Databricks architecture
Compliance blocked a workspace rollout
Symptoms
- Security could not point to where tables live
- Vendor questionnaire said 'Databricks stores data'
Databricks architecture interview questions
Interactive Databricks interview questions on Databricks architecture. Same topic as /learn/databricks/architecture. Databricks control plane is the SaaS UI and jobs service. Data plane is compute in your cloud account, next to your data.
Question 1 of 3
beginner
Databricks architectureWhat is the Databricks control plane versus the data plane?
Answer it out loud, then reveal. Play steps through like the simulators.
Production scenario
Case 1 of 1 · symptoms
All questions on this page
Indexed as FAQ. Open any item if you prefer a list to Play.
beginnerWhat is the Databricks control plane versus the data plane?
Databricks architecture · tap to open the answer
Short: Control plane is Databricks SaaS (workspace, jobs, identity). Data plane is compute and storage in your cloud account.
Detailed: You click notebooks in the control plane. Clusters, executors, and table files run in your VPC next to S3/ADLS/GCS. Databricks does not keep your Parquet in the SaaS plane.
Common mistake: Thinking the workspace is where Spark executors run.
Follow-up: Where does a Jobs cluster actually start?
intermediateDoes Databricks store your fact tables?
Databricks architecture · tap to open the answer
Short: No. Tables stay in your bucket. The workspace orchestrates.
Detailed: Reads and writes hit s3://, abfss://, or gs://. The control plane sends API calls and gets job status / small action results. A collect() still OOMs the driver inside your VPC.
Common mistake: Uploading extracts into the workspace 'because it's Databricks'.
Follow-up: What belongs in Unity Catalog versus the storage account?
seniorSecurity asks: can PII leak through the control plane?
Databricks architecture · tap to open the answer
Short: Not as table files. Risk is notebooks, logs, collect(), and who can run compute that reads the lake.
Detailed: Files stay in the data plane. Notebook outputs, driver pulls, and mis-shared workspaces can still leak samples. Private link, cluster policies, and no collect() on PII are the controls. Unity Catalog governs names and grants; it is not a second copy of the files.
Senior: Commands down, status up, files never leave the data plane. Circle the driver in the customer VPC.
Common mistake: Answering only 'data never leaves our VPC' and stopping.
Follow-up: What would you put on the architecture diagram in an interview?