COF-C03 Question 325
Single answerProviderA data platform team at a retail company wants to become a data provider and securely share curated sales data with several external partners. The partners should be able to query the shared data in their own Snowflake accounts without the provider copying data into each partner environment. The provider also wants to control exactly which objects are exposed and allow each partner to create its own database from the shared content. Which Snowflake feature should the team use?
- A
Create a secure data share in the provider account and add the required database objects to the share
- B
Create database replication for each partner account so the partners receive a full copy of the provider database
- C
Unload the curated data to an external stage and give each partner cloud storage credentials
- D
Create reader accounts for all partners because reader accounts are required for any cross-account data sharing
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The correct solution is Snowflake Secure Data Sharing using a share created in the provider account. In the provider-consumer model, the provider grants access to selected database objects through a share, and the consumer creates a database from that share in its own Snowflake account. This enables near real-time access to shared data without physically copying the underlying micro-partitions into each consumer account. Providers can expose only approved objects, commonly using secure views to further limit what consumers can see. Reader accounts are an exception used only for consumers that do not have their own Snowflake account. This aligns with Snowflake documentation and best practices for providers that need controlled, governed, cross-account data sharing.
- A. Correct.
Correct. A provider uses Snowflake Secure Data Sharing by creating a share and adding specific objects, such as tables and secure views, from a database. Consumer accounts can then create a database from that share and query the live shared data without the provider copying the underlying data into each consumer account. This is the standard provider-consumer model for sharing data across Snowflake accounts.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Database replication is designed for business continuity, disaster recovery, and cross-region or cross-account replication scenarios, not as the primary mechanism for provider-to-consumer data sharing. Replication creates replicated database objects rather than exposing a controlled live share intended for consumers to create a database from.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Unloading to an external stage distributes files, not a managed Snowflake share. This approach requires data export, external storage access management, and separate ingestion by each partner. It does not meet the requirement for partners to query data directly in their own Snowflake accounts without copied datasets.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Reader accounts are only needed when the consumer does not already have a Snowflake account. If partners already have their own Snowflake accounts, the provider should use standard secure data sharing. A common misconception is that reader accounts are mandatory for all sharing scenarios.