Databricks SQL as alternative to Spark thrift server

SachinJanani
New Contributor II

We are currently using Spark as our SQL engine with Thrift Server but are evaluating Databricks Serverless SQL as a potential alternative. We have a few specific questions:

  1. Does Databricks Serverless SQL support custom Spark extensions?
  2. Can we configure Databricks Serverless SQL to use a custom metastore, especially one that isn’t Hive-compatible?
  3. Is it possible to apply custom Spark configurations in Databricks Serverless SQL?

Any insights into these questions would be greatly appreciated!