close();

      // Verify that no error occurred in the stream.
      synchronized (this.lock) {
        if (this.error != null) {
          throw this.error;
        }
      }
    }

    static class AppendCompleteCallback implements ApiFutureCallback<AppendRowsResponse> {

      private final DataWriter parent;
      private final AppendContext appendContext;

      public AppendCompleteCallback(DataWriter parent, AppendContext appendContext) {
        this.parent = parent;
        this.appendContext = appendContext;
      }

      public void onSuccess(AppendRowsResponse response) {
        System.out.format("Append success\n");
        this.parent.recreateCount.set(0);
        done();
      }

      public void onFailure(Throwable throwable) {
        if (throwable instanceof AppendSerializationError) {
          AppendSerializationError ase = (AppendSerializationError) throwable;
          Map<Integer, String> rowIndexToErrorMessage = ase.getRowIndexToErrorMessage();
          if (rowIndexToErrorMessage.size() > 0) {
            // Omit the faulty rows
            JSONArray dataNew = new JSONArray();
            for (int i = 0; i < appendContext.data.length(); i++) {
              if (!rowIndexToErrorMessage.containsKey(i)) {
                dataNew.put(appendContext.data.get(i));
              } else {
                // process faulty rows by placing them on a dead-letter-queue, for instance
              }
            }

            // Retry the remaining valid rows, but using a separate thread to
            // avoid potentially blocking while we are in a callback.
            if (dataNew.length() > 0) {
              try {
                this.parent.append(new AppendContext(dataNew));
              } catch (DescriptorValidationException e) {
                throw new RuntimeException(e);
              } catch (IOException e) {
                throw new RuntimeException(e);
              } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                throw new RuntimeException(e);
              }
            }
            // Mark the existing attempt as done since we got a response for it
            done();
            return;
          }
        }

        boolean resendRequest = false;
        if (throwable instanceof MaximumRequestCallbackWaitTimeExceededException) {
          resendRequest = true;
        } else if (throwable instanceof StreamWriterClosedException) {
          if (!parent.streamWriter.isUserClosed()) {
            resendRequest = true;
          }
        }
        if (resendRequest) {
          // Retry this request.
          try {
            this.parent.append(new AppendContext(appendContext.data));
          } catch (DescriptorValidationException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException(e);
          } catch (IOException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException(e);
          } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException(e);
          }
          // Mark the existing attempt as done since we got a response for it
          done();
          return;
        }

        synchronized (this.parent.lock) {
          if (this.parent.error == null) {
            StorageException storageException = Exceptions.toStorageException(throwable);
            this.parent.error =
                (storageException != null) ? storageException : new RuntimeException(throwable);
          }
        }
        done();
      }

      private void done() {
        // Reduce the count of in-flight requests.
        this.parent.inflightRequestCount.arriveAndDeregister();
      }
    }
  }
}

Use multiplexing

You enable multiplexing at the stream writer level for default stream only. To enable multiplexing in Java, call the setEnableConnectionPool method when you construct a StreamWriter or JsonStreamWriter object:

// One possible way for constructing StreamWriter
StreamWriter.newBuilder(streamName)
              .setWriterSchema(protoSchema)
              .setEnableConnectionPool(true)
              .build();
// One possible way for constructing JsonStreamWriter
JsonStreamWriter.newBuilder(tableName, bigqueryClient)
              .setEnableConnectionPool(true)
              .build();

To enable multiplexing in Go, see Connection Sharing (Multiplexing).

Use committed type for exactly-once semantics

If you need exactly-once write semantics, create a write stream in committed type. In committed type, records are available for query as soon as the client receives acknowledgement from the back end.

Committed type provides exactly-once delivery within a stream through the use of record offsets. By using record offsets, the application specifies the next append offset in each call to AppendRows. The write operation is only performed if the offset value matches the next append offset. For more information, see Manage stream offsets to achieve exactly-once semantics.

If you don't provide an offset, then records are appended to the current end of the stream. In that case, if an append request returns an error, retrying it could result in the record appearing more than once in the stream.

To use committed type, perform the following steps:

  1. Call CreateWriteStream to create one or more streams in committed type.
  2. For each stream, call AppendRows in a loop to write batches of records.
  3. Call FinalizeWriteStream for each stream to release the stream. After you call this method, you cannot write any more rows to the stream. This step is optional in committed type, but helps to prevent exceeding the limit on active streams. For more information, see Limit the rate of stream creation.

You cannot delete a stream explicitly. Streams follow the system-defined time to live (TTL):

  • A committed stream has a TTL of four days if there is no traffic on the stream.
  • A buffered stream by default has a TTL of seven days if there is no traffic on the stream.

The following code shows how to use committed type:

Java

To learn how to install and use the client library for BigQuery, see BigQuery client libraries. For more information, see the BigQuery Java API reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

import com.google.api.core.ApiFuture;
import com.google.api.core.ApiFutureCallback;
import com.google.api.core.ApiFutures;
import com.google.api.gax.retrying.RetrySettings;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.AppendRowsResponse;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.BigQueryWriteClient;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.CreateWriteStreamRequest;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.Exceptions;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.Exceptions.StorageException;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.FinalizeWriteStreamResponse;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.JsonStreamWriter;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.TableName;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.WriteStream;
import com.google.common.util.concurrent.MoreExecutors;
import com.google.protobuf.Descriptors.DescriptorValidationException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.Phaser;
import javax.annotation.concurrent.GuardedBy;
import org.json.JSONArray;
import org.json.JSONObject;
import org.threeten.bp.Duration;

public class WriteCommittedStream {

  public static void runWriteCommittedStream()
      throws DescriptorValidationException, InterruptedException, IOException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String projectId = "MY_PROJECT_ID";
    String datasetName = "MY_DATASET_NAME";
    String tableName = "MY_TABLE_NAME";

    writeCommittedStream(projectId, datasetName, tableName);
  }

  public static void writeCommittedStream(String projectId, String datasetName, String tableName)
      throws DescriptorValidationException, InterruptedException, IOException {
    BigQueryWriteClient client = BigQueryWriteClient.create();
    TableName parentTable = TableName.of(projectId, datasetName, tableName);

    DataWriter writer = new DataWriter();
    // One time initialization.
    writer.initialize(parentTable, client);

    try {
      // Write two batches of fake data to the stream, each with 10 JSON records.  Data may be
      // batched up to the maximum request size:
      // https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/quotas#write-api-limits
      long offset = 0;
      for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
        // Create a JSON object that is compatible with the table schema.
        JSONArray jsonArr = new JSONArray();
        for (int j = 0; j < 10; j++) {
          JSONObject record = new JSONObject();
          record.put("col1", String.format("batch-record %03d-%03d", i, j));
          jsonArr.put(record);
        }
        writer.append(jsonArr, offset);
        offset += jsonArr.length();
      }
    } catch (ExecutionException e) {
      // If the wrapped exception is a StatusRuntimeException, check the state of the operation.
      // If the state is INTERNAL, CANCELLED, or ABORTED, you can retry. For more information, see:
      // https://grpc.github.io/grpc-java/javadoc/io/grpc/StatusRuntimeException.html
      System.out.println("Failed to append records. \n" + e);
    }

    // Final cleanup for the stream.
    writer.cleanup(client);
    System.out.println("Appended records successfully.");
  }

  // A simple wrapper object showing how the stateful stream writer should be used.
  private static class DataWriter {

    private JsonStreamWriter streamWriter;
    // Track the number of in-flight requests to wait for all responses before shutting down.
    private final Phaser inflightRequestCount = new Phaser(1);

    private final Object lock = new Object();

    @GuardedBy("lock")
    private RuntimeException error = null;

    void initialize(TableName parentTable, BigQueryWriteClient client)
        throws IOException, DescriptorValidationException, InterruptedException {
      // Initialize a write stream for the specified table.
      // For more information on WriteStream.Type, see:
      // https://googleapis.dev/java/google-cloud-bigquerystorage/latest/com/google/cloud/bigquery/storage/v1/WriteStream.Type.html
      WriteStream stream = WriteStream.newBuilder().setType(WriteStream.Type.COMMITTED).build();

      CreateWriteStreamRequest createWriteStreamRequest =
          CreateWriteStreamRequest.newBuilder()
              .setParent(parentTable.toString())
              .setWriteStream(stream)
              .build();
      WriteStream writeStream = client.createWriteStream(createWriteStreamRequest);

      // Configure in-stream automatic retry settings.
      // Error codes that are immediately retried:
      // * ABORTED, UNAVAILABLE, CANCELLED, INTERNAL, DEADLINE_EXCEEDED
      // Error codes that are retried with exponential backoff:
      // * RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED
      RetrySettings retrySettings =
          RetrySettings.newBuilder()
              .setInitialRetryDelay(Duration.ofMillis(500))
              .setRetryDelayMultiplier(1.1)
              .setMaxAttempts(5)
              .setMaxRetryDelay(Duration.ofMinutes(1))
              .build();

      // Use the JSON stream writer to send records in JSON format.
      // For more information about JsonStreamWriter, see:
      // https://googleapis.dev/java/google-cloud-bigquerystorage/latest/com/google/cloud/bigquery/storage/v1/JsonStreamWriter.html
      streamWriter =
          JsonStreamWriter.newBuilder(writeStream.getName(), writeStream.getTableSchema(), client)
              .setRetrySettings(retrySettings)
              .build();
    }

    public void append(JSONArray data, long offset)
        throws DescriptorValidationException, IOException, ExecutionException {
      synchronized (this.lock) {
        // If earlier appends have failed, we need to reset before continuing.
        if (this.error != null) {
          throw this.error;
        }
      }
      // Append asynchronously for increased throughput.
      ApiFuture<AppendRowsResponse> future = streamWriter.append(data, offset);
      ApiFutures.addCallback(
          future, new DataWriter.AppendCompleteCallback(this), MoreExecutors.directExecutor());
      // Increase the count of in-flight requests.
      inflightRequestCount.register();
    }

    public void cleanup(BigQueryWriteClient client) {
      // Wait for all in-flight requests to complete.
      inflightRequestCount.arriveAndAwaitAdvance();

      // Close the connection to the server.
      streamWriter.close();

      // Verify that no error occurred in the stream.
      synchronized (this.lock) {
        if (this.error != null) {
          throw this.error;
        }
      }

      // Finalize the stream.
      FinalizeWriteStreamResponse finalizeResponse =
          client.finalizeWriteStream(streamWriter.getStreamName());
      System.out.println("Rows written: " + finalizeResponse.getRowCount());
    }

    public String getStreamName() {
      return streamWriter.getStreamName();
    }

    static class AppendCompleteCallback implements ApiFutureCallback<AppendRowsResponse> {

      private final DataWriter parent;

      public AppendCompleteCallback(DataWriter parent) {
        this.parent = parent;
      }

      public void onSuccess(AppendRowsResponse response) {
        System.out.format("Append %d success\n", response.getAppendResult().getOffset().getValue());
        done();
      }

      public void onFailure(Throwable throwable) {
        synchronized (this.parent.lock) {
          if (this.parent.error == null) {
            StorageException storageException = Exceptions.toStorageException(throwable);
            this.parent.error =
                (storageException != null) ? storageException : new RuntimeException(throwable);
          }
        }
        System.out.format("Error: %s\n", throwable.toString());
        done();
      }

      private void done() {
        // Reduce the count of in-flight requests.
        this.parent.inflightRequestCount.arriveAndDeregister();
      }
    }
  }
}