COF-C03 Question 319
Single answerFail-safeA financial services company accidentally dropped a permanent table containing end-of-quarter transaction data 2 days ago. The table was not protected by a clone, and no Time Travel restore was performed within the retention window configured for the object. The compliance team now urgently needs the data back. What should the Snowflake administrator do next?
- A
Use UNDROP TABLE immediately, because dropped permanent tables can be restored at any time during Fail-safe
- B
Contact Snowflake Support to request a Fail-safe recovery, understanding that Fail-safe is intended for disaster recovery and may take time
- C
Query the table's historical micro-partitions directly using SQL, because Fail-safe data remains accessible to account administrators
- D
Increase the Time Travel retention period on the database, then restore the dropped table from 2 days ago
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
This scenario tests the distinction between Time Travel and Fail-safe. In Snowflake, permanent tables have a Time Travel period during which users can perform self-service recovery operations such as UNDROP or querying historical data. After that period ends, data enters Fail-safe for 7 days. Fail-safe exists primarily for disaster recovery and is managed by Snowflake, not by customers through SQL. If a required restore was missed during Time Travel, the administrator should contact Snowflake Support to request Fail-safe recovery. This also reflects a best practice: Fail-safe should not be treated as an operational recovery strategy because it is not designed for fast, routine restores. Snowflake documentation on data protection distinguishes clearly between Time Travel self-service recovery and Snowflake-managed Fail-safe recovery.
- A. Incorrect.
Incorrect. UNDROP TABLE works only while the object is still within its Time Travel retention period. Once that retention period has passed, the object enters Fail-safe for permanent objects, and customers cannot restore it themselves with SQL commands.
- B. Correct.
Correct. After Time Travel has expired for a permanent table, the only possible recovery path is to contact Snowflake Support for a Fail-safe recovery request. Fail-safe is a Snowflake-managed disaster recovery mechanism, not a self-service feature, and recovery is not guaranteed to meet immediate operational needs. This is the appropriate next step in this scenario.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Customers cannot directly query or access data in Fail-safe. Fail-safe is not exposed through SQL, metadata queries, or account admin privileges. A common misconception is that historical storage remains self-service accessible after Time Travel ends, but that is not the case.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Changing the Time Travel retention period does not retroactively reopen an expired retention window for a dropped object that has already moved beyond Time Travel. Once the object is no longer recoverable via Time Travel, increasing retention settings will not bring it back.