Snowflake ARA-C01 Practice Exams
Last updated on Oct 22,2026- Exam Code: ARA-C01
- Exam Name: SnowPro Advanced Architect Certification
- Certification Provider: Snowflake
- Latest update: Oct 22,2026
Question #151
Which statements describe characteristics of the use of materialized views in Snowflake? (Choose two.)
- A . They can include ORDER BY clauses.
- B . They cannot include nested subqueries.
- C . They can include context functions, such as CURRENT_TIME().
- D . They can support MIN and MAX aggregates.
- E . They can support inner joins, but not outer joins.
Correct Answer: B, D
B, D
Explanation:
According to the Snowflake documentation, materialized views have some limitations on the query specification that defines them. One of these limitations is that they cannot include nested subqueries, such as subqueries in the FROM clause or scalar subqueries in the SELECT list. Another limitation is that they cannot include ORDER BY clauses, context functions (such as CURRENT_TIME()), or outer joins. However, materialized views can support MIN and MAX aggregates, as well as other aggregate functions, such as SUM, COUNT, and AVG.
Reference: Limitations on Creating Materialized Views | Snowflake Documentation Working with Materialized Views | Snowflake Documentation
B, D
Explanation:
According to the Snowflake documentation, materialized views have some limitations on the query specification that defines them. One of these limitations is that they cannot include nested subqueries, such as subqueries in the FROM clause or scalar subqueries in the SELECT list. Another limitation is that they cannot include ORDER BY clauses, context functions (such as CURRENT_TIME()), or outer joins. However, materialized views can support MIN and MAX aggregates, as well as other aggregate functions, such as SUM, COUNT, and AVG.
Reference: Limitations on Creating Materialized Views | Snowflake Documentation Working with Materialized Views | Snowflake Documentation
Question #152
An Architect needs to meet a company requirement to ingest files from the company’s AWS storage accounts into the company’s Snowflake Google Cloud Platform (GCP) account.
How can the ingestion of these files into the company’s Snowflake account be initiated? (Select TWO).
- A . Configure the client application to call the Snowpipe REST endpoint when new files have arrived in Amazon S3 storage.
- B . Configure the client application to call the Snowpipe REST endpoint when new files have arrived in Amazon S3 Glacier storage.
- C . Create an AWS Lambda function to call the Snowpipe REST endpoint when new files have arrived in Amazon S3 storage.
- D . Configure AWS Simple Notification Service (SNS) to notify Snowpipe when new files have arrived in Amazon S3 storage.
- E . Configure the client application to issue a COPY INTO <TABLE> command to Snowflake when new files have arrived in Amazon S3 Glacier storage.
Correct Answer: A, C
A, C
Explanation:
Snowpipe is a feature that enables continuous, near-real-time data ingestion from external sources into Snowflake tables. Snowpipe can ingest files from Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Azure Blob Storage into Snowflake tables on any cloud platform. Snowpipe can be triggered in two ways: by using the Snowpipe REST API or by using cloud notifications2
To ingest files from the company’s AWS storage accounts into the company’s Snowflake GCP account, the Architect can use either of these methods:
Configure the client application to call the Snowpipe REST endpoint when new files have arrived in Amazon S3 storage. This method requires the client application to monitor the S3 buckets for new files and send a request to the Snowpipe REST API with the list of files to ingest. The client application must also handle authentication, error handling, and retry logic3
Create an AWS Lambda function to call the Snowpipe REST endpoint when new files have arrived in Amazon S3 storage. This method leverages the AWS Lambda service to execute a function that calls the Snowpipe REST API whenever an S3 event notification is received. The AWS Lambda function must be configured with the appropriate permissions, triggers, and code to invoke the Snowpipe REST API4
The other options are not valid methods for triggering Snowpipe:
Configure the client application to call the Snowpipe REST endpoint when new files have arrived in Amazon S3 Glacier storage. This option is not feasible because Snowpipe does not support ingesting files from Amazon S3 Glacier storage, which is a long-term archival storage service. Snowpipe only supports ingesting files from Amazon S3 standard storage classes5
Configure AWS Simple Notification Service (SNS) to notify Snowpipe when new files have arrived in
Amazon S3 storage. This option is not applicable because Snowpipe does not support cloud notifications from AWS SNS. Snowpipe only supports cloud notifications from AWS SQS, Google Cloud Pub/Sub, or Azure Event Grid6
Configure the client application to issue a COPY INTO <TABLE> command to Snowflake when new files have arrived in Amazon S3 Glacier storage. This option is not relevant because it does not use Snowpipe, but rather the standard COPY command, which is a batch loading method. Moreover, the COPY command also does not support ingesting files from Amazon S3 Glacier storage7
Reference:
1: SnowPro Advanced: Architect | Study Guide 8
2: Snowflake Documentation | Snowpipe Overview 9
3: Snowflake Documentation | Using the Snowpipe REST API 10
4: Snowflake Documentation | Loading Data Using Snowpipe and AWS Lambda 11
5: Snowflake Documentation | Supported File Formats and Compression for Staged Data Files 12
6: Snowflake Documentation | Using Cloud Notifications to Trigger Snowpipe 13
7: Snowflake Documentation | Loading Data Using COPY into a Table
: SnowPro Advanced: Architect | Study Guide
: Snowpipe Overview
: Using the Snowpipe REST API
: Loading Data Using Snowpipe and AWS Lambda
: Supported File Formats and Compression for Staged Data Files
: Using Cloud Notifications to Trigger Snowpipe
: Loading Data Using COPY into a Table
A, C
Explanation:
Snowpipe is a feature that enables continuous, near-real-time data ingestion from external sources into Snowflake tables. Snowpipe can ingest files from Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Azure Blob Storage into Snowflake tables on any cloud platform. Snowpipe can be triggered in two ways: by using the Snowpipe REST API or by using cloud notifications2
To ingest files from the company’s AWS storage accounts into the company’s Snowflake GCP account, the Architect can use either of these methods:
Configure the client application to call the Snowpipe REST endpoint when new files have arrived in Amazon S3 storage. This method requires the client application to monitor the S3 buckets for new files and send a request to the Snowpipe REST API with the list of files to ingest. The client application must also handle authentication, error handling, and retry logic3
Create an AWS Lambda function to call the Snowpipe REST endpoint when new files have arrived in Amazon S3 storage. This method leverages the AWS Lambda service to execute a function that calls the Snowpipe REST API whenever an S3 event notification is received. The AWS Lambda function must be configured with the appropriate permissions, triggers, and code to invoke the Snowpipe REST API4
The other options are not valid methods for triggering Snowpipe:
Configure the client application to call the Snowpipe REST endpoint when new files have arrived in Amazon S3 Glacier storage. This option is not feasible because Snowpipe does not support ingesting files from Amazon S3 Glacier storage, which is a long-term archival storage service. Snowpipe only supports ingesting files from Amazon S3 standard storage classes5
Configure AWS Simple Notification Service (SNS) to notify Snowpipe when new files have arrived in
Amazon S3 storage. This option is not applicable because Snowpipe does not support cloud notifications from AWS SNS. Snowpipe only supports cloud notifications from AWS SQS, Google Cloud Pub/Sub, or Azure Event Grid6
Configure the client application to issue a COPY INTO <TABLE> command to Snowflake when new files have arrived in Amazon S3 Glacier storage. This option is not relevant because it does not use Snowpipe, but rather the standard COPY command, which is a batch loading method. Moreover, the COPY command also does not support ingesting files from Amazon S3 Glacier storage7
Reference:
1: SnowPro Advanced: Architect | Study Guide 8
2: Snowflake Documentation | Snowpipe Overview 9
3: Snowflake Documentation | Using the Snowpipe REST API 10
4: Snowflake Documentation | Loading Data Using Snowpipe and AWS Lambda 11
5: Snowflake Documentation | Supported File Formats and Compression for Staged Data Files 12
6: Snowflake Documentation | Using Cloud Notifications to Trigger Snowpipe 13
7: Snowflake Documentation | Loading Data Using COPY into a Table
: SnowPro Advanced: Architect | Study Guide
: Snowpipe Overview
: Using the Snowpipe REST API
: Loading Data Using Snowpipe and AWS Lambda
: Supported File Formats and Compression for Staged Data Files
: Using Cloud Notifications to Trigger Snowpipe
: Loading Data Using COPY into a Table
Question #153
An Architect for a multi-national transportation company has a system that is used to check the weather conditions along vehicle routes. The data is provided to drivers.
The weather information is delivered regularly by a third-party company and this information is generated as JSON structure. Then the data is loaded into Snowflake in a column with a VARIANT data type. This
table is directly queried to deliver the statistics to the drivers with minimum time lapse.
A single entry includes (but is not limited to):
– Weather condition; cloudy, sunny, rainy, etc.
– Degree
– Longitude and latitude
– Timeframe
– Location address
– Wind
The table holds more than 10 years’ worth of data in order to deliver the statistics from different years and locations. The amount of data on the table increases every day.
The drivers report that they are not receiving the weather statistics for their locations in time.
What can the Architect do to deliver the statistics to the drivers faster?
- A . Create an additional table in the schema for longitude and latitude. Determine a regular task to fill this information by extracting it from the JSON dataset.
- B . Add search optimization service on the variant column for longitude and latitude in order to query the information by using specific metadata.
- C . Divide the table into several tables for each year by using the timeframe information from the JSON dataset in order to process the queries in parallel.
- D . Divide the table into several tables for each location by using the location address information from the JSON dataset in order to process the queries in parallel.
Correct Answer: B
B
Explanation:
To improve the performance of queries on semi-structured data, such as JSON stored in a VARIANT column, Snowflake’s search optimization service can be utilized. By adding search optimization specifically for the longitude and latitude fields within the VARIANT column, the system can perform point lookups and substring queries more efficiently. This will allow for faster retrieval of weather statistics, which is critical for the drivers to receive timely updates.
Reference: The solution is supported by Snowflake documentation that details how search optimization can enhance query performance for semi-structured data1.
B
Explanation:
To improve the performance of queries on semi-structured data, such as JSON stored in a VARIANT column, Snowflake’s search optimization service can be utilized. By adding search optimization specifically for the longitude and latitude fields within the VARIANT column, the system can perform point lookups and substring queries more efficiently. This will allow for faster retrieval of weather statistics, which is critical for the drivers to receive timely updates.
Reference: The solution is supported by Snowflake documentation that details how search optimization can enhance query performance for semi-structured data1.
Question #154
A media company needs a data pipeline that will ingest customer review data into a Snowflake table, and apply some transformations. The company also needs to use Amazon Comprehend to do
sentiment analysis and make the de-identified final data set available publicly for advertising companies who use different cloud providers in different regions.
The data pipeline needs to run continuously and efficiently as new records arrive in the object storage leveraging event notifications. Also, the operational complexity, maintenance of the infrastructure, including platform upgrades and security, and the development effort should be minimal.
Which design will meet these requirements?
- A . Ingest the data using copy into and use streams and tasks to orchestrate transformations. Export the data into Amazon S3 to do model inference with Amazon Comprehend and ingest the data back into a Snowflake table. Then create a listing in the Snowflake Marketplace to make the data available to other companies.
- B . Ingest the data using Snowpipe and use streams and tasks to orchestrate transformations. Create an external function to do model inference with Amazon Comprehend and write the final records to a Snowflake table. Then create a listing in the Snowflake Marketplace to make the data available to other companies.
- C . Ingest the data into Snowflake using Amazon EMR and PySpark using the Snowflake Spark connector. Apply transformations using another Spark job. Develop a python program to do model inference by leveraging the Amazon Comprehend text analysis API. Then write the results to a Snowflake table and create a listing in the Snowflake Marketplace to make the data available to other companies.
- D . Ingest the data using Snowpipe and use streams and tasks to orchestrate transformations. Export the data into Amazon S3 to do model inference with Amazon Comprehend and ingest the data back into a Snowflake table. Then create a listing in the Snowflake Marketplace to make the data available to other companies.
Correct Answer: B
B
Explanation:
Option B is the best design to meet the requirements because it uses Snowpipe to ingest the data continuously and efficiently as new records arrive in the object storage, leveraging event notifications. Snowpipe is a service that automates the loading of data from external sources into Snowflake tables1. It also uses streams and tasks to orchestrate transformations on the ingested data. Streams are objects that store the change history of a table, and tasks are objects that execute SQL statements on a schedule or when triggered by another task2. Option B also uses an external function to do model inference with Amazon Comprehend and write the final records to a Snowflake table. An external function is a user-defined function that calls an external API, such as Amazon Comprehend, to perform computations that are not natively supported by Snowflake3. Finally, option B uses the Snowflake Marketplace to make the de-identified final data set available publicly for advertising companies who use different cloud providers in different regions. The Snowflake Marketplace is a platform that enables data providers to list and share their data sets with data consumers, regardless of the cloud platform or region they use4.
Option A is not the best design because it uses copy into to ingest the data, which is not as efficient and continuous as Snowpipe. Copy into is a SQL command that loads data from files into a table in a single transaction. It also exports the data into Amazon S3 to do model inference with Amazon Comprehend, which adds an extra step and increases the operational complexity and maintenance of the infrastructure.
Option C is not the best design because it uses Amazon EMR and PySpark to ingest and transform the data, which also increases the operational complexity and maintenance of the infrastructure. Amazon EMR is a cloud service that provides a managed Hadoop framework to process and analyze large-scale data sets. PySpark is a Python API for Spark, a distributed computing framework that can
run on Hadoop. Option C also develops a python program to do model inference by leveraging the Amazon Comprehend text analysis API, which increases the development effort.
Option D is not the best design because it is identical to option A, except for the ingestion method. It still exports the data into Amazon S3 to do model inference with Amazon Comprehend, which adds an extra step and increases the operational complexity and maintenance of the infrastructure.
Reference: 1: Snowpipe Overview 2: Using Streams and Tasks to Automate Data Pipelines 3: External Functions Overview 4: Snowflake Data Marketplace Overview: [Loading Data Using COPY INTO]: [What is Amazon EMR?]: [PySpark Overview]
B
Explanation:
Option B is the best design to meet the requirements because it uses Snowpipe to ingest the data continuously and efficiently as new records arrive in the object storage, leveraging event notifications. Snowpipe is a service that automates the loading of data from external sources into Snowflake tables1. It also uses streams and tasks to orchestrate transformations on the ingested data. Streams are objects that store the change history of a table, and tasks are objects that execute SQL statements on a schedule or when triggered by another task2. Option B also uses an external function to do model inference with Amazon Comprehend and write the final records to a Snowflake table. An external function is a user-defined function that calls an external API, such as Amazon Comprehend, to perform computations that are not natively supported by Snowflake3. Finally, option B uses the Snowflake Marketplace to make the de-identified final data set available publicly for advertising companies who use different cloud providers in different regions. The Snowflake Marketplace is a platform that enables data providers to list and share their data sets with data consumers, regardless of the cloud platform or region they use4.
Option A is not the best design because it uses copy into to ingest the data, which is not as efficient and continuous as Snowpipe. Copy into is a SQL command that loads data from files into a table in a single transaction. It also exports the data into Amazon S3 to do model inference with Amazon Comprehend, which adds an extra step and increases the operational complexity and maintenance of the infrastructure.
Option C is not the best design because it uses Amazon EMR and PySpark to ingest and transform the data, which also increases the operational complexity and maintenance of the infrastructure. Amazon EMR is a cloud service that provides a managed Hadoop framework to process and analyze large-scale data sets. PySpark is a Python API for Spark, a distributed computing framework that can
run on Hadoop. Option C also develops a python program to do model inference by leveraging the Amazon Comprehend text analysis API, which increases the development effort.
Option D is not the best design because it is identical to option A, except for the ingestion method. It still exports the data into Amazon S3 to do model inference with Amazon Comprehend, which adds an extra step and increases the operational complexity and maintenance of the infrastructure.
Reference: 1: Snowpipe Overview 2: Using Streams and Tasks to Automate Data Pipelines 3: External Functions Overview 4: Snowflake Data Marketplace Overview: [Loading Data Using COPY INTO]: [What is Amazon EMR?]: [PySpark Overview]
Question #155
An Architect uses COPY INTO with the ON_ERROR=SKIP_FILE option to bulk load CSV files into a table called TABLEA, using its table stage. One file named file5.csv fails to load. The Architect fixes the file and re-loads it to the stage with the exact same file name it had previously.
Which commands should the Architect use to load only file5.csv file from the stage? (Choose two.)
- A . COPY INTO tablea FROM @%tablea RETURN_FAILED_ONLY = TRUE;
- B . COPY INTO tablea FROM @%tablea;
- C . COPY INTO tablea FROM @%tablea FILES = (‘file5.csv’);
- D . COPY INTO tablea FROM @%tablea FORCE = TRUE;
- E . COPY INTO tablea FROM @%tablea NEW_FILES_ONLY = TRUE;
- F . COPY INTO tablea FROM @%tablea MERGE = TRUE;
Correct Answer: BC
BC
Explanation:
Option A (RETURN_FAILED_ONLY) will only load files that previously failed to load. Since file5.csv already exists in the stage with the same name, it will not be considered a new file and will not be loaded.
Option D (FORCE) will overwrite any existing data in the table. This is not desired as we only want to load the data from file5.csv.
Option E (NEW_FILES_ONLY) will only load files that have been added to the stage since the last COPY command. This will not work because file5.csv was already in the stage before it was fixed. Option F (MERGE) is used to merge data from a stage into an existing table, creating new rows for any data not already present. This is not needed in this case as we simply want to load the data from file5.csv.
Therefore, the architect can use either COPY INTO tablea FROM @%tablea or COPY INTO tablea FROM @%tablea FILES = (‘file5.csv’) to load only file5.csv from the stage. Both options will load the data from the specified file without overwriting any existing data or requiring additional configuration
BC
Explanation:
Option A (RETURN_FAILED_ONLY) will only load files that previously failed to load. Since file5.csv already exists in the stage with the same name, it will not be considered a new file and will not be loaded.
Option D (FORCE) will overwrite any existing data in the table. This is not desired as we only want to load the data from file5.csv.
Option E (NEW_FILES_ONLY) will only load files that have been added to the stage since the last COPY command. This will not work because file5.csv was already in the stage before it was fixed. Option F (MERGE) is used to merge data from a stage into an existing table, creating new rows for any data not already present. This is not needed in this case as we simply want to load the data from file5.csv.
Therefore, the architect can use either COPY INTO tablea FROM @%tablea or COPY INTO tablea FROM @%tablea FILES = (‘file5.csv’) to load only file5.csv from the stage. Both options will load the data from the specified file without overwriting any existing data or requiring additional configuration
Question #156
What are characteristics of the use of transactions in Snowflake? (Select TWO).
- A . Explicit transactions can contain DDL, DML, and query statements.
- B . The autocommit setting can be changed inside a stored procedure.
- C . A transaction can be started explicitly by executing a begin work statement and end explicitly by executing a commit work statement.
- D . A transaction can be started explicitly by executing a begin transaction statement and end explicitly by executing an end transaction statement.
- E . Explicit transactions should contain only DML statements and query statements. All DDL statements implicitly commit active transactions.
Correct Answer: AC
AC
Explanation:
AC
Explanation:
Question #157
A data platform team creates two multi-cluster virtual warehouses with the AUTO_SUSPEND value set to NULL on one. and ‘0’ on the other.
What would be the execution behavior of these virtual warehouses?
- A . Setting a ‘0’ or NULL value means the warehouses will never suspend.
- B . Setting a ‘0’ or NULL value means the warehouses will suspend immediately.
- C . Setting a ‘0’ or NULL value means the warehouses will suspend after the default of 600 seconds.
- D . Setting a ‘0’ value means the warehouses will suspend immediately, and NULL means the warehouses will never suspend.
Correct Answer: D
D
Explanation:
The AUTO_SUSPEND parameter controls the amount of time, in seconds, of inactivity after which a warehouse is automatically suspended. If the parameter is set to NULL, the warehouse never suspends. If the parameter is set to ‘0’, the warehouse suspends immediately after executing a query. Therefore, the execution behavior of the two virtual warehouses will be different depending on the AUTO_SUSPEND value. The warehouse with NULL value will keep running until it is manually suspended or the resource monitor limits are reached. The warehouse with ‘0’ value will suspend as soon as it finishes a query and release the compute resources.
Reference: ALTER WAREHOUSE
Parameters
D
Explanation:
The AUTO_SUSPEND parameter controls the amount of time, in seconds, of inactivity after which a warehouse is automatically suspended. If the parameter is set to NULL, the warehouse never suspends. If the parameter is set to ‘0’, the warehouse suspends immediately after executing a query. Therefore, the execution behavior of the two virtual warehouses will be different depending on the AUTO_SUSPEND value. The warehouse with NULL value will keep running until it is manually suspended or the resource monitor limits are reached. The warehouse with ‘0’ value will suspend as soon as it finishes a query and release the compute resources.
Reference: ALTER WAREHOUSE
Parameters
Question #158
An Architect with the ORGADMIN role wants to change a Snowflake account from an Enterprise edition to a Business Critical edition.
How should this be accomplished?
- A . Run an ALTER ACCOUNT command and create a tag of EDITION and set the tag to Business Critical.
- B . Use the account’s ACCOUNTADMIN role to change the edition.
- C . Failover to a new account in the same region and specify the new account’s edition upon creation.
- D . Contact Snowflake Support and request that the account’s edition be changed.
Correct Answer: D
D
Explanation:
To change the edition of a Snowflake account, an organization administrator (ORGADMIN) cannot directly alter the account settings through SQL commands or the Snowflake interface. The proper procedure is to contact Snowflake Support to request an edition change for the account. This ensures that the change is managed correctly and aligns with Snowflake’s operational protocols.
Reference: This process is outlined in the Snowflake documentation, which specifies that changes to an account’s edition should be facilitated through Snowflake Support1.
D
Explanation:
To change the edition of a Snowflake account, an organization administrator (ORGADMIN) cannot directly alter the account settings through SQL commands or the Snowflake interface. The proper procedure is to contact Snowflake Support to request an edition change for the account. This ensures that the change is managed correctly and aligns with Snowflake’s operational protocols.
Reference: This process is outlined in the Snowflake documentation, which specifies that changes to an account’s edition should be facilitated through Snowflake Support1.
Question #159
A media company needs a data pipeline that will ingest customer review data into a Snowflake table, and apply some transformations. The company also needs to use Amazon Comprehend to do sentiment analysis and make the de-identified final data set available publicly for advertising companies who use different cloud providers in different regions.
The data pipeline needs to run continuously ang efficiently as new records arrive in the object storage leveraging event notifications. Also, the operational complexity, maintenance of the infrastructure, including platform upgrades and security, and the development effort should be minimal.
Which design will meet these requirements?
- A . Ingest the data using COPY INTO and use streams and tasks to orchestrate transformations. Export the data into Amazon S3 to do model inference with Amazon Comprehend and ingest the data back into a Snowflake table. Then create a listing in the Snowflake Marketplace to make the data available to other companies.
- B . Ingest the data using Snowpipe and use streams and tasks to orchestrate transformations. Create an external function to do model inference with Amazon Comprehend and write the final records to a Snowflake table. Then create a listing in the Snowflake Marketplace to make the data available to other companies.
- C . Ingest the data into Snowflake using Amazon EMR and PySpark using the Snowflake Spark connector. Apply transformations using another Spark job. Develop a python program to do model inference by leveraging the Amazon Comprehend text analysis API. Then write the results to a Snowflake table and create a listing in the Snowflake Marketplace to make the data available to other companies.
- D . Ingest the data using Snowpipe and use streams and tasks to orchestrate transformations. Export the data into Amazon S3 to do model inference with Amazon Comprehend and ingest the data back into a Snowflake table. Then create a listing in the Snowflake Marketplace to make the data available to other companies.
Correct Answer: B
B
Explanation:
This design meets all the requirements for the data pipeline. Snowpipe is a feature that enables
continuous data loading into Snowflake from object storage using event notifications. It is efficient, scalable, and serverless, meaning it does not require any infrastructure or maintenance from the user. Streams and tasks are features that enable automated data pipelines within Snowflake, using change data capture and scheduled execution. They are also efficient, scalable, and serverless, and they simplify the data transformation process. External functions are functions that can invoke external services or APIs from within Snowflake. They can be used to integrate with Amazon Comprehend and perform sentiment analysis on the data. The results can be written back to a Snowflake table using standard SQL commands. Snowflake Marketplace is a platform that allows data providers to share data with data consumers across different accounts, regions, and cloud platforms. It is a secure and easy way to make data publicly available to other companies.
Reference: Snowpipe Overview | Snowflake Documentation Introduction to Data Pipelines | Snowflake Documentation External Functions Overview | Snowflake Documentation Snowflake Data Marketplace Overview | Snowflake Documentation
B
Explanation:
This design meets all the requirements for the data pipeline. Snowpipe is a feature that enables
continuous data loading into Snowflake from object storage using event notifications. It is efficient, scalable, and serverless, meaning it does not require any infrastructure or maintenance from the user. Streams and tasks are features that enable automated data pipelines within Snowflake, using change data capture and scheduled execution. They are also efficient, scalable, and serverless, and they simplify the data transformation process. External functions are functions that can invoke external services or APIs from within Snowflake. They can be used to integrate with Amazon Comprehend and perform sentiment analysis on the data. The results can be written back to a Snowflake table using standard SQL commands. Snowflake Marketplace is a platform that allows data providers to share data with data consumers across different accounts, regions, and cloud platforms. It is a secure and easy way to make data publicly available to other companies.
Reference: Snowpipe Overview | Snowflake Documentation Introduction to Data Pipelines | Snowflake Documentation External Functions Overview | Snowflake Documentation Snowflake Data Marketplace Overview | Snowflake Documentation
Question #160
An Architect has chosen to separate their Snowflake Production and QA environments using two
separate Snowflake accounts.
The QA account is intended to run and test changes on data and database objects before pushing those changes to the Production account. It is a requirement that all database objects and data in the QA account need to be an exact copy of the database objects, including privileges and data in the Production account on at least a nightly basis.
Which is the LEAST complex approach to use to populate the QA account with the Production account’s data and database objects on a nightly basis?
- A . 1) Create a share in the Production account for each database
2) Share access to the QA account as a Consumer
3) The QA account creates a database directly from each share
4) Create clones of those databases on a nightly basis
5) Run tests directly on those cloned databases - B . 1) Create a stage in the Production account
2) Create a stage in the QA account that points to the same external object-storage location
3) Create a task that runs nightly to unload each table in the Production account into the stage
4) Use Snowpipe to populate the QA account - C . 1) Enable replication for each database in the Production account
2) Create replica databases in the QA account
3) Create clones of the replica databases on a nightly basis
4) Run tests directly on those cloned databases - D . 1) In the Production account, create an external function that connects into the QA account and returns all the data for one specific table
2) Run the external function as part of a stored procedure that loops through each table in the Production account and populates each table in the QA account
Correct Answer: C
C
Explanation:
This approach is the least complex because it uses Snowflake’s built-in replication feature to copy the data and database objects from the Production account to the QA account. Replication is a fast and efficient way to synchronize data across accounts, regions, and cloud platforms. It also preserves the privileges and metadata of the replicated objects. By creating clones of the replica databases, the QA account can run tests on the cloned data without affecting the original data. Clones are also zero-copy, meaning they do not consume any additional storage space unless the data is modified. This approach does not require any external stages, tasks, Snowpipe, or external functions, which can add complexity and overhead to the data transfer process.
Reference: Introduction to Replication and Failover
Replicating Databases Across Multiple Accounts
Cloning Considerations
C
Explanation:
This approach is the least complex because it uses Snowflake’s built-in replication feature to copy the data and database objects from the Production account to the QA account. Replication is a fast and efficient way to synchronize data across accounts, regions, and cloud platforms. It also preserves the privileges and metadata of the replicated objects. By creating clones of the replica databases, the QA account can run tests on the cloned data without affecting the original data. Clones are also zero-copy, meaning they do not consume any additional storage space unless the data is modified. This approach does not require any external stages, tasks, Snowpipe, or external functions, which can add complexity and overhead to the data transfer process.
Reference: Introduction to Replication and Failover
Replicating Databases Across Multiple Accounts
Cloning Considerations