Resilient Distributed Datasets (RDD) is a fundamental data structure of Spark. It is an immutable distributed collection of objects. Each dataset in RDD is divided into logical partitions, which may be computed on different nodes of the cluster. RDDs can contain any type of Python, Java, or Scala objects, including user-defined classes.

Formally, an RDD is a read-only, partitioned collection of records. RDDs can be created through deterministic operations on either data on stable storage or other RDDs. RDD is a fault-tolerant collection of elements that can be operated on in parallel.

There are two ways to create RDDs − parallelizing an existing collection in your driver program, or referencing a dataset in an external storage system, such as a shared file system, HDFS, HBase, or any data source offering a Hadoop Input Format.

Spark makes use of the concept of RDD to achieve faster and efficient MapReduce operations. Let us first discuss how MapReduce operations take place and why they are not so efficient.

Data Sharing is Slow in MapReduce

MapReduce is widely adopted for processing and generating large datasets with a parallel, distributed algorithm on a cluster. It allows users to write parallel computations, using a set of high-level operators, without having to worry about work distribution and fault tolerance.

Unfortunately, in most current frameworks, the only way to reuse data between computations (Ex − between two MapReduce jobs) is to write it to an external stable storage system (Ex − HDFS). Although this framework provides numerous abstractions for accessing a cluster’s computational resources, users still want more.

Both Iterative and Interactive applications require faster data sharing across parallel jobs. Data sharing is slow in MapReduce due to replication, serialization, and disk IO. Regarding storage system, most of the Hadoop applications, they spend more than 90% of the time doing HDFS read-write operations.

Iterative Operations on MapReduce

Reuse intermediate results across multiple computations in multi-stage applications. The following illustration explains how the current framework works, while doing the iterative operations on MapReduce. This incurs substantial overheads due to data replication, disk I/O, and serialization, which makes the system slow.

2.1

Interactive Operations on MapReduce

User runs ad-hoc queries on the same subset of data. Each query will do the disk I/O on the stable storage, which can dominate application execution time.

The following illustration explains how the current framework works while doing the interactive queries on MapReduce.

2.2

Data Sharing using Spark RDD

Data sharing is slow in MapReduce due to replication, serialization, and disk IO. Most of the Hadoop applications, they spend more than 90% of the time doing HDFS read-write operations.

Recognizing this problem, researchers developed a specialized framework called Apache Spark. The key idea of spark is Resilient Distributed Datasets (RDD); it supports in-memory processing computation. This means, it stores the state of memory as an object across the jobs and the object is sharable between those jobs. Data sharing in memory is 10 to 100 times faster than network and Disk.

Let us now try to find out how iterative and interactive operations take place in Spark RDD.

Iterative Operations on Spark RDD

The illustration given below shows the iterative operations on Spark RDD. It will store intermediate results in a distributed memory instead of Stable storage (Disk) and make the system faster.

Note − If the Distributed memory (RAM) is sufficient to store intermediate results (State of the JOB), then it will store those results on the disk.

2.3

Interactive Operations on Spark RDD

This illustration shows interactive operations on Spark RDD. If different queries are run on the same set of data repeatedly, this particular data can be kept in memory for better execution times.

2.4

By default, each transformed RDD may be recomputed each time you run an action on it. However, you may also persist an RDD in memory, in which case Spark will keep the elements around on the cluster for much faster access, the next time you query it. There is also support for persisting RDDs on disk, or replicated across multiple nodes.

So, this brings us to the end of blog. This Tecklearn ‘Concept of Resilient Distributed Datasets (RDD) in Apache Spark’ helps you with commonly asked questions if you are looking out for a job in Apache Spark and Scala and Big Data Developer. If you wish to learn Apache Spark and Scala and build a career in Big Data Hadoop domain, then check out our interactive, Apache Spark and Scala Training, that comes with 24*7 support to guide you throughout your learning period. Please find the link for course details:

https://www.tecklearn.com/course/apache-spark-and-scala-certification/

Apache Spark and Scala Training

About the Course

Tecklearn Spark training lets you master real-time data processing using Spark streaming, Spark SQL, Spark RDD and Spark Machine Learning libraries (Spark MLlib). This Spark certification training helps you master the essential skills of the Apache Spark open-source framework and Scala programming language, including Spark Streaming, Spark SQL, machine learning programming, GraphX programming, and Shell Scripting Spark. You will also understand the role of Spark in overcoming the limitations of MapReduce. Upon completion of this online training, you will hold a solid understanding and hands-on experience with Apache Spark.

Why Should you take Apache Spark and Scala Training?

The average salary for Apache Spark developer ranges from approximately $93,486 per year for Developer to $128,313 per year for Data Engineer. – Indeed.com
Wells Fargo, Microsoft, Capital One, Apple, JPMorgan Chase & many other MNC’s worldwide use Apache Spark across industries.
Global Spark market revenue will grow to $4.2 billion by 2022 with a CAGR of 67% Marketanalysis.com

What you will Learn in this Course?

Introduction to Scala for Apache Spark

What is Scala
Why Scala for Spark
Scala in other Frameworks
Scala REPL
Basic Scala Operations
Variable Types in Scala
Control Structures in Scala
Loop, Functions and Procedures
Collections in Scala
Array Buffer, Map, Tuples, Lists

Functional Programming and OOPs Concepts in Scala

Functional Programming
Higher Order Functions
Anonymous Functions
Class in Scala
Getters and Setters
Custom Getters and Setters
Constructors in Scala
Singletons
Extending a Class using Method Overriding

Introduction to Spark

Introduction to Spark
How Spark overcomes the drawbacks of MapReduce
Concept of In Memory MapReduce
Interactive operations on MapReduce
Understanding Spark Stack
HDFS Revision and Spark Hadoop YARN
Overview of Spark and Why it is better than Hadoop
Deployment of Spark without Hadoop
Cloudera distribution and Spark history server

Basics of Spark

Spark Installation guide
Spark configuration and memory management
Driver Memory Versus Executor Memory
Working with Spark Shell
Resilient distributed datasets (RDD)
Functional programming in Spark and Understanding Architecture of Spark

Playing with Spark RDDs

Challenges in Existing Computing Methods
Probable Solution and How RDD Solves the Problem
What is RDD, It’s Operations, Transformations & Actions Data Loading and Saving Through RDDs
Key-Value Pair RDDs
Other Pair RDDs and Two Pair RDDs
RDD Lineage
RDD Persistence
Using RDD Concepts Write a Wordcount Program
Concept of RDD Partitioning and How It Helps Achieve Parallelization
Passing Functions to Spark

Writing and Deploying Spark Applications

Creating a Spark application using Scala or Java
Deploying a Spark application
Scala built application
Creating application using SBT
Deploying application using Maven
Web user interface of Spark application
A real-world example of Spark and configuring of Spark

Parallel Processing

Concept of Spark parallel processing
Overview of Spark partitions
File Based partitioning of RDDs
Concept of HDFS and data locality
Technique of parallel operations
Comparing coalesce and Repartition and RDD actions

Machine Learning using Spark MLlib

Why Machine Learning
What is Machine Learning
Applications of Machine Learning
Face Detection: USE CASE
Machine Learning Techniques
Introduction to MLlib
Features of MLlib and MLlib Tools
Various ML algorithms supported by MLlib

Integrating Apache Flume and Apache Kafka

Why Kafka, what is Kafka and Kafka architecture
Kafka workflow and Configuring Kafka cluster
Basic operations and Kafka monitoring tools
Integrating Apache Flume and Apache Kafka

Apache Spark Streaming

Why Streaming is Necessary
What is Spark Streaming
Spark Streaming Features
Spark Streaming Workflow
Streaming Context and DStreams
Transformations on DStreams
Describe Windowed Operators and Why it is Useful
Important Windowed Operators
Slice, Window and ReduceByWindow Operators
Stateful Operators

Improving Spark Performance

Learning about accumulators
The common performance issues and troubleshooting the performance problems

DataFrames and Spark SQL

Need for Spark SQL
What is Spark SQL
Spark SQL Architecture
SQL Context in Spark SQL
User Defined Functions
Data Frames and Datasets
Interoperating with RDDs
JSON and Parquet File Formats
Loading Data through Different Sources

Scheduling and Partitioning in Apache Spark

Concept of Scheduling and Partitioning in Spark
Hash partition and range partition
Scheduling applications
Static partitioning and dynamic sharing
Concept of Fair scheduling
Map partition with index and Zip
High Availability
Single-node Recovery with Local File System and High Order Functions

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