Using the Spark SQL Thriftserver

The Spark SQL Thriftserver uses a JDBC and an ODBC interface for client connections to DSE.

1. If you are using Kerberos authentication, in the hive-site.xml file, configure your authentication credentials for the Spark SQL Thrift server.

       <property>
         <name>hive.server2.authentication.kerberos.principal</name>
         <value>thriftserver/_HOST@EXAMPLE.COM</value>
       </property>
   
       <property>
         <name>hive.server2.authentication.kerberos.keytab</name>
         <value>/etc/dse/dse.keytab</value>
       </property>

   Ensure that you use the hive-site.xml file in the Spark directory:

   • Package installations: /etc/dse/spark/hive-site.xml
   • Tarball installations: installation_location/resources/spark/conf/hive-site.xml
2. Start DataStax Enterprise with Spark enabled as a service or in a standalone installation.
3. Start the server by entering the dse spark-sql-thriftserver start command as a user with permissions to write to the Spark directories.

   To override the default settings for the server, pass in the configuration property using the --hiveconf option. See the HiveServer2 documentation for a complete list of configuration properties.

   dse spark-sql-thriftserver start

   By default, the server listens on port 10000 on the localhost interface on the node from which it was started. You can specify the server to start on a specific port. For example, to start the server on port 10001, use the --hiveconf hive.server2.thrift.port=10001 option.

   dse spark-sql-thriftserver start --hiveconf hive.server2.thrift.port=10001

   You can configure the port and bind address permanently in resources/spark/conf/spark-env.sh:

   export HIVE_SERVER2_THRIFT_PORT=10001
   export HIVE_SERVER2_THRIFT_BIND_HOST=1.1.1.1

   You can specify general Spark configuration settings by using the --conf option.

   dse spark-sql-thrift-server start --conf spark.cores.max=4

4. Use DataFrames to read and write large volumes of data. For example, to create the table_a_cass_df table that uses a DataFrame while referencing table_a:

   CREATE TABLE table_a_cass_df using org.apache.spark.sql.cassandra OPTIONS (table "table_a", keyspace "ks")

   Note: With DataFrames, compatibility issues exist with UUID and Inet types when inserting data with the JDBC driver.
5. Use the Spark Cassandra Connector tuning parameters to optimize reads and writes.
6. To stop the server, enter the dse spark-sql-thriftserver stop command.

   dse spark-sql-thriftserver stop