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What are transient clusters in EMR, and when would you use them?

Spark/Big Dataeasy0.5 min readPremium
Frequency
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Asked at 1 company
Category
452
questions in Spark/Big Data
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in this category
Total Bank
1,863
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Asked at these companies
Persistent Systems
Key Concepts Tested
etl
Expert AnswerPremium
100 wordsInterview-ready
**Transient Cluster**: Runs only during job execution; terminates when job completes. No idle time. **When to Use**: Batch ETL, scheduled jobs, sporadic workloads. Pay only for job duration. **Why vs. Long-Running**: Long-running = pay 24/7. Transient = pay for 2–8 hours. 60–80% cost savings for batch. **Implementation**: Create cluster with Step; set "Action on Failure" to terminate. Cluster shuts down after last step. **Scalability Trade-offs**: Startup time (5–10 min) adds to each run....
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