Snowflake ARA-R01 - SnowPro Advanced: Architect Recertification Exam

To provide the highest uptime and least application disruption in case of a service event, the best option is to use the Business Critical Snowflake edition and connect the applications using the - URL. The Business Critical Snowflake edition offers the highest level of security, performance, and availability for Snowflake accounts. It includes features such as customer-managed encryption keys, HIPAA compliance, and 4-hour RPO and RTO SLAs. It also supports account replication and failover across regions and cloud platforms, which enables business continuity and disaster recovery. By using the - URL, the applications can leverage the Snowflake Client Redirect feature, which automatically redirects the client connections to the secondary account in case of a failover. This way, the applications can seamlessly switch to the backup account without any manual intervention or configuration changes. The other options are less cost-effective or less reliable because they either use a lower edition of Snowflake, which does not support account replication and failover, or they use the - URL, which does not support client redirect and requires manual updates to the connection string in case of a failover. References:

[Snowflake Editions] 1

[Replication and Failover/Failback] 2

[Client Redirect] 3

[Snowflake Account Identifiers] 4

The error message indicates that the IP address in the error message is not allowed to access Snowflake because it is not in the allowed list of the network policy. The network policy is a feature that allows restricting access to Snowflake based on IP addresses or ranges. To resolve this error, the Architect should take the following steps:

Add the IP address in the error message to the allowed list in the network policy. This will allow the IP address to access Snowflake using the Private Link URLs. Alternatively, the Architect can disable the network policy if it is not required for security reasons.

Update the configuration of the Azure AD SSO to use the Private Link URLs. This will ensure that the SSO authentication process uses the Private Link URLs instead of the public URLs. The configuration can be updated by following the steps in the Azure documentation1.

These two steps should resolve the error and ensure that the account is accessed using only Private Link. The other options are not necessary or relevant for this scenario. Altering the Azure security integration to use the Private Link URLs is not required because the security integration is used for SCIM provisioning, not for SSO authentication. Generating a new SCIM access token using system$generate_scim_access_token and saving it to Azure AD is not required because the SCIM access token is used for SCIM provisioning, not for SSO authentication. Opening a case with Snowflake Support to authorize the Private Link URLs’ access to the account is not required because the authorization can be done by the account administrator using the SYSTEM$AUTHORIZE_PRIVATELINK function2.

By default, Snowflake does not allow sharing data from a Business Critical edition to a non-Business Critical edition. This is because Business Critical edition provides enhanced security and data protection features that are not available in lower editions. However, this restriction can be overridden by setting the share_restriction parameter on the shared object (database, schema, or table) to false. This parameter allows the data provider to explicitly allow sharing data with lower edition accounts. Note that this parameter can only be set by the data provider, not the data consumer. Also, setting this parameter to false may reduce the level of security and data protection for the shared data.

References:

Enable Data Share:Business Critical Account to Lower Edition

Sharing Is Not Allowed From An Account on BUSINESS CRITICAL Edition to an Account On A Lower Edition

SQL Execution Error: Sharing is Not Allowed from an Account on BUSINESS CRITICAL Edition to an Account on a Lower Edition

Snowflake Editions | Snowflake Documentation

The query is executing a clone operation on an existing table t_sales with an offset to account for the retention time. The syntax used is correct for cloning a table in Snowflake, and the use of the at(offset => -60*30) clause is valid. This specifies that the clone should be based on the state of the table 30 minutes prior (60 seconds * 30). Assuming the table t_sales exists and has been modified within the last 30 minutes, and considering the data_retention_time_in_days is set to 1 day (which enables time travel queries for the past 24 hours), the table t_sales_clone would be successfully created based on the state of t_sales 30 minutes before the clone command was issued.

Event notifications in Snowpipe are messages sent by cloud storage providers to notify Snowflake of new or modified files in a stage. Snowpipe uses these notifications to trigger data loading from the stage to the target table. When a pipe is paused, event messages received for the pipe enter a limited retention period, which varies depending on the cloud storage provider. If the pipe is not resumed within the retention period, the event messages will be discarded and the data will not be loaded automatically. To load the data, the pipe must be resumed and the COPY command must be executed manually. This is a characteristic of event notifications in Snowpipe that distinguishes them from other options. References: Snowflake Documentation: Using Snowpipe, Snowflake Documentation: Pausing and Resuming a Pipe

A securable object is an entity to which access can be granted in Snowflake. Securable objects include databases, schemas, tables, views, stages, pipes, functions, procedures, sequences, tasks, streams, roles, warehouses, and shares1.

The Snowflake object hierarchy is a logical structure that organizes the securable objects in a nested manner. The top-most container is the account, which contains all the databases, roles, and warehouses for the customer organization. Each database contains schemas, which in turn contain tables, views, stages, pipes, functions, procedures, sequences, tasks, and streams. Each role can be granted privileges on other roles or securable objects. Each warehouse can be used to execute queries on securable objects2.

Based on the Snowflake object hierarchy, the securable objects that belong directly to a Snowflake account are databases, roles, and warehouses. These objects are created and managed at the account level, and do not depend on any other securable object. The other options are not correct because:

Schemas belong to databases, not to accounts. A schema must be created within an existing database3.

Tables belong to schemas, not to accounts. A table must be created within an existing schema4.

Stages belong to schemas or tables, not to accounts. A stage must be created within an existing schema or table.

References:

1: Overview of Access Control | Snowflake Documentation

2: Securable Objects | Snowflake Documentation

3: CREATE SCHEMA | Snowflake Documentation

4: CREATE TABLE | Snowflake Documentation

[5]: CREATE STAGE | Snowflake Documentation

Data Vault 2.0 on Snowflake supports the HASH_DIFF concept for change data capture, which is a method to detect changes in the data by comparing the hash values of the records. Additionally, Snowflake’s multi-table insert feature allows for the loading of multiple PIT tables in parallel from a single join query, which can significantly streamline the data loading process and improve performance1.

References =

•Snowflake’s documentation on multi-table inserts1

•Blog post on optimizing Data Vault architecture on Snowflake2