Tables

Tables are fundamental to database systems, representing collections of data organized by rows and associated data types.

Apache Arrow Flight, however, does not natively support the concept of tables. Instead, it handles collections of flights. A flight from an Arrow Flight server can represent a table because it has a fixed schema. The Arrow flight server can return the contents of a flight either by streaming it back to the client or by returning URLs to where the contents of the flight can be obtained.

In traditional databases, tables support both reading and modification. Reading typically involves SELECT statements, while modifications occur through UPDATE, DELETE, or INSERT operations. While Arrow Flight servers are not required to support all these operations, the Airport extension facilitates all of them.

Arrow Flight Server Implementation Notes

DuckDB Catalog Integration

For information about how to register an Arrow Flight as a table refer to Server Catalog Integration.

Supporting Different Operations

Arrow Flight Server Implementation Notes

DuckDB Catalog Integration

Supporting Different Operations

Select

Insert

Update

Delete