Distributed computing on the cloud: Spark

Beginner
Developer
Student
Azure

Spark is an open-source cluster-computing framework with different strengths than MapReduce has. Learn about how Spark works.

Learning objectives

In this module, you will:

  • Recall the features of an iterative programming framework
  • Describe the architecture and job flow in Spark
  • Recall the role of resilient distributed datasets (RDDs) in Spark
  • Describe the properties of RDDs in Spark
  • Compare and contrast RDDs with distributed shared-memory systems
  • Describe fault-tolerance mechanics in Spark
  • Describe the role of lineage in RDDs for fault tolerance and recovery
  • Understand the different types of dependencies between RDDs
  • Understand the basic operations on Spark RDDs
  • Step through a simple iterative Spark program
  • Recall the various Spark libraries and their functions

In partnership with Dr. Majd Sakr and Carnegie Mellon University.

Prerequisites

  • Understand what cloud computing is, including cloud service models and common cloud providers
  • Know the technologies that enable cloud computing
  • Understand how cloud service providers pay for and bill for the cloud
  • Know what datacenters are and why they exist
  • Know how datacenters are set up, powered, and provisioned
  • Understand how cloud resources are provisioned and metered
  • Be familiar with the concept of virtualization
  • Know the different types of virtualization
  • Understand CPU virtualization
  • Understand memory virtualization
  • Understand I/O virtualization
  • Know about the different types of data and how they're stored
  • Be familiar with distributed file systems and how they work
  • Be familiar with NoSQL databases and object storage, and how they work
  • Know what distributed programming is and why it's useful for the cloud
  • Understand MapReduce and how it enables big data computing