When should I use single node clusters vs standard?

[User16826992666]

I see that single node is a cluster mode option that I have when creating clusters. When should I use this compared to the standard mode?

[sean_owen · Accepted solution]

Single-node, like the name implies, is a single machine. It still has Spark, just a local cluster. This is a good choice if you are running a workload that does not use Spark, or only needs it for data access. One good example is a small deep learning job. Often it's most efficient and easiest to use one machine with multiple GPUs rather than try to distribute on a cluster.