diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 7a2ee86f2c..e5f7d9ac4a 100755
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -241,6 +241,7 @@
         <groupId>org.apache.rat</groupId>
         <artifactId>apache-rat-plugin</artifactId>
       </plugin>
+
       <plugin>
         <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
         <version>3.1</version>
@@ -249,6 +250,7 @@
           <target>1.7</target>
         </configuration>
       </plugin>
+
       <!-- Test coverage plugin -->
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
@@ -270,6 +272,7 @@
           </execution>
         </executions>
       </plugin>
+
       <!-- Checkstyle plugin -->
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
@@ -641,6 +644,13 @@
             </lifecycleMappingMetadata>
           </configuration>
         </plugin>
+
+        <plugin>
+          <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+          <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
+          <version>1.7</version>
+        </plugin>
+
       </plugins>
     </pluginManagement>
   </build>
diff --git a/spark-dependencies/pom.xml b/spark-dependencies/pom.xml
index 5cf080201b..02d24e2df5 100644
--- a/spark-dependencies/pom.xml
+++ b/spark-dependencies/pom.xml
@@ -50,7 +50,11 @@
     <akka.group>org.spark-project.akka</akka.group>
     <akka.version>2.3.4-spark</akka.version>
 
-    <spark.download.url>http://archive.apache.org/dist/spark/spark-${spark.version}/spark-${spark.version}.tgz</spark.download.url>
+    <spark.archive>spark-${spark.version}</spark.archive>
+    <spark.download.url>
+      http://archive.apache.org/dist/spark/${spark.archive}/${spark.archive}.tgz
+    </spark.download.url>
+    <spark.dist.cache>${project.build.directory}/../../.spark-dist</spark.dist.cache>
     <py4j.version>0.8.2.1</py4j.version>
   </properties>
 
@@ -787,12 +791,12 @@
                 </goals>
                 <configuration>
                   <url>${spark.download.url}</url>
-                  <unpack>true</unpack>
-                  <outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/../../.spark-dist</outputDirectory>
+                  <outputDirectory>${spark.dist.cache}</outputDirectory>
                 </configuration>
               </execution>
             </executions>
           </plugin>
+
           <plugin>
             <artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
             <configuration>
@@ -801,18 +805,33 @@
                   <directory>${basedir}/../python/build</directory>
                 </fileset>
                 <fileset>
-                  <directory>${project.build.directory}/../../.spark-dist</directory>
+                  <directory>${project.build.directory}/spark-dist</directory>
                 </fileset>
               </filesets>
             </configuration>
           </plugin>
+
           <plugin>
             <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
             <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
-            <version>1.7</version>
             <executions>
               <execution>
-                <id>download-and-zip-pyspark-files</id>
+                <id>unzip-pyspark-files</id>
+                <phase>validate</phase>
+                <goals>
+                  <goal>run</goal>
+                </goals>
+                <configuration>
+                  <target>
+                    <untar src="${spark.dist.cache}/${spark.archive}.tgz"
+                           dest="${project.build.directory}/spark-dist"
+                           compression="gzip"/>
+                  </target>
+                </configuration>
+              </execution>
+
+              <execution>
+                <id>zip-pyspark-files</id>
                 <phase>generate-resources</phase>
                 <goals>
                   <goal>run</goal>
@@ -821,9 +840,9 @@
                   <target>
                     <delete dir="../interpreter/spark/pyspark"/>
                     <copy todir="../interpreter/spark/pyspark"
-                        file="${project.build.directory}/../../.spark-dist/spark-${spark.version}/python/lib/py4j-${py4j.version}-src.zip"/>
+                          file="${project.build.directory}/spark-dist/${spark.archive}/python/lib/py4j-${py4j.version}-src.zip"/>
                     <zip destfile="${project.build.directory}/../../interpreter/spark/pyspark/pyspark.zip"
-                         basedir="${project.build.directory}/../../.spark-dist/spark-${spark.version}/python"
+                         basedir="${project.build.directory}/spark-dist/${spark.archive}/python"
                          includes="pyspark/*.py,pyspark/**/*.py"/>
                   </target>
                 </configuration>
diff --git a/testing/downloadSpark.sh b/testing/downloadSpark.sh
index 3619960166..30a3404f25 100755
--- a/testing/downloadSpark.sh
+++ b/testing/downloadSpark.sh
@@ -45,13 +45,14 @@ ZEPPELIN_HOME="$(cd "${FWDIR}/.."; pwd)"
 
 SPARK_CACHE=".spark-dist"
 SPARK_ARCHIVE="spark-${SPARK_VERSION}-bin-hadoop${HADOOP_VERSION}"
-export SPARK_HOME="${ZEPPELIN_HOME}/${SPARK_CACHE}/${SPARK_ARCHIVE}"
+export SPARK_HOME="${ZEPPELIN_HOME}/${SPARK_ARCHIVE}"
 echo "SPARK_HOME is ${SPARK_HOME}"
 
 if [[ ! -d "${SPARK_HOME}" ]]; then
     mkdir -p "${SPARK_CACHE}"
     cd "${SPARK_CACHE}"
     if [[ ! -f "${SPARK_ARCHIVE}.tgz" ]]; then
+        echo "Cache does not have ${SPARK_ARCHIVE} downloading ..."
         # download archive if not cached
         if [[ "${SPARK_VER_RANGE}" == "<=1.2" ]]; then
             # spark 1.1.x and spark 1.2.x can be downloaded from archive
@@ -74,7 +75,9 @@ if [[ ! -d "${SPARK_HOME}" ]]; then
         fi
     fi
 
-    # extract archive, clean-up on failure
+    # extract archive in un-cached root, clean-up on failure
+    cp "${SPARK_ARCHIVE}.tgz" ..
+    cd ..
     if ! tar zxf "${SPARK_ARCHIVE}.tgz" ; then
         echo "Unable to extract ${SPARK_ARCHIVE}.tgz" >&2
         rm -rf "${SPARK_ARCHIVE}"
diff --git a/testing/startSparkCluster.sh b/testing/startSparkCluster.sh
index 4b1f9d149b..dc7613de30 100755
--- a/testing/startSparkCluster.sh
+++ b/testing/startSparkCluster.sh
@@ -43,9 +43,8 @@ set -xe
 FWDIR="$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE-$0}")"
 ZEPPELIN_HOME="$(cd "${FWDIR}/.."; pwd)"
 
-SPARK_CACHE=".spark-dist"
 SPARK_ARCHIVE="spark-${SPARK_VERSION}-bin-hadoop${HADOOP_VERSION}"
-export SPARK_HOME="${ZEPPELIN_HOME}/${SPARK_CACHE}/${SPARK_ARCHIVE}"
+export SPARK_HOME="${ZEPPELIN_HOME}/${SPARK_ARCHIVE}"
 echo "SPARK_HOME is ${SPARK_HOME}"
 
 # create PID dir. test case detect pid file so they can select active spark home dir for test
diff --git a/testing/stopSparkCluster.sh b/testing/stopSparkCluster.sh
index d563e705fc..e049ec42a8 100755
--- a/testing/stopSparkCluster.sh
+++ b/testing/stopSparkCluster.sh
@@ -30,13 +30,12 @@ set -xe
 FWDIR="$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE-$0}")"
 ZEPPELIN_HOME="$(cd "${FWDIR}/.."; pwd)"
 
-SPARK_CACHE=".spark-dist"
 SPARK_ARCHIVE="spark-${SPARK_VERSION}-bin-hadoop${HADOOP_VERSION}"
-export SPARK_HOME="${ZEPPELIN_HOME}/${SPARK_CACHE}/${SPARK_ARCHIVE}"
+export SPARK_HOME="${ZEPPELIN_HOME}/${SPARK_ARCHIVE}"
 echo "SPARK_HOME is ${SPARK_HOME}"
 
 # set create PID dir
-export SPARK_PID_DIR=${SPARK_HOME}/run
+export SPARK_PID_DIR="${SPARK_HOME}/run"
 
 ${SPARK_HOME}/sbin/spark-daemon.sh stop org.apache.spark.deploy.worker.Worker 1
 ${SPARK_HOME}/sbin/stop-master.sh
diff --git a/zeppelin-server/pom.xml b/zeppelin-server/pom.xml
index ee03c334d7..f2c9ced7d6 100644
--- a/zeppelin-server/pom.xml
+++ b/zeppelin-server/pom.xml
@@ -369,8 +369,8 @@
       </plugin>
 
       <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
-        <version>1.6</version>
         <executions>
           <execution>
             <id>start-zeppelin</id>
diff --git a/zeppelin-web/pom.xml b/zeppelin-web/pom.xml
index 21f17dfda7..8878e9a8cd 100644
--- a/zeppelin-web/pom.xml
+++ b/zeppelin-web/pom.xml
@@ -47,10 +47,10 @@
           <webXml>dist\WEB-INF\web.xml</webXml>
         </configuration>
       </plugin>
+
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.apache.rat</groupId>
         <artifactId>apache-rat-plugin</artifactId>
-        <version>0.11</version>
         <configuration>
           <excludes>
             <exclude>**/.idea/</exclude>