Apache Spark Interview

Questions and Answers PDF

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 1

 Table of Contents
Top Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers for 2023 .............................................3

Spark Architecture Interview Questions and Answers ......................................................3

Spark SQL Interview Questions and Answers.....................................................................7

Spark Streaming Interview Questions and Answers...........................................................9

Spark MLib Interview Questions and Answers..................................................................12

Spark GraphX Interview Questions and Answers .............................................................14

Scala Spark Interview Questions and Answers.................................................................16

Hadoop Spark Interview Questions and Answers .............................................................18

PySpark Interview Questions and Answers ......................................................................21

Spark Optimization Interview Questions and Answers ....................................................24

Spark Coding Interview Questions and Answers ..............................................................26

Nail your Upcoming Spark Interview with ProjectPro’s Solved end-to-end Enterprise-
grade projects......................................................................................................................31

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 2

Top Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers for
2023
Preparation is crucial to reduce nervousness at any big data job interview. Regardless
of the big data expertise and skills one possesses, every candidate dreads the face-to-
face big data job interview. Though there is no way of predicting exactly what
questions will be asked in any big data or spark developer job interview- these Apache
spark interview questions and answers might help you prepare for these interviews
better.

Spark Architecture Interview Questions and Answers

Spark Architecture is a widely used big data processing engine that enables fast and
efficient data processing in distributed environments. The commonly asked interview
questions and answers are listed below to help you prepare and confidently showcase
your expertise in Spark Architecture.

1. What are the different cluster managers provided by Apache Spark?

Three different cluster managers are available on Apache Spark. These are:

● Standalone Cluster Manager: The Standalone Cluster Manager is a simple cluster

manager responsible for managing resources based on application requirements.
The Standalone Cluster Manager is resilient in that it can handle task failures. It is
designed so that it has masters and workers who are configured with a certain
amount of allocated memory and CPU cores. Using this cluster manager, Spark
gives resources based on the core.

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 3

● Apache Mesos: Apache Mesos uses dynamic resource sharing and isolation to
handle the workload in a distributed environment. Mesos is useful for managing and
deploying applications in large-scale clusters. Apache Mesos combines
existing physical resources on the nodes in a cluster into a single virtual
resource.
Apache Mesos contains three components:
1. Mesos masters: The Mesos master is an instance of the cluster. To provide
fault tolerance, a cluster will have many Mesos masters. However, only one
instance of the master is considered the leading master. The Mesos master
is in charge of sharing the resources between the applications.
2. Mesos agent: The Mesos agent manages the resources on physical nodes to
run the framework.
3. Mesos frameworks: Applications that run on top of Mesos are called Mesos
frameworks. A framework, in turn, comprises the scheduler, which acts as a
controller, and the executor, which carries out the work to be done.

● Hadoop YARN: YARN is short for Yet Another Resource Negotiator. It is a

technology that is part of the Hadoop framework, which handles resource
management and scheduling of jobs. YARN allocates resources to various
applications running in a Hadoop cluster and schedules jobs to be executed on
multiple cluster nodes. YARN was added as one of the critical features of Hadoop
2.0.

2. Explain the critical libraries that constitute the Spark Ecosystem.

The Spark Ecosystem comprises several critical libraries that offer various
functionalities. These libraries include:

● Spark MLib - This machine learning library is built within Spark and offers
commonly used learning algorithms like clustering, regression, classification,
etc. Spark MLib enables developers to integrate machine learning pipelines
into Spark applications and perform various tasks like data preparation,
model training, and prediction.
● Spark Streaming - This library is designed to process real-time streaming
data. Spark Streaming allows developers to process data in small batches or
micro-batches, enabling real-time streaming data processing. Spark
applications can handle high-volume data streams with low latency with this
library.
● Spark GraphX - This library provides a robust API for parallel graph
computations. It offers basic operators like subgraph, joinVertices,
aggregateMessages, etc., that help developers build graph computations on
top of Spark. With GraphX, developers can quickly build complex
graph-based applications, including recommendation systems, social
network analysis, and fraud detection.
● Spark SQL - This library enables developers to execute SQL-like queries on
Spark data using standard visualization or BI tools. Spark SQL offers a rich

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 4

 set of features, including a SQL interface, DataFrame API, and support for
JDBC and ODBC drivers. With Spark SQL, developers can easily integrate
Spark with other data processing tools and use familiar SQL-based queries
to analyze data.

3. What are the key features of Apache Spark that you like? ●

 Spark provides advanced analytic options like graph algorithms, machine

learning, streaming data, etc.
 It has built-in APIs in multiple languages like Java, Scala, Python, and R. ● It has
good performance gains, as it helps run an application in the Hadoop cluster ten
times faster on disk and 100 times faster in memory.

4. What are the popular use cases of Apache Spark?

Apache Spark is primarily used for

● Stream processing,
● Interactive data analytics, and processing.
● Iterative machine learning.
● Sensor data processing

5. What do you understand by Pair RDD?

Special operations can be performed on RDDs in Spark using key/value pairs,

and such RDDs are referred to as Pair RDDs. Pair RDDs allow users to access
each key in parallel. They have a reduceByKey () method that collects data
based on each key and a join () method that combines different RDDs, based on
the elements having the same key.

6. What is Spark Core?

It has all the basic functionalities of Spark, like - memory management, fault
recovery, interacting with storage systems, scheduling tasks, etc.

7. How can you remove the elements with a key present in any other RDD?

Use the subtractByKey () function

8. How Spark handles monitoring and logging in Standalone mode?

Spark has a web-based user interface for monitoring the cluster in standalone
mode that shows the cluster and job statistics. The log output for each job is
written to the working directory of the slave nodes.

9. Does Apache Spark provide checkpointing?

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 5

 Yes, Apache Spark provides checkpointing as a mechanism to improve the fault
tolerance and reliability of Spark applications. When a Spark job is checkpointed,
the state of the RDDs is saved to a reliable storage system, such as Hadoop
Distributed File System (HDFS), to avoid recomputation in case of job failure.
Checkpointing can be used to recover RDDs more efficiently, especially when
they have long lineage chains. However, it is up to the user to decide which data
should be checkpointed as part of the Spark job.

10.How Spark uses Akka?

Spark uses Akka basically for scheduling. All the workers request a task from the
master after registering, and the master assigns the task. Here Spark uses Akka
for messaging between the workers and masters.

11. How can you achieve high availability in Apache Spark?

● Implementing single-node recovery with the local file system

● Using StandBy Masters with Apache ZooKeeper.

12. How does Apache Spark uses replication to achieve fault tolerance?

Apache Spark achieves fault tolerance by using RDDs as the data storage
model. RDDs maintain lineage information, which enables them to rebuild lost
partitions using information from other datasets. Therefore, if a partition of an
RDD is lost due to a failure, only that specific partition needs to be rebuilt using
lineage information.

13. Explain the core components of a distributed Spark application.

● Driver- The process that runs the main () method of the program to create RDDs
and perform transformations and actions on them.
● Executor – The worker processes that run the individual tasks of a Spark job.
● Cluster Manager- A pluggable component in Spark to launch Executors and
Drivers. The cluster manager allows Spark to run on top of other external managers
like Apache Mesos or YARN.

14. What do you understand by Lazy Evaluation?

Spark is intellectual in the manner in which it operates on data. When you tell
Spark to run on a given dataset, it heeds the instructions and notes it so that it
remembers - but it only does something if asked for the final result. When a
transformation like a map () is called on an RDD-the operation is not performed
immediately. Transformations in Spark are only evaluated once you act. This
helps in the optimization of the overall data processing workflow.

15. Define a worker node.

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 6

 A worker node is a component within a cluster that is capable of executing Spark
application code. It can contain multiple workers, configured using the
SPARK_WORKER_INSTANCES property in the spark-env.sh file. If this
property is not defined, only one worker will be launched.

16. Explain the Executor Memory in a Spark application?

Executor Memory in a Spark application refers to the amount of memory

allocated to an executor process. It stores data processed during Spark tasks. It
can impact application performance if set too high or too low. It can be
configured using a parameter called spark.executor.memory..

17. What does the Spark Engine do?

The Spark engine schedules, distribute, and monitors the data application
across the spark cluster.

18. Compare map() and flatMap() in Spark.

In Spark, map() transformation is applied to each row in a dataset to return a

new dataset. flatMap() transformation is also used for each dataset row, but a
new flattened dataset is returned. In the case of flatMap, if a record is nested
(e.g., a column that is in itself made up of a list or array), the data within that
record gets extracted and is returned as a new row of the returned dataset.

● Both map() and flatMap() transformations are narrow, meaning they do not
result in the shuffling of data in Spark.
● flatMap() is a one-to-many transformation function that returns more rows than
the current DataFrame. Map() returns the same number of records as in the
input DataFrame.
● flatMap() can give a result that contains redundant data in some columns.
● flatMap() can flatten a column that contains arrays or lists. It can be used to
flatten any other nested collection too.

Spark SQL Interview Questions and Answers

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 7

If you're preparing for a Spark SQL interview, you must have a solid understanding of
SQL concepts, Spark's data processing capabilities, and the syntax used in Spark SQL
queries. Check out the list of commonly asked Spark SQL interview questions and
answers below to help you prepare for your interview and demonstrate your proficiency
in Spark SQL.

19. Can spark be used to analyze and access the data stored in Cassandra
databases?
Yes, it is possible to use Spark Cassandra Connector. It enables you to connect
your Spark cluster to a Cassandra database, allowing efficient data transfer and
analysis between the two technologies.

20. What is the Catalyst framework?

The catalyst framework is a new optimization framework present in Spark SQL. It

allows Spark to automatically transform SQL queries by adding new
optimizations to build a faster processing system.

21. What is the advantage of a Parquet file?

A Parquet file is a columnar format file that helps –

● Limit I/O operations

● Consumes less space
● Fetches only required columns.

22. What are the various data sources available in SparkSQL?

● Parquet file

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 8

 ● JSON Datasets
● Hive tables

23. What do you understand by SchemaRDD?

SchemaRDD is a data structure in Apache Spark that represents a distributed

collection of structured data, where each record has a well-defined schema or
structure. The schema defines the data type and format of each column in the
dataset.

24. Explain the difference between Spark SQL and Hive.

 Spark SQL is faster than Hive.
 Any Hive query can quickly be executed in Spark SQL but vice-versa is not true.
 Spark SQL is a library, whereas Hive is a framework.
 It is not mandatory to create a metastore in Spark SQL, but it is compulsory to
create a Hive metastore.
 Spark SQL automatically infers the schema, whereas, in Hive, the schema needs
to be explicitly declared.

25. What is the purpose of BlinkDB?

BlinkDB is an approximate query engine built on top of Hive and Spark. Its
purpose is to allow users to trade off query accuracy for a shorter response time
and, in the process, enable interactive queries on the data.

26. What are scalar and aggregate functions in Spark SQL?

In Spark SQL, Scalar functions are those functions that return a single value for
each row. Scalar functions include built-in functions, including array functions
and map functions. Aggregate functions return a single value for a group of rows.
Some of the built-in aggregate functions include min(), max(), count(),
countDistinct(), avg(). Users can also create their own scalar and aggregate
functions.

27. Differentiate between the temp and global temp view on Spark SQL.
Temp views in Spark SQL are tied to the Spark session that created the view
and will no longer be available upon the termination of the Spark session.

Global temp views in Spark SQL are not tied to a particular Spark session but
can be shared across multiple Spark sessions. They are linked to a system
database and can only be created and accessed using the qualified name
"global_temp." Global temporary views remain available until the Spark session
is terminated.

Spark Streaming Interview Questions and Answers

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 9

During a Spark interview, employers frequently ask questions about Spark Streaming,
as it is a widely used real-time streaming engine built on top of Apache Spark that
facilitates the processing of continuous data streams in real-time. Here is a list of the
most frequently asked interview questions on Spark Streaming:

28. What is Spark Streaming, and how is it different from batch processing?

Spark Streaming is a real-time processing framework that allows users to

process data streams in real time. It ingests data from various sources such as
Kafka, Flume, and HDFS, processes the data in mini-batches, and then delivers
the output to other systems such as databases or dashboards.

On the other hand, batch processing processes a large amount of data at once
in a batch. It is typically used for processing historical data or offline data
processing. Batch processing frameworks such as Apache Hadoop and Apache
Spark batch mode process data in a distributed manner and store the results in
Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) or other file systems.

29. Explain the significance of Sliding Window operation?

Sliding Window is an operation that plays an important role in managing the flow
of data packets between computer networks. It allows for efficient data
processing by dividing it into smaller, manageable chunks. The Spark Streaming
library also uses Sliding Window by providing a way to perform computations on
data within a specific time frame or window. As the window slides forward, the
library combines and operates on the data to produce new results. This enables
continuous processing of data streams and efficient analysis of real-time data.

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 10

30. What is a DStream?

Discretized Stream is a sequence of Resilient Distributed Databases

representing a data stream. DStreams can be created from various sources like
Apache Kafka, HDFS, and Apache Flume. DStreams have two operations –

● Transformations that produce a new DStream.

● Output operations that write data to an external system.

31. Explain the types of transformations on DStreams.

In DStreams, there are two types of transformations - stateless and stateful.

Stateless transformations refer to the processing of a batch that is independent

of the output of the previous batch. Common examples of stateless
transformations include operations like map(), reduceByKey(), and filter().

On the other hand, stateful transformations rely on the intermediary results of the
previous batch for processing the current batch. These transformations are
typically associated with sliding windows, which consider a window of data
instead of individual batches.

32. Name some sources from where Spark streaming component can process
real-time data.

Apache Flume, Apache Kafka, Amazon Kinesis.

33. What is the bottom layer of abstraction in the Spark Streaming API?

DStream.

34. What do you understand by receivers in Spark Streaming?

Receivers are unique entities in Spark Streaming that consume data from
various data sources and move them to Apache Spark. Receivers are usually
created by streaming contexts as long-running tasks on different executors and
scheduled to operate round-robin, with each receiver taking a single core.

35. How will you calculate the executors required for real-time processing using
Apache Spark? What factors must be considered to decide the number of
nodes for real-time processing?
The number of nodes can be decided by benchmarking the hardware and
considering multiple factors such as optimal throughput (network speed),
memory usage, the execution frameworks being used (YARN, Standalone, or
Mesos), and considering the other jobs that are running within those execution
frameworks along with a spark.

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 11

36. What is the difference between Spark Transform in DStream and map?

The transform function in spark streaming allows developers to use Apache

Spark transformations on the underlying RDDs for the Stream. The map function
in Hadoop is used for an element-to-element transform and can be implemented
using a transform. Ideally, the map works on the elements of Dstream and
transforms developers to work with RDDs of the DStream. A map is an
elementary transformation, whereas a transform is an RDD transformation.

37. How does Spark Streaming handle caching?

Spark Streaming supports caching via the underlying Spark engine's caching
mechanism. It allows you to cache data in memory to make it faster to access
and reuse in subsequent operations.

To use caching in Spark Streaming, you can call the cache() method on a
DStream or RDD to cache the data in memory. When you perform operations on
the cached data, Spark Streaming will use the cached data instead of
recomputing it from scratch.

Spark MLib Interview Questions and Answers

If you're preparing for a Spark MLib interview, you must have a strong understanding of
machine learning concepts, Spark's distributed computing architecture, and the usage
of MLib APIs. Here is a list of frequently asked Spark MLib interview questions and
answers to help you prepare and demonstrate your proficiency in Spark MLib.

38. What is Spark MLlib, and what are its key features?

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 12

 Spark MLlib is a machine learning library built on Apache Spark, a distributed
computing framework. It provides a rich set of tools for machine learning tasks
such as regression, clustering, classification, and collaborative filtering. Its key
features include scalability, distributed algorithms, and easy integration with
Spark's data processing capabilities.

39. How does Spark MLlib differ from machine learning libraries like Scikit-Learn
or TensorFlow?
Spark MLlib is designed for distributed computing, which means it can handle
large datasets that are too big for a single machine. Scikit-Learn, on the other
hand, is intended for single-machine environments and needs to be better suited
for big data. TensorFlow is a deep learning library focusing on neural networks
and requires specialized hardware, such as GPUs, for efficient computation.
Spark MLlib supports a broader range of machine learning algorithms than
TensorFlow and integrates better with Spark's distributed computing
capabilities.

40. What are the types of machine learning algorithms supported by Spark
MLlib?
Spark MLlib supports various machine learning algorithms, including
classification, regression, clustering, collaborative filtering, dimensionality
reduction, and feature extraction. It also includes tools for evaluation, model
selection, and tuning.

41. State the difference between supervised and unsupervised learning and
provide examples of each type of algorithm?
Supervised learning involves labeled data, and the algorithm learns to make
predictions based on that labeled data. Examples of supervised learning
algorithms include classification algorithms.

Unsupervised learning involves unlabeled data, and the algorithm learns to

identify patterns and structures within that data. Examples of unsupervised
learning algorithms include clustering algorithms.

42. How do you handle missing data in Spark MLlib?

Spark MLlib provides several methods for handling missing data, including
dropping rows or columns with missing values, imputing missing values with
mean or median values, and using machine learning algorithms that can handle
missing data, such as decision trees and random forests.

43. What is the difference between L1 and L2 regularization, and how are they
implemented in Spark MLlib?
L1 and L2 regularization are techniques for preventing overfitting in machine
learning models. L1 regularization adds a penalty term proportional to the
absolute value of the model coefficients, while L2 regularization adds a penalty

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 13

 term proportional to the square of the coefficients. L1 regularization is often used
for feature selection, while L2 regularization is used for smoother models. Both
L1 and L2 regularization can be implemented in Spark MLlib using the
regularization parameter in the model training algorithms.

44. How does Spark MLlib handle large datasets, and what are some best
practices for working with big data?
Spark MLlib handles large datasets by distributing the computation across
multiple nodes in a cluster. This allows it to process data that is too big for a
single machine. Some best practices for working with big data in Spark MLlib
include partitioning the data for efficient processing, caching frequently used
data, and using the appropriate data storage format for the application.

Spark GraphX Interview Questions and Answers

Employers may ask questions about GraphX during a Spark interview. It is a powerful
graph processing library built on top of Apache Spark, enabling efficient processing and
analysis of large-scale graphs. Check out the list of essential interview questions
below.

45. What is Spark's GraphX, and how does it differ from other graph processing
frameworks?

Spark's GraphX is a distributed graph processing framework that provides a

high-level API for performing graph computation on large-scale graphs. GraphX
allows users to express graph computation as a series of transformations and
provides optimized graph processing algorithms for various graph computations
such as PageRank and Connected Components.

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 14

 Compared to other graph processing frameworks such as Apache Graph and
Apache Flink, GraphX is tightly integrated with Spark and allows users to
combine graph computation with other Spark features such as machine learning
and streaming. GraphX provides a more concise API and better performance for
iterative graph computations.

46. What are the various kinds of operators provided by Spark GraphX?

Apache Spark GraphX provides three types of operators which are:

● Property operators: Property operators produce a new graph by modifying the

vertex or edge properties using a user-defined map function. Property
operators usually initialize a graph for further computation or remove
unnecessary properties.
● Structural operators: Structural operators work on creating new graphs after
making structural changes to existing graphs.
● The reverse method returns a new graph with the edge directions reversed.
● The subgraph operator takes vertex predicates and edge predicates as input
and returns a graph containing only vertices that satisfy the vertex predicate
and edges satisfying the edge predicates and then connects these edges
only to vertices where the vertex predicate evaluates to "true."
● The mask operator is used to construct a subgraph of the vertices and edges
found in the input graph.
● The groupEdges method is used to merge parallel edges in the multigraph.
Parallel edges are duplicate edges between pairs of vertices. ● Join
operators: Join operators are used to creating new graphs by adding data
from external collections such as resilient distribution datasets to charts.

47. Mention some analytic algorithms provided by Spark GraphX.

Spark GraphX comes with its own set of built-in graph algorithms, which can
help with graph processing and analytics tasks involving the graphs. The
algorithms are available in a library package called 'org.apache.spark.graphx.lib'.
These algorithms have to be called methods in the Graph class and can just be
reused rather than having to write our implementation of these algorithms. Some
of the algorithms provided by the GraphX library package are:

● PageRank
● Connected components
● Label propagation
● SVD++
● Strongly connected components
● Triangle count
● Single-Source-Shortest-Paths
● Community Detection

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 15

 Google's search engine uses the PageRank algorithm. It is used to find the
relative importance of an object within the graph dataset, and it measures the
importance of various nodes within the graph. In the case of Google, the
importance of a web page is determined by how many other websites refer to it.

Scala Spark Interview Questions and Answers

Scala is a programming language widely used for developing applications running on

the Apache Spark platform. If you're preparing for a Spark interview, you must
understand Scala programming concepts. Here is a list of the most commonly asked
spark scala interview questions:

48.What is Shark?
Most data users know only SQL and need to improve at programming. Shark is
a tool developed for people from a database background - to access Scala MLib
capabilities through a Hive-like SQL interface. Shark tool helps data users run
Hive on Spark - offering compatibility with Hive metastore, queries, and data.

49.What is a Spark driver?

The Spark driver is the program that controls the execution of a Spark job. It runs
on the master node and coordinates the distribution of tasks across the worker
nodes.

50. What is RDD in Spark?

RDDs (Resilient Distributed Datasets) are a basic abstraction in Apache Spark
that represent the data coming into the system in object format. RDDs are used
for in-memory computations on large clusters in a fault-tolerant manner. RDDs
are read-only portioned collections of records that are –

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 16

  Immutable – RDDs cannot be altered.
 Resilient – If a node holding the partition fails, the other node takes the
data.

51. What is a lineage graph?

The RDDs in Spark depend on one or more other RDDs. The representation of
dependencies between RDDs is known as the lineage graph. Lineage graph
information is used to compute each RDD on demand so the lost data can be
recovered using the lineage graph information whenever a part of persistent
RDD is lost.

52. What is a shuffle in Spark?

A shuffle is a stage in a Spark job where data is redistributed across the worker
nodes of a cluster. It is typically used to group or aggregate data.

53. What is the difference between local and cluster modes in Spark?

In local mode, Spark runs on a single machine, while in cluster mode, it runs on
a distributed cluster of machines. Cluster mode is typically used for processing
large datasets, while the local mode is used for testing and development.

54. Explain transformations and actions in the context of RDDs.

Transformations are functions executed on demand to produce a new RDD. All

transformations are followed by actions. Some examples of transformations
include map, filter, and reduceByKey.

Actions are the results of RDD computations or transformations. After an action

is performed, the data from RDD moves back to the local machine. Some
examples of actions include reduce, collect, first, and take.

55. State the difference between reduceByKey() and groupByKey() in Spark?

groupByKey() groups the values of an RDD by key, while reduceByKey() groups

the values of an RDD by key and applies a reduce function to each group.
reduceByKey() is more efficient than groupByKey() for large datasets.

56. What is a DataFrame in Spark?

A DataFrame in Spark is a distributed set of data that is arranged into columns

with specific names. It shares many similarities with a relational database table
but has been optimized for distributed computing environments.

57. What is a DataFrameWriter in Spark?

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 17

 A DataFrameWriter is a class in Spark that allows users to write the contents of
a DataFrame to a data source, such as a file or a database. It provides options
for controlling the output format and writing mode.

58. What is a partition in Spark?

In Spark, a partition refers to a logical division of input data into smaller subsets
or chunks that can be processed in parallel across different nodes in a cluster.
The input data is divided into partitions based on a partitioning scheme, such as
hash partitioning or range partitioning, which determines how the data is
distributed across the nodes.

Each partition is a data collection processed independently by a task or thread

on a worker node. By dividing the input data into partitions, Spark can perform
parallel processing and distribute the workload across the cluster, leading to
faster and more efficient processing of large datasets.

59. State the difference between repartition() and coalesce() in Spark?

Repartition () shuffles the data of an RDD. It evenly redistributes it across a

specified number of partitions, while coalesce() reduces the number of partitions
of an RDD without shuffling the data. Coalesce () is more efficient than
repartition() for reducing the number of partitions.

Hadoop Spark Interview Questions and Answers

Hadoop and Spark are the most popular open-source big data processing frameworks
today. Many organizations use Hadoop and Spark to perform various big data

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 18

processing tasks. Thus, during a spark interview, employers might ask questions based
on the integration between these two frameworks and their features and components.
Check out the list of such essential questions below.

60. Compare Spark vs. Hadoop MapReduce

Criteria Hadoop MapReduce Apache Spark

Memory Does not leverage the memory of the Let's save data on memory with
Hadoop cluster to the maximum. the use of RDD's.

Disk usage MapReduce is disk oriented. Spark caches data in-memory

and ensures low latency.

Processing Only batch processing is supported Supports real-time processing

through spark streaming.

Installation Is bound to Hadoop. Is not bound to Hadoop.

Simplicity, Flexibility, and Performance are the significant advantages of using

Spark over Hadoop.
● Spark is 100 times faster than Hadoop for big data processing as it offers
in-memory data storage using Resilient Distributed Databases (RDD).
● Spark is easier to program as it comes with an interactive mode.
● It provides complete recovery using a lineage graph whenever something
goes wrong.
Refer to Spark vs Hadoop

61. List some use cases where Spark outperforms Hadoop in processing.

 Sensor Data Processing –Apache Spark’s ‘In-memory computing’ works

best here, as data is retrieved and combined from different sources.
 Spark is preferred over Hadoop for real-time-querying of data.

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 19

  Stream Processing – Apache Spark is the best solution for processing
logs and detecting frauds in live streams for alerts.

62. How can Spark be connected to Apache Mesos?

To connect Spark with Mesos-

 Configure the spark driver program to connect to Mesos. Spark binary

package should be in a location accessible by Mesos. (or)
 Install Apache Spark in the same location as that of Apache Mesos and
configure the property 'spark.mesos.executor.home' to point to its installed
location.

63. How can you launch Spark jobs inside Hadoop MapReduce?

Using SIMR (Spark in MapReduce), users can run any spark job inside
MapReduce without requiring any admin rights.

64. Can Spark and Mesos run along with Hadoop?

Yes, it is possible to run Spark and Mesos with Hadoop by launching each
service on the machines. Mesos acts as a unified scheduler that assigns tasks to
either Spark or Hadoop.

65. When running Spark applications, is it necessary to install Spark on all the
nodes of the YARN cluster?

Spark need not be installed when running a job under YARN or Mesos because
Spark can execute on top of YARN or Mesos clusters without affecting any
change to the cluster.

66. How can you compare Hadoop and Spark in terms of ease of use?

Hadoop MapReduce requires programming in Java, which is difficult, though Pig

and Hive make it considerably easier. Learning Pig and Hive syntax takes time.
Spark has interactive APIs for different languages like Java, Python, or Scala
and also includes Shark, i.e., Spark SQL for SQL lovers - making it
comparatively easier to use than Hadoop.

67. How Spark uses Hadoop?

Spark has its cluster management computation and mainly uses Hadoop for
storage.
68. Which one will you choose for a project – Hadoop MapReduce or Apache
Spark?

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 20

 The answer to this question depends on the given project scenario - as it is
known that Spark uses memory instead of network and disk I/O. However, Spark
uses a large amount of RAM and requires a dedicated machine to produce
effective results. So the decision to use Hadoop or Spark varies dynamically with
the project's requirements and the organization's budget.

69. Explain the disadvantages of using Apache Spark over Hadoop MapReduce?

Apache Spark may not scale as efficiently for compute-intensive jobs and can
consume significant system resources. Additionally, the in-memory capability of
Spark can sometimes pose challenges for cost-efficient big data processing.
Also, Spark lacks a file management system, which means it must be integrated
with other cloud-based data platforms or Apache Hadoop. This can add
complexity to the deployment and management of Spark applications.

70. Is it necessary to install spark on all the nodes of a YARN cluster while
running Apache Spark on YARN?

No, it is unnecessary because Apache Spark runs on top of YARN.

71. Is it necessary to start Hadoop to run any Apache Spark Application?

Starting Hadoop is not mandatory to run any spark application. As there is no

separate storage in Apache Spark, it uses Hadoop HDFS, but it is not
compulsory. The data can be stored in the local file system, loaded from the
local file system, and processed.

PySpark Interview Questions and Answers

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 21

PySpark is a Python API for Apache Spark that provides an easy-to-use interface for
Python programmers to perform data processing tasks using Spark. Check out the list
of important python spark interview questions below

72.What are the languages supported by Apache Spark for developing big data
applications?
Scala, Java, Python, R and Clojure

73. Suppose that there is an RDD named ProjectPrordd that contains a huge list
of numbers. The following spark code is written to calculate the average -

def ProjectProAvg(x, y):

return (x+y)/2.0;

avg = ProjectPrordd.reduce(ProjectProAvg);

What is wrong with the above code, and how will you correct it?

The average function is neither commutative nor associative. The best way to
compute the average is first to sum it and then divide it by count as shown below
-
def sum(x, y):
return x+y;
total =ProjectPrordd.reduce(sum);
avg = total / ProjectPrordd.count();

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 22

 However, the above code could overflow if the total becomes big. So, the best
way to compute the average is to divide each number by count and then add it
up as shown below -

cnt = ProjectPrordd.count();
def divideByCnt(x):
return x/cnt;
myrdd1 = ProjectPrordd.map(divideByCnt);
avg = ProjectPrordd.reduce(sum);

74. How does PySpark handle missing values in DataFrames?

PySpark provides several functions to handle missing values in DataFrames,

such as dropna(), fillna(), and replace(). These functions can remove, fill, or
replace missing values in DataFrames.

75. What is a Shuffle in PySpark, and how does it affect performance?

A Shuffle is an expensive operation in PySpark that involves redistributing data

across partitions, and it is required when aggregating data or joining two
datasets. Shuffles can significantly impact PySpark's performance and should be
avoided whenever possible.

76. What is PySpark MLlib, and how is it used?

PySpark MLlib is a PySpark library for machine learning that provides a set of
distributed machine learning algorithms and utilities. It allows developers to build
machine learning models at scale and can be used for various tasks, including
classification, regression, clustering, and collaborative filtering.

77. How can PySpark be integrated with other big data tools like Hadoop or
Kafka?
PySpark can be integrated with other big data tools through connectors and
libraries. For example, PySpark can be combined with Hadoop through the
Hadoop InputFormat and OutputFormat classes or with Kafka through the Spark
Streaming Kafka Integration library.

78. State the difference between map and flatMap in PySpark?

The map() transforms each element of an RDD into a single new element, while
flatMap() transforms each element into multiple new elements, which are then
flattened into a single RDD.

79. What is a Window function in PySpark?

A Window function in PySpark is a function that allows operations to be
performed on a subset of rows in a DataFrame, based on a specified window

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 23

 specification. Window functions help calculate running totals, roll averages, and
other similar calculations.

Spark Optimization Interview Questions and Answers

Employers might consider asking questions based on Spark optimization during a

Spark interview to assess a candidate's ability to improve the performance of Spark
applications. Spark optimization is critical for efficiently processing large datasets, and
employers may want to ensure that candidates deeply understand Spark's architecture
and optimization techniques. Check out the questions below to have a strong grasp of
Spark's optimization algorithms and performance-tuning strategies.

80. What optimization techniques are used to improve Spark performance?

There are several techniques you can use to optimize Spark performance, such
as:

● Partitioning data properly to reduce data shuffling and network overhead

● Caching frequently accessed data to avoid recomputing
● Using broadcast variables to share read-only variables across the cluster
efficiently
● Tuning memory usage by adjusting Spark's memory configurations, such as
executor memory, driver memory, and heap size
● Using efficient data formats such as Parquet and ORC to reduce I/O and
storage overhead
● Leveraging Spark's built-in caching and persistence mechanisms such as
memory-only, disk-only, and memory-and-disk.

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 24

81.How can you minimize data transfers when working with Spark?

Minimizing data transfers and avoiding shuffling helps write spark programs that
run quickly and reliably. The various ways in which data transfers can be
minimized when working with Apache Spark are:

● Using Broadcast Variable- Broadcast variable enhances the efficiency of joins

between small and large RDDs.
● Using Accumulators – Accumulators help update the values of variables in
parallel while executing.
● The most common way is to avoid operations ByKey, repartition, or other
operations that trigger shuffles.

82. What is the difference between persist() and cache()?

persist () allows the user to specify the storage level, whereas cache () uses the
default one.

83. What are the various levels of persistence in Apache Spark?

Apache Spark automatically persists the intermediary data from various shuffle
operations, however, it is often suggested that users call persist () method on the
RDD if they reuse it. Spark has various persistence levels to store the RDDs on
disk or in memory, or as a combination of both with different replication levels.

The various storage/persistence levels in Spark are -

● MEMORY_ONLY
● MEMORY_ONLY_SER
● MEMORY_AND_DISK
● MEMORY_AND_DISK_SER, DISK_ONLY
● OFF_HEAP

84. What is the default level of parallelism in apache spark?

If the user does not explicitly specify, then the number of partitions is considered
the default level of parallelism in Apache Spark.

85. What are the common mistakes developers make when running Spark
applications?

Developers often make the mistake of-

 Hitting the web service several times by using multiple

clusters.
 Run everything on the local node instead of distributing it.

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 25

  Developers must be careful with this, as Spark uses
memory for processing.

86. What is shuffling in Spark, and when does it occur?

Shuffling is a mechanism by which data redistribution is performed across

partitions in Spark. Spark performs shuffling to repartition the data across
different executors or machines in a cluster. Shuffling, by default, does not
change the number of partitions but only the content within the partitions.
Shuffling is expensive and should be avoided as much as possible as it involves
data being written to the disk and transferred across the network. Shuffling also
involves deserialization and serialization of the data.

Shuffling is performed when a transformation requires data from other partitions.

An example is to find the mean of all values in a column. In such cases, Spark
will gather the necessary data from various partitions and combine it into a new
partition.

87. What is meant by coalescing in Spark?

Coalesce in Spark is a method to reduce the number of partitions in a

DataFrame. Reduction of partitions using the repartitioning method is an
expensive operation. Instead, the coalesce method can be used. Coalesce does
not perform a full shuffle, and instead of creating new partitions, it shuffles the
data using Hash Partitioner and adjusts the data into the existing partitions. The
Coalesce method can only be used to decrease the number of partitions.
Coalesce is to be ideally used in cases where one wants to store the same data
in fewer files.

Spark Coding Interview Questions and Answers

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 26

If you're preparing for a Spark technical interview or a Spark developer interview, you
must be familiar with common Spark coding interview questions that assess your
coding skills and ability to implement Spark applications efficiently. Here is a list of
commonly asked Spark technical interview questions and their answers to help you
prepare and confidently demonstrate your proficiency in Spark development during your
interview.

88. Explain the common workflow of a Spark program.

 The foremost step in a Spark program involves creating input RDDs from
external data.
 Use various RDD transformations like filter() to create new transformed RDD's
based on the business logic.
 persist() any intermediate RDDs which might have to be reused in the future.
 Launch various RDD actions() like first(), and count() to begin parallel
computation, which will then be optimized and executed by Spark.

89. Why is there a need for broadcast variables when working with Apache
Spark?

These are read-only variables present in-memory cache on every machine.

When working with Spark, using broadcast variables eliminates the need to ship
copies of a variable for every task so that data can be processed faster.
Broadcast variables help store a lookup table inside the memory, which
enhances retrieval efficiency compared to an RDD lookup ().

90. Which spark library allows reliable file sharing at memory speed across
different cluster frameworks?

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 27

 Tachyon

91. How will you identify whether a given operation is Transformation or Action
in a spark program?

One can identify the operation based on the return type -

● The operation is an action if the return type is other than RDD.

● The operation is transformed if the return type is the same as the RDD.

92.How do you create an RDD in Spark?

You can create an RDD (Resilient Distributed Dataset) in Spark by loading data
from a file, parallelizing data collection in memory, or transforming an existing
RDD. Here is an example of creating an RDD from a text file:

java
val rdd = sc.textFile("path/to/file.txt")

93. How do you debug Spark code?

Spark code can be debugged using traditional debugging techniques such as
print statements, logging, and breakpoints. However, since Spark code is
distributed across multiple nodes, debugging can be challenging. One approach
is to use the Spark web UI to monitor the progress of jobs and inspect the
execution plan. Another method is to use a tool like Databricks or IntelliJ IDEA
that provides interactive debugging capabilities for Spark applications.

Advanced Spark Interview Questions and Answers for

Experienced Data Engineers

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 28

As a data engineer with experience in Spark, you might face challenging interview
questions that require in-depth knowledge of the framework. Check out a set of Spark
advanced interview questions and answers below that will help you prepare for your
next data engineering interview.

94. What is a Sparse Vector?

A sparse vector has two parallel arrays –one for indices and the other for values.
These vectors are used for storing non-zero entries to save space.

95. Is it possible to run Apache Spark on Apache Mesos?

Yes, Apache Spark can be run on the hardware clusters managed by Mesos.

96. How can you trigger automatic clean-ups in Spark to handle accumulated
metadata?

You can trigger the clean-ups by setting the parameter ‘spark.cleaner.ttl’ or by

dividing the long-running jobs into different batches and writing the intermediary
results to the disk.

97. What advantages does utilizing Spark with Apache Mesos offer?
It enables the scalable distribution of tasks across multiple instances of Spark
and allows for dynamic resource allocation between Spark and other big data
frameworks.

98. Why is BlinkDB used?

BlinkDB is a query engine for executing interactive SQL queries on huge

volumes of data and renders query results marked with meaningful error bars.
BlinkDB helps users balance ‘query accuracy’ with response time. BlinkDB

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 29

 builds a few stratified samples of the original data and then executes the queries
on the samples rather than the original data to reduce the time taken for query
execution. The sizes and numbers of the stratified samples are determined by
the storage availability specified when importing the data. BlinkDB consists of
two main components:

● Sample building engine: determines the stratified samples to be built based on

workload history and data distribution.
● Dynamic sample selection module: selects the correct sample files at runtime
based on the time and/or accuracy requirements of the query.

99. Is Apache Spark a good fit for Reinforcement learning?

No. Apache Spark works well only for simple machine-learning algorithms like
clustering, regression, and classification.

100. What makes Apache Spark good at low-latency workloads like graph
processing and machine learning?

Apache Spark stores data in memory for faster model building and training.
Machine learning algorithms require multiple iterations to generate a resulting
optimal model, and similarly, graph algorithms traverse all the nodes and edges.
These low-latency workloads that need multiple iterations can lead to increased
performance. Less disk access and controlled network traffic make a huge
difference when there is a lot of data to be processed.

101. What, according to you, is a common mistake apache spark developers

make when using spark?
 Maintaining the required size of shuffle blocks.
 Spark developers often make mistakes with managing directed acyclic graphs
(DAGs.)

102. What are some best practices for developing Spark applications?
Some best practices for developing Spark applications include:

 Designing a clear and modular application architecture

 Writing efficient and optimized Spark code
 Leveraging Spark's built-in APIs and libraries whenever possible
 Properly managing Spark resources such as memory and CPU
 Using a distributed version control system (VCS) such as Git for managing
code changes and collaboration
 Writing comprehensive tests for your Spark application to ensure correctness
and reliability
 Monitoring Spark applications in production to detect and resolve issues
quickly.

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 30

Nail your Upcoming Spark Interview with ProjectPro’s
Solved end-to-end Enterprise-grade projects
Acing a Spark interview requires not only knowledge of interview questions and
concepts but also practical experience in solving real-world enterprise-grade projects.
While studying the interview questions and concepts is important, having practical
experience with enterprise-grade projects is equally essential. These projects provide
hands-on experience and demonstrate your ability to solve business problems using
Spark and other big data technologies. But where can you find such projects?
ProjectPro is your one-stop solution with over 270+ Solved end-to-end projects in data
science and big data. Working on these projects can improve your expertise and
enhance your chances of acing your upcoming Spark interview.

Apache Spark Interview Questions and Answers | 31