A user has the appropriate privilege to see unmasked data in a column. If the user loads this column data into another column that does not have a masking policy, what will occur?
Correct Answer: A
According to the SnowPro Advanced: Architect documents and learning resources, column masking policies are applied at query time based on the privileges of the user who runs the query. Therefore, if a user has the privilege to see unmasked data in a column, they will see the original data when they query that column. If they load this column data into another column that does not have a masking policy, the unmasked data will be loaded in the new column, and any user who can query the new column will see the unmasked data as well. The masking policy does not affect the underlying data in the column, only the query results. References: Snowflake Documentation: Column Masking Snowflake Learning: Column Masking
Question 2
A company is using Snowflake in Azure in the Netherlands. The company analyst team also has data in JSON format that is stored in an Amazon S3 bucket in the AWS Singapore region that the team wants to analyze. The Architect has been given the following requirements: 1. Provide access to frequently changing data 2. Keep egress costs to a minimum 3. Maintain low latency How can these requirements be met with the LEAST amount of operational overhead?
Correct Answer: B
Option A is the best design to meet the requirements because it uses a materialized view on top of an external table against the S3 bucket in AWS Singapore. A materialized view is a database object that contains the results of a query and can be refreshed periodically to reflect changes in the underlying data1. An external table is a table that references data files stored in a cloud storage service, such as Amazon S32. By using a materialized view on top of an external table, the company can provide access to frequently changing data, keep egress costs to a minimum, and maintain low latency. This is because the materialized view will cache the query results in Snowflake, reducing the need to access the external data files and incur network charges. The materialized view will also improve the query performance by avoiding scanning the external data files every time. The materialized view can be refreshed on a schedule or on demand to capture the changes in the external data files1. Option B is not the best design because it uses an external table against the S3 bucket in AWS Singapore and copies the data into transient tables. A transient table is a table that is not subject to the Time Travel and Fail-safe features of Snowflake, and is automatically purged after a period of time3. By using an external table and copying the data into transient tables, the company will incur more egress costs and operational overhead than using a materialized view. This is because the external table will access the external data files every time a query is executed, and the copy operation will also transfer data from S3 to Snowflake. The transient tables will also consume more storage space in Snowflake and require manual maintenance to ensure they are up to date. Option C is not the best design because it copies the data between providers from S3 to Azure Blob storage to collocate, then uses Snowpipe for data ingestion. Snowpipe is a service that automates the loading of data from external sources into Snowflake tables4. By copying the data between providers, the company will incur high egress costs and latency, as well as operational complexity and maintenance of the infrastructure. Snowpipe will also add another layer of processing and storage in Snowflake, which may not be necessary if the external data files are already in a queryable format. Option D is not the best design because it uses AWS Transfer Family to replicate data between the S3 bucket in AWS Singapore and an Azure Netherlands Blob storage, then uses an external table against the Blob storage. AWS Transfer Family is a service that enables secure and seamless transfer of files over SFTP, FTPS, and FTP to and from Amazon S3 or Amazon EFS5. By using AWS Transfer Family, the company will incur high egress costs and latency, as well as operational complexity and maintenance of the infrastructure. The external table will also access the external data files every time a query is executed, which may affect the query performance. References: 1: Materialized Views 2: External Tables 3: Transient Tables 4: Snowpipe Overview 5: AWS Transfer Family
Question 3
A company is trying to Ingest 10 TB of CSV data into a Snowflake table using Snowpipe as part of Its migration from a legacy database platform. The records need to be ingested in the MOST performant and cost-effective way. How can these requirements be met?
Correct Answer: D
For ingesting a large volume of CSV data into Snowflake using Snowpipe, especially for a substantial amount like 10 TB, theon error = SKIP_FILEoption in theCOPY INTOcommand can be highly effective. This approach allows Snowpipe to skip over files that cause errors during the ingestion process, thereby not halting or significantly slowing down the overall data load. It helps in maintaining performance and cost-effectiveness by avoiding the reprocessing of problematic files and continuing with the ingestion of other data.
Question 4
A company's Architect needs to find an efficient way to get data from an external partner, who is also a Snowflake user. The current solution is based on daily JSON extracts that are placed on an FTP server and uploaded to Snowflake manually. The files are changed several times each month, and the ingestion process needs to be adapted to accommodate these changes. What would be the MOST efficient solution?
Correct Answer: A
The most efficient solution is to ask the partner to create a share and add the company's account (Option A). This way, the company can access the live data from the partner without any data movement or manual intervention. Snowflake's secure datasharing feature allows data providers to share selected objects in a database with other Snowflake accounts. The shared data is read-only and does not incur any storage or compute costs for the data consumers. The data consumers can query the shared data directly or create local copies of the shared objects in their own databases. Option B is not efficient because it involves using the data lake export feature, which is intended for exporting data from Snowflake to an external data lake, not for importing data from another Snowflake account. The data lake export feature also requires the data provider to create an external stage on cloud storage and use the COPY INTO <location> command to export the data into parquet files. The data consumer then needs to create an external table or a file format to load the data from the cloud storage into Snowflake. This process can be complex and costly, especially if the data changes frequently. Option C is not efficient because it does not solve the problem of manual data ingestion and adaptation. Keeping the current structure of daily JSON extracts on an FTP server and requesting the partner to stop changing files, instead only appending new files, does not improve the efficiency or reliability of the data ingestion process. The company still needs to upload the data to Snowflake manually and deal with any schema changes or data quality issues. Option D is not efficient because it requires the partner to set up a Snowflake reader account and use that account to get the data for ingestion. A reader account is a special type of account that can only consume data from the provider account that created it. It is intended for data consumers who are not Snowflake customers and do not have a licensing agreement with Snowflake. A reader account is not suitable for data ingestion from another Snowflake account, as it does not allow uploading, modifying, or unloading data. The company would need to use external tools or interfaces to access the data from the reader account and load it into their own account, which can be slow and expensive. References: The answer can be verified from Snowflake's official documentation on secure data sharing, data lake export, and reader accounts available on their website. Here are some relevant links: Introduction to Secure Data Sharing | Snowflake Documentation Data Lake Export Public Preview Is Now Available on Snowflake | Snowflake Blog Managing Reader Accounts | Snowflake Documentation
Question 5
Is it possible for a data provider account with a Snowflake Business Critical edition to share data with an Enterprise edition data consumer account?
Correct Answer: D
Data sharing is a feature that allows Snowflake accounts to share data with each other without the need for data movement or copying1. Data sharing is enabled by creating shares, which are collections of database objects (tables, views, secure views, and secure UDFs) that can be accessed by other accounts, called consumers2. By default, Snowflake does not allow sharing data from a Business Critical edition account to a non-Business Critical edition account. This is because Business Critical edition offers higher levels of data protection and encryption than other editions, and sharing data with lower editions may compromise the security and compliance of the data3. However, Snowflake provides the OVERRIDE SHARE RESTRICTIONS global privilege, which allows a user to override the default restriction and share data from a Business Critical edition account to a non-Business Critical edition account. This privilege is granted to the ACCOUNTADMIN role by default, and can be granted to other roles as well4. To enable data sharing from a Business Critical edition account to an Enterprise edition account, the following steps are required34: A user in the provider account with the OVERRIDE SHARE RESTRICTIONS privilege must create or alter a share and add the Enterprise edition account as a consumer. The user must also set the share_restrictions parameter to False when adding the consumer. This parameter indicates whether the share is restricted to Business Critical edition accounts only. Setting it to False allows the share to be imported by lower edition accounts. A user in the consumer account with the IMPORT SHARE privilege must import the share and grant access to the share objects to other roles in the account. The user must also set the share_restrictions parameter to False when importing the share. This parameter indicates whether the consumer account accepts shares from Business Critical edition accounts only. Setting it to False allows the consumer account to import shares from lower edition accounts. References: 1: Introduction to Secure Data Sharing | Snowflake Documentation 2: Creating Secure Data Shares | Snowflake Documentation 3: Enable Data Share:Business Critical Account to Lower Edition | Medium 4: Enabling sharing from a Business critical account to a non-business ... | Snowflake Documentation
