StarRocks Lakehouse Integration

When to Use

• Query Iceberg/Hive/Delta Lake tables directly from StarRocks without copying data
• ETL: read from lakehouse → transform → write to StarRocks internal tables
• Federation queries joining StarRocks internal tables with external Iceberg tables
• Writing StarRocks query results back to Iceberg (3.1+)
• Schema discovery and sampling on lakehouse files before committing to DDL

---

Supported External Catalogs

Catalog Type	StarRocks Connector	Formats Supported
Apache Iceberg	iceberg	Parquet, ORC, Avro
Apache Hive	hive	Parquet, ORC, CSV, Text
Delta Lake	delta	Parquet
Apache Hudi	hudi	Parquet
JDBC (PostgreSQL, MySQL)	jdbc	—
Elasticsearch	elasticsearch	—

---

Iceberg Catalog Setup

Hive Metastore (HMS)

CREATE EXTERNAL CATALOG iceberg_hms
COMMENT "Iceberg catalog backed by Hive Metastore"
PROPERTIES (
    "type" = "iceberg",
    "iceberg.catalog.type" = "hive",
    "hive.metastore.uris" = "thrift://hive-metastore.internal:9083",
    -- S3 credentials
    "aws.s3.use_instance_profile" = "true",
    "aws.s3.region" = "us-east-1"
);

AWS Glue

CREATE EXTERNAL CATALOG iceberg_glue
PROPERTIES (
    "type" = "iceberg",
    "iceberg.catalog.type" = "glue",
    "aws.glue.use_instance_profile" = "true",
    "aws.glue.region" = "us-east-1",
    "aws.s3.use_instance_profile" = "true",
    "aws.s3.region" = "us-east-1"
);

REST Catalog (Polaris / Tabular / Nessie)

CREATE EXTERNAL CATALOG iceberg_rest
PROPERTIES (
    "type" = "iceberg",
    "iceberg.catalog.type" = "rest",
    "iceberg.catalog.uri" = "https://polaris.internal/api/catalog",
    "iceberg.catalog.warehouse" = "production_warehouse",
    "iceberg.catalog.security" = "oauth2",
    "iceberg.catalog.oauth2.credential" = "client_id:client_secret",
    "iceberg.catalog.oauth2.scope" = "PRINCIPAL_ROLE:ALL",
    "aws.s3.use_instance_profile" = "true",
    "aws.s3.region" = "us-east-1"
);

MinIO + HMS (Local/On-prem)

CREATE EXTERNAL CATALOG iceberg_minio
PROPERTIES (
    "type" = "iceberg",
    "iceberg.catalog.type" = "hive",
    "hive.metastore.uris" = "thrift://hive-metastore:9083",
    "aws.s3.access_key" = "minio_user",
    "aws.s3.secret_key" = "minio_password",
    "aws.s3.endpoint" = "http://minio.internal:9000",
    "aws.s3.enable_path_style_access" = "true"
);

---

Hive Catalog

CREATE EXTERNAL CATALOG hive_prod
PROPERTIES (
    "type" = "hive",
    "hive.metastore.uris" = "thrift://hive-metastore:9083",
    "aws.s3.use_instance_profile" = "true",
    "aws.s3.region" = "us-east-1"
);

-- Query partitioned Hive table
SELECT * FROM hive_prod.warehouse.orders
WHERE dt = '2024-01-15'
LIMIT 1000;

---

Delta Lake Catalog

CREATE EXTERNAL CATALOG delta_prod
PROPERTIES (
    "type" = "delta",
    "hive.metastore.uris" = "thrift://hive-metastore:9083",
    "aws.s3.use_instance_profile" = "true",
    "aws.s3.region" = "us-east-1"
);

SELECT * FROM delta_prod.analytics.orders_delta
WHERE event_date = '2024-01-15';

---

Catalog Navigation

-- List all catalogs
SHOW CATALOGS;

-- Set default catalog for session
SET CATALOG iceberg_hms;

-- List databases
SHOW DATABASES FROM iceberg_hms;

-- List tables
SHOW TABLES FROM iceberg_hms.analytics;

-- Describe external table schema
DESCRIBE iceberg_hms.analytics.orders;

-- View catalog definition
SHOW CREATE CATALOG iceberg_hms;

-- Drop catalog
DROP CATALOG iceberg_hms;

---

Cross-Catalog ETL

Read from Iceberg, transform, write to StarRocks internal table:

-- Daily partition load from Iceberg → StarRocks
INSERT OVERWRITE sales.orders PARTITION (dt='2024-01-15')
SELECT
    order_id,
    customer_id,
    amount,
    status,
    DATE(created_at) AS dt
FROM iceberg_hms.raw_layer.orders
WHERE DATE(created_at) = '2024-01-15'
  AND amount > 0
  AND status IS NOT NULL;

Incremental Load from Iceberg

-- Load only rows newer than StarRocks watermark
INSERT INTO sales.orders
SELECT o.order_id, o.customer_id, o.amount, o.status, o.created_at
FROM iceberg_hms.raw_layer.orders o
WHERE o.updated_at > (
    SELECT COALESCE(MAX(updated_at), '2024-01-01') FROM sales.orders
);

---

Writing Back to Iceberg (StarRocks 3.1+)

StarRocks can write to catalogs it manages:

-- Create a new database in external Iceberg catalog
CREATE DATABASE iceberg_hms.gold_layer;

-- Create Iceberg table through StarRocks
CREATE TABLE iceberg_hms.gold_layer.orders_daily (
    dt          DATE,
    customer_id BIGINT,
    region      VARCHAR(64),
    order_count BIGINT,
    revenue     DECIMAL(18, 2)
)
PARTITION BY (dt);

-- Write StarRocks aggregation to Iceberg
INSERT INTO iceberg_hms.gold_layer.orders_daily
SELECT
    DATE(created_at)     AS dt,
    customer_id,
    region,
    COUNT(*)             AS order_count,
    SUM(amount)          AS revenue
FROM sales.orders
WHERE DATE(created_at) = '2024-01-15'
GROUP BY DATE(created_at), customer_id, region;

---

Partition Filter Pushdown

StarRocks pushes WHERE clauses on partition columns down to Iceberg/Hive metadata, skipping entire partitions:

-- Good: uses partition pruning
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM iceberg_hms.analytics.events
WHERE dt = '2024-01-15';
-- EXPLAIN shows: partitions=1/365

-- Bad: function wrapping prevents pruning
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM iceberg_hms.analytics.events
WHERE YEAR(dt) = 2024 AND MONTH(dt) = 1;
-- Use instead:
WHERE dt >= '2024-01-01' AND dt < '2024-02-01'

Verify partition pushdown:

EXPLAIN SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM iceberg_hms.analytics.events
WHERE dt = '2024-01-15';
-- Look for: partitions=1/365 in IcebergScanNode

---

Statistics on External Tables

CBO has no stats on external tables by default; collect manually:

-- Collect statistics on Iceberg table
ANALYZE TABLE iceberg_hms.analytics.orders
WITH ASYNC MODE;

-- Check analyze status
SHOW ANALYZE STATUS;

-- Collect on specific columns only (faster)
ANALYZE TABLE iceberg_hms.analytics.orders
(order_id, customer_id, amount);

---

Cache Invalidation

StarRocks caches external table metadata. Refresh when source changes:

-- Refresh metadata for specific external table
REFRESH EXTERNAL TABLE iceberg_hms.analytics.orders;

-- Refresh specific partitions only
REFRESH EXTERNAL TABLE iceberg_hms.analytics.events
PARTITION ('dt=2024-01-15', 'dt=2024-01-16');

---

Federation Query: StarRocks + Iceberg + Hive

-- Join internal StarRocks table with Iceberg and Hive tables
SELECT
    sr.order_id,
    sr.customer_id,
    ice.product_name,
    hive.customer_name,
    sr.amount
FROM sales.orders sr                                    -- internal StarRocks
JOIN iceberg_hms.catalog.products ice                   -- Iceberg catalog
    ON sr.product_id = ice.product_id
JOIN hive_prod.customer_db.customers hive               -- Hive catalog
    ON sr.customer_id = hive.customer_id
WHERE sr.created_at >= '2024-01-15'
  AND ice.category = 'electronics'
LIMIT 1000;

---

Iceberg Time Travel Queries

-- Query Iceberg table at a specific snapshot
SELECT * FROM iceberg_hms.analytics.orders
FOR VERSION AS OF 3821550127947089987;

-- Query Iceberg table at a specific timestamp
SELECT * FROM iceberg_hms.analytics.orders
FOR TIMESTAMP AS OF '2024-01-15 10:00:00';

-- Show Iceberg table history
SELECT * FROM iceberg_hms.analytics.orders$snapshots
ORDER BY committed_at DESC
LIMIT 10;

---

Iceberg Schema Evolution Handling

Change Type	StarRocks Behavior
Add column	Returns NULL for pre-add rows
Drop column	Column hidden, not in SELECT *
Rename column	New name appears automatically
Type widening (INT→BIGINT)	Read with new type automatically
Type narrowing	May cause errors — avoid

---

Anti-Patterns

1. s3:// instead of s3a:// in catalog config — StarRocks requires s3a:// for AWS S3 paths in INFILE/FILES(); catalog config uses aws.s3.* properties instead.
2. No REFRESH EXTERNAL TABLE after Iceberg compaction — compaction creates new manifest files; StarRocks caches the old metadata and queries fail or miss data.
3. No statistics on external tables — CBO assumes uniform distribution, leading to bad join orders and plans; always run ANALYZE after schema discovery.
4. Storing Iceberg catalog credentials in DDL — CREATE EXTERNAL CATALOG with plaintext keys gets logged in FE audit log; use environment profiles or Vault injection.
5. Writing to Hive-managed tables via StarRocks — StarRocks Iceberg write (3.1+) supports only Iceberg; Hive-managed tables are read-only from StarRocks.
6. Querying large Iceberg tables without partition filter — StarRocks will scan all files; always add partition predicate and verify with EXPLAIN.

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References

• Iceberg catalog: docs.starrocks.io/docs/data_source/catalog/iceberg/iceberg_catalog/
• Hive catalog: docs.starrocks.io/docs/data_source/catalog/hive_catalog/
• Delta catalog: docs.starrocks.io/docs/data_source/catalog/delta_lake_catalog/
• Write to external catalogs: docs.starrocks.io/docs/data_source/catalog/iceberg/iceberg_catalog/#write-to-iceberg-tables
• Related skills: [[starrocks-files-ingestion]], [[starrocks-data-modeling]], [[trino-iceberg]], [[delta-lake]]