COF-C03 Question 249
Single answerAPI integrationA data engineering team needs to enrich rows in a Snowflake table by sending selected values to an external fraud-detection service during SQL execution. The security team requires that Snowflake call the service through a controlled integration object, and the developers want to invoke the service directly from SQL statements without moving data out of Snowflake in application code. Which Snowflake feature should the team use?
- A
Create an external function backed by an API integration and call it from SQL
- B
Create a user-defined function (UDF) in SQL that issues outbound HTTPS requests directly
- C
Use Snowpipe Streaming to send each row to the fraud-detection service before inserts complete
- D
Create a secure view and attach the external service endpoint in the view definition
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The correct solution is to use an external function with an API integration. In Snowflake, external functions enable SQL statements to invoke a remote service outside Snowflake, typically through a supported proxy layer such as Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, or Google Cloud API Gateway, depending on cloud platform support. The API integration object provides the secure, administrator-controlled connection configuration required by the scenario. This is the Snowflake feature specifically intended for outbound API integration from SQL. By contrast, SQL UDFs and views do not provide generic outbound HTTP access, and Snowpipe Streaming addresses ingestion rather than remote service invocation. This aligns with Snowflake documentation and best practices for external functions and API integrations.
- A. Correct.
Correct. External functions are designed to let SQL invoke logic outside Snowflake by calling a remote service through a proxy or gateway. They rely on an API integration object for secure configuration of the outbound connection. This matches the requirement to call an external fraud-detection service directly from SQL while using a controlled integration object.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Standard SQL UDFs in Snowflake do not make arbitrary outbound network calls. While Snowflake supports UDFs in several languages, external network access is not provided this way for the Core API integration use case. A candidate might choose this because UDFs are callable from SQL, but outbound API access is specifically addressed by external functions, not ordinary UDFs.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Snowpipe Streaming is for ingesting data into Snowflake with low latency, not for calling an external REST service from SQL during query execution. This option reflects a common confusion between data ingestion features and outbound API integration features.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Secure views protect data access and definition exposure, but they do not call external endpoints. A view can encapsulate SQL logic, but it cannot attach an API endpoint for outbound requests. This distractor targets the misconception that any SQL object can be extended to integrate with external services.