Snowflake FAQ’s

Snowflake is an analytic data warehouse implemented as a SaaS service. It is built on a new SQL database engine with a unique architecture built for the cloud. It was first available on AWS as software to load and analyze massive volumes of data.

Yes, Snowflake is an ETL tool. It has a three-step process, which includes:
Extracts data from the source and creates data files. Data files support multiple data formats like JSON, CSV, XML, and more.
Loads data to an internal or external stage. Data can be staged in an internal, Microsoft Azure blob, Amazon S3 bucket, or Snowflake managed location.
Data is copied into a Snowflake database table using the COPY INTO command.

Snowflake lets deltaDNA process your data quicker, provide more consistent performance and run with almost no downtime.

Snowflakes store the data in multiple micro partitions which are internally optimized and compressed. The data is stored in a columnar format in the cloud storage of Snowflake. The data objects stored by Snowflake cannot be accessed or visible to the users. By running SQL query operations on Snowflake, you can access them.

Snowflake is built entirely on a SQL database. It’s a columnar-stored relational database that works well with Excel, Tableau, and many other tools. Snowflake contains its query tool, supports multi-statement transactions, role-based security, etc., which are expected in a SQL database.

Yes the AWS glue can connect to snowflake. AWS glue presents a comprehensive managed environment that easily connects with Snowflake as a data warehouse service. These two solutions collectively enable you to handle data ingestion and transformation with more ease and flexibility.

Some of your queries may have been translated into Snowflake syntax as part of the transition. It might seem like you’re being shouted at by your own queries but don’t worry, they’ll all run just as they did before and are not case sensitive. New queries written in lowercase are also not case sensitive and will run just fine.

A cache is a temporary storage area.
When you return to a page you've recently looked at, the browser can get those files from the cache rather than the original server, saving you time and saving the network the burden of additional traffic.

Snowflake organizes the data into multiple micro partitions that are internally optimized and compressed. It uses a columnar format to store. Data is stored in the cloud storage and works as a shared-disk model thereby providing simplicity in data management.

Snowflake cloud data warehouse platform provides instant, secure, and governed access to the entire data network and a core architecture to enable various types of data workloads, including a single platform for developing modern data applications.

• Standard edition - Its introductory level offering provides unlimited access to Snowflake standard features.
• Enterprise edition - Along with Standard edition features and services, offers additional features required for the large scale enterprises.
• Business-critical edition - It offers high-level data protection for sensitive data to organisation needs.
• Virtual Private Snowflake (VPS) - Provides high-level security for organisations dealing with financial activities

Snowflake data warehouse features are :

• Database and Object Closing
• Support for XML
• External tables
• Hive metastore integration
• Supports geospatial data
• Security and data protection
• Data sharing
• Search optimization service
• Table streams on external tables and shared tables
• Result Caching

Types of caching in snowflake are  :

• Query Results
• Virtual Warehouse Local Disk
• Metadata

Yes, the Account > Billing & Usages page in your Snowflake console provides a daily breakdown of the Snowflake credits used per day on each of your warehouses.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Microsoft Azure (Azure)

All data processing tasks within Snowflake are performed by virtual warehouses, which are one or more clusters of compute resources. When performing a query, virtual warehouses retrieve the minimum data required from the storage layer to fullfil the query requests.

Columnar databases organize data at Column level instead of the conventional row level. All Column level operations will be much faster and consume less resources when compared to a row level relational database.

Snowflake organizes the data into multiple micro partitions that are internally optimized and compressed. It uses a columnar format to store. Data is stored in the cloud storage and works as a shared-disk model thereby providing simplicity in data management.

Fail-safe provides a (non-configurable) 7-day period during which historical data is recoverable only by Snowflake. This period starts immediately after the Time Travel retention period ends. Fail-safe is not provided as a means for accessing historical data after the Time Travel retention period has ended