Migrating to Apache Iceberg: Strategies for Every Source System

This article, part 15 of an Apache Iceberg Masterclass, covers three migration strategies for moving data to Apache Iceberg: in-place migration (metadata only), full rewrite (CTAS), and shadow migration (build and swap). It explains the view swap pattern for zero-downtime migration, including federation, building Iceberg tables, validation, and swapping. The article also discusses choosing the right strategy, migrating one table at a time, post-migration checklist, and common pitfalls. Aimed at IT professionals managing legacy Hive tables, data warehouses, or Parquet directories, it provides practical guidance for incremental, non-disruptive migrations.