Files
lancedb/docs/web/enterprise/distributed-write.mdx
T
Jack YeandClaude Sonnet 5 5e38120bdc docs: add storage integration SDK examples, abstract RTE write, simplify cache pages (#4865)
## Summary

- **Define Storage Integration**: un-gates the Python (and Rust, for S3)
`create_storage_integration` examples, drafted against #4618 and held
back until it shipped -- it's now in v0.42.0-beta.0+, and the signature
matches the drafts exactly.
- **Naming rules**: drops the `Branch` row and its "Learn more" link,
consistent with de-emphasizing branches elsewhere in this nav.
- **Distributed RTE Write**: removes the REST path, the
`__lance_mem_wal` index name, and "WAL node" terminology in favor of an
abstract framing -- a query node routes writes to RTE nodes, each of
which can host shards from many different tables. Both diagram variants
are updated to match.
- **Data Page Cache / Tiered Index Cache / Cache Prewarm**: drop
Helm-specific and exact-percentage detail (disk-budget math,
`startup_prewarm_block_query_ready`/`healthPort`/failure-policy table)
in favor of a short feature → architecture → why-it-matters shape, each
closing with a contact-sales pointer. Data Page Cache's on-demand
prewarm section is removed outright.

## Note

I wasn't able to get a clean visual render of the updated Distributed
RTE Write diagram in local preview -- Mermaid isn't rendering in
headless Chrome in this environment for *any* page right now, confirmed
against an unmodified reference page showing the identical symptom. The
diagram source follows the exact pattern already shipped and working in
the 21 diagrams from the earlier brand-theming pass, and `mint
validate`/`mint broken-links` both pass clean.

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-11-05 01:40:54 -08:00

91 lines
3.3 KiB
Plaintext

---
title: "Distributed Write"
sidebarTitle: "Distributed Write"
description: "How LanceDB Enterprise distributes a CTAS import's writes across plan executors."
icon: upload
availability:
embedded: unavailable
enterprise: available
---
Distributed write applies specifically to importing data with `CREATE
TABLE ... AS SELECT`: the query node that planned the statement partitions
the source -- Parquet files from a HuggingFace dataset, or row-group
ranges of an existing Lance dataset in object storage -- across plan
executors, each of which writes its own uncommitted Lance data files and
reports back. The query node collects those results and commits them
together as the new table's first version; no separate coordinator
service is involved. See [Architecture](/index#architecture).
<div className="hidden dark:block">
```mermaid
%%{init: {"theme": "base", "themeVariables": {
"background": "#171513", "primaryColor": "#1e1b19", "primaryTextColor": "#f4ebe8",
"primaryBorderColor": "#4c443f", "lineColor": "#847770", "textColor": "#f4ebe8",
"edgeLabelBackground": "#171513", "fontFamily": "Inter, sans-serif", "fontSize": "18px"
}}}%%
flowchart LR
S["Source<br/>HuggingFace Parquet, or an<br/>existing Lance dataset in<br/>S3 / GCS / Azure"]
Q["Query node<br/>plans the CTAS,<br/>commits the result"]
PE1["Plan executor<br/>writes uncommitted files"]
PE2["Plan executor<br/>writes uncommitted files"]
PE3["Plan executor<br/>writes uncommitted files"]
S --> Q
Q --> PE1
Q --> PE2
Q --> PE3
PE1 --> Q
PE2 --> Q
PE3 --> Q
classDef default fill:#1e1b19,stroke:#4c443f,stroke-width:1px,color:#f4ebe8
classDef accent fill:#2a1810,stroke:#e8582d,stroke-width:1.5px,color:#f4ebe8
class Q accent
```
</div>
<div className="block dark:hidden">
```mermaid
%%{init: {"theme": "base", "themeVariables": {
"background": "#ffffff", "primaryColor": "#ffffff", "primaryTextColor": "#221d19",
"primaryBorderColor": "#ad9e95", "lineColor": "#6b625c", "textColor": "#221d19",
"edgeLabelBackground": "#ffffff", "fontFamily": "Inter, sans-serif", "fontSize": "18px"
}}}%%
flowchart LR
S["Source<br/>HuggingFace Parquet, or an<br/>existing Lance dataset in<br/>S3 / GCS / Azure"]
Q["Query node<br/>plans the CTAS,<br/>commits the result"]
PE1["Plan executor<br/>writes uncommitted files"]
PE2["Plan executor<br/>writes uncommitted files"]
PE3["Plan executor<br/>writes uncommitted files"]
S --> Q
Q --> PE1
Q --> PE2
Q --> PE3
PE1 --> Q
PE2 --> Q
PE3 --> Q
classDef default fill:#ffffff,stroke:#ad9e95,stroke-width:1px,color:#221d19
classDef accent fill:#fff1ec,stroke:#e8582d,stroke-width:1.5px,color:#221d19
class Q accent
```
</div>
An ordinary `INSERT` or `merge_insert`, from SQL or the SDK, does not
distribute this way -- it runs as a single write, on whichever node or
process executes it. Only a CTAS import fans the write itself out across
machines.
## Write interfaces {#write-interfaces}
- [Import Datasets](/ingestion/import) for the CTAS syntax this
distributes.
- [Insert data](/ingestion/insert) and [Merge](/ingestion/merge-insert)
for the ordinary, non-distributed write paths.
- [Storage Integration](/sql/ddl/storage-integration) for configuring
the source a CTAS import reads from.