1. A method comprising: activating a data flow pipeline using one or more computing devices of one or more network services for a predetermined amount of time at an initial level of provisioning of computing resources for the data flow pipeline; sampling flow rates and machine performance measurements at the activated nodes of the pipeline for the predetermined amount of time; calculating flow rate efficiency of the nodes in the data flow pipeline for the predetermined amount of time from the sampled flow rates by propagating input source streaming data rates through the data flow pipeline; identifying whether underflow or overflow conditions are likely to exist for individual ones of the nodes of the data flow pipeline based on the calculations; and responsive to the identifying that the underflow or overflow conditions are likely to exist, adjusting the initial level of provisioning of the computing resources.