AI/ML & Real-time Analytics

Real-time Analytics &ML Pipelines

Build production-ready ML pipelines with real-time analytics, automated model serving, and continuous learning capabilities. Master feature engineering, model deployment, and MLOps practices.

Real-time Processing
ML Production
Continuous Learning
Why This Matters

Why Real-time Analytics & ML Pipelines Matter

In today's competitive landscape, organizations need to make data-driven decisions in real-time. ML pipelines that can process data, train models, and serve predictions continuously provide a significant competitive advantage.

Real-time Insights

Process data as it arrives and provide immediate insights for real-time decision making and automated actions.

ML Production

Deploy ML models to production with proper monitoring, A/B testing, and continuous improvement capabilities.

Continuous Learning

Implement feedback loops that continuously improve models based on new data and performance metrics.

Feature Store Implementation Guide

Learn to implement a centralized feature store that serves both online and offline feature serving. Master feature engineering, versioning, and serving patterns.

1

Design Feature Store Architecture

Create a centralized feature store that serves both online (real-time) and offline (batch) feature serving. This requires careful design of feature storage, versioning, and serving layers.

// Feature Store Architecture with Redis + PostgreSQL
@Service
public class FeatureStoreService {
    
    @Autowired
    private RedisTemplate<String, Object> redisTemplate;
    
    @Autowired
    private FeatureRepository featureRepository;
    
    // Online serving (real-time)
    public Map<String, Object> getFeaturesOnline(String entityId, List<String> featureNames) {
        Map<String, Object> features = new HashMap<>();
        
        for (String featureName : featureNames) {
            String key = String.format("feature:%s:%s", entityId, featureName);
            Object value = redisTemplate.opsForValue().get(key);
            
            if (value != null) {
                features.put(featureName, value);
            } else {
                // Fallback to database for missing features
                Feature feature = featureRepository.findByEntityIdAndName(entityId, featureName);
                if (feature != null) {
                    features.put(featureName, feature.getValue());
                    // Cache for future requests
                    redisTemplate.opsForValue().set(key, feature.getValue(), Duration.ofHours(1));
                }
            }
        }
        
        return features;
    }
    
    // Offline serving (batch)
    public Dataset<Row> getFeaturesOffline(SparkSession spark, String entityType, List<String> featureNames) {
        // Read from feature tables for batch processing
        String featureTable = String.format("features_%s", entityType);
        
        Dataset<Row> features = spark.read()
            .table(featureTable)
            .select("entity_id", featureNames.toArray(new String[0]));
        
        return features;
    }
}
Pro Tips
  • Use Redis for online serving with appropriate TTL
  • Implement feature versioning for model reproducibility
  • Design for horizontal scaling of feature serving
Important Warnings
  • Feature store can become a bottleneck - monitor performance
  • Ensure data consistency between online and offline stores
2

Implement Feature Engineering Pipeline

Build automated feature engineering pipelines that transform raw data into ML-ready features. This includes data preprocessing, feature creation, and quality validation.

// Apache Spark Feature Engineering Pipeline
public class FeatureEngineeringPipeline {
    
    public Dataset<Row> engineerFeatures(SparkSession spark, Dataset<Row> rawData) {
        // 1. Data cleaning and preprocessing
        Dataset<Row> cleanedData = rawData
            .na().fill(0) // Fill missing values
            .filter(col("amount").isNotNull()) // Remove null amounts
            .filter(col("amount") > 0); // Remove invalid amounts
        
        // 2. Feature creation
        Dataset<Row> features = cleanedData
            .withColumn("amount_log", log(col("amount"))) // Log transformation
            .withColumn("amount_bucket", 
                when(col("amount") < 100, "low")
                .when(col("amount") < 1000, "medium")
                .otherwise("high")) // Categorical bucketing
            .withColumn("day_of_week", dayofweek(col("timestamp"))) // Temporal features
            .withColumn("hour_of_day", hour(col("timestamp")))
            .withColumn("is_weekend", 
                when(dayofweek(col("timestamp")).isin(1, 7), true)
                .otherwise(false));
        
        // 3. Aggregated features
        WindowSpec windowSpec = Window.partitionBy("user_id")
            .orderBy("timestamp")
            .rangeBetween(-30, -1); // Last 30 days
        
        Dataset<Row> aggregatedFeatures = features
            .withColumn("avg_amount_30d", avg("amount").over(windowSpec))
            .withColumn("count_transactions_30d", count("*").over(windowSpec))
            .withColumn("max_amount_30d", max("amount").over(windowSpec));
        
        return aggregatedFeatures;
    }
}
Pro Tips
  • Use window functions for time-based aggregations
  • Implement feature validation and quality checks
  • Cache intermediate results for performance
Important Warnings
  • Feature engineering can be computationally expensive
  • Monitor memory usage for large datasets

Model Serving Architecture Guide

Master model serving patterns including A/B testing, canary deployments, and traffic routing. Learn to build scalable and reliable model serving systems.

1

Design Model Serving Architecture

Create a scalable model serving architecture that can handle multiple models, A/B testing, and canary deployments. This includes model versioning and traffic routing.

// Model Serving with A/B Testing
@Service
public class ModelServingService {
    
    @Autowired
    private ModelRegistry modelRegistry;
    
    @Autowired
    private FeatureStoreService featureStore;
    
    public PredictionResponse predict(String entityId, PredictionRequest request) {
        // Get model configuration
        ModelConfig config = modelRegistry.getActiveModel(request.getModelName());
        
        // Get features
        Map<String, Object> features = featureStore.getFeaturesOnline(
            entityId, config.getRequiredFeatures());
        
        // Route to appropriate model version
        ModelVersion modelVersion = routeToModelVersion(config, request);
        
        // Make prediction
        Prediction prediction = modelVersion.predict(features);
        
        // Log prediction for monitoring
        logPrediction(entityId, request, prediction, modelVersion);
        
        return new PredictionResponse(prediction, modelVersion.getVersion());
    }
    
    private ModelVersion routeToModelVersion(ModelConfig config, PredictionRequest request) {
        // A/B testing logic
        if (config.isABTestingEnabled()) {
            String userId = request.getUserId();
            int hash = Math.abs(userId.hashCode());
            
            if (hash % 100 < config.getABTestPercentage()) {
                return config.getBModelVersion(); // New model
            } else {
                return config.getAModelVersion(); // Control model
            }
        }
        
        // Canary deployment logic
        if (config.isCanaryEnabled()) {
            // Route small percentage to new model
            if (Math.random() < config.getCanaryPercentage()) {
                return config.getCanaryModelVersion();
            }
        }
        
        return config.getDefaultModelVersion();
    }
}
Pro Tips
  • Implement proper model versioning and rollback
  • Use consistent hashing for A/B testing
  • Monitor model performance and drift
Important Warnings
  • A/B testing adds complexity - start simple
  • Ensure proper monitoring for all model versions

ML Pipeline Architecture Decision Tree

Use this interactive decision tree to choose the right ML pipeline architecture for your specific requirements. Get personalized recommendations.

Decision Point

ML Pipeline Architecture Selection

Choose the right ML pipeline architecture based on your specific requirements

What is your primary ML use case?

ML Pipeline Implementation Checklist

Follow this comprehensive checklist to ensure you cover all critical aspects of implementing real-time analytics and ML pipelines.

Progress0 / 8 completed

Define ML Use Cases

critical1-2 weeks

Identify specific ML use cases and success metrics for your real-time analytics pipeline

Planning

Design Feature Strategy

critical1-2 weeks

Plan feature engineering strategy, feature store architecture, and data lineage

Planning
Dependencies: planning-1

Choose ML Infrastructure

high1 week

Select ML frameworks, model serving platforms, and monitoring tools

Planning
Dependencies: planning-2

Build Feature Store

high3-4 weeks

Implement feature store with online and offline serving capabilities

Implementation
Dependencies: planning-3

Create ML Pipeline

high4-6 weeks

Build end-to-end ML pipeline from data ingestion to model serving

Implementation
Dependencies: implementation-1

Model Validation

high1-2 weeks

Validate model performance, feature drift, and prediction accuracy

Testing
Dependencies: implementation-2

Production Deployment

critical1-2 weeks

Deploy ML pipeline to production with monitoring and alerting

Deployment
Dependencies: testing-1

ML Operations

high2-3 weeks

Set up MLOps monitoring, model retraining, and performance tracking

Monitoring
Dependencies: deployment-1

ML Platform & Tools Comparison

Compare different ML platforms and tools to choose the right technology stack for your ML pipeline implementation.

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TensorFlow Serving

Model Serving

High-performance serving system for machine learning models designed for production environments

4.6/5
25.3% market share
Free
Learning
Medium
Community
Large
Documentation
Good
Features
5
Key Features
High PerformanceModel VersioningA/B TestingREST/gRPC APIsDocker Support
Pros
  • Excellent performance
  • Production ready
  • Good versioning
  • Flexible APIs
  • Docker support
Cons
  • TensorFlow specific
  • Complex configuration
  • Limited model formats
Best For
  • TensorFlow models
  • High-performance serving
  • Production deployments
  • A/B testing
Not For
  • Non-TensorFlow models
  • Simple deployments
  • Quick prototyping

MLflow

ML Platform

Open-source platform for managing the end-to-end machine learning lifecycle

4.3/5
18.5% market share
Free
Learning
Easy
Community
Large
Documentation
Good
Features
5
Key Features
Experiment TrackingModel RegistryModel ServingDeploymentReproducibility
Pros
  • Excellent experiment tracking
  • Model versioning
  • Easy deployment
  • Open source
  • Good documentation
Cons
  • Limited enterprise features
  • Basic model serving
  • Community support only
Best For
  • Experiment tracking
  • Model management
  • Small to medium teams
  • Open source adoption
Not For
  • Enterprise ML platforms
  • Advanced model serving
  • Large-scale deployments

Ready to Build Production ML Pipelines?

You now have the knowledge and tools to implement production-ready ML pipelines. Start with the implementation checklist and work through the tutorials step by step.