Can apache spark run without hadoop?
Are there any dependencies between Spark and Hadoop?
If not, are there any features I'll miss when I run Spark without Hadoop?
Answer
Spark is an in-memory distributed computing engine.
Hadoop is a framework for distributed storage (HDFS) and distributed processing (YARN).
Spark can run with or without Hadoop components (HDFS/YARN)
Distributed Storage:
Since Spark does not have its own distributed storage system, it has to depend on one of these storage systems for distributed computing.
S3 – Non-urgent batch jobs. S3 fits very specific use cases when data locality isn’t critical.
Cassandra – Perfect for streaming data analysis and an overkill for batch jobs.
HDFS – Great fit for batch jobs without compromising on data locality.
Distributed processing:
You can run Spark in three different modes: Standalone, YARN and Mesos
Have a look at the below SE question for a detailed explanation about both distributed storage and distributed processing.