COF-C03 Question 342
Single answerSnowflake MarketplaceA data engineering team wants to enrich internal sales analytics by using a third-party dataset from Snowflake Marketplace. The team must start querying the provider's data quickly without building data pipelines, and the provider must continue managing updates to the dataset. Which approach should the Snowflake account administrator take?
- A
Subscribe to the listing and create a database from the shared dataset, then grant the analytics team access to that database
- B
Export the Marketplace data to external cloud storage on a schedule and load it into an internal Snowflake table for reporting
- C
Ask the provider to send periodic CSV files and use Snowpipe to ingest them into a staging schema
- D
Create a database replication configuration so the provider's database is copied into the consumer account automatically
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The best answer is to subscribe to the Snowflake Marketplace listing and create a database from the shared dataset. Snowflake Marketplace is designed to let consumers discover and access third-party data products directly in Snowflake, commonly via secure data sharing. This model minimizes setup time, avoids building custom ingestion pipelines, and lets the provider control and maintain the source dataset while consumers query it in place. For SnowPro Core, candidates should recognize that Marketplace consumption is closely tied to secure data sharing concepts: the consumer subscribes to a listing, creates a database from the share, and then grants access to roles/users as needed. This is the practical and operationally efficient pattern recommended in Snowflake documentation and best practices for consuming shared datasets.
- A. Correct.
Correct. Snowflake Marketplace listings are typically delivered through secure data sharing. After subscribing to a listing, the consumer can create a database from the share and query the data directly in Snowflake. This avoids building ingestion pipelines and allows the provider to publish updates that become available to the consumer without copying data into consumer-managed tables.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Exporting data to cloud storage and reloading it creates an unnecessary ETL/ELT pipeline, increases operational overhead, and defeats one of the main advantages of Marketplace data access: direct use through secure sharing without data movement.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Receiving CSV files and ingesting them with Snowpipe is a traditional file-based integration pattern, not the standard way to consume Snowflake Marketplace data. This approach adds latency, pipeline maintenance, and data duplication, which the scenario explicitly wants to avoid.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Database replication is not how consumers access Snowflake Marketplace listings. Marketplace data is generally shared through secure shares that consumers turn into databases in their own accounts. Replication is used for account/database continuity and cross-region or cross-account replication scenarios, not standard Marketplace consumption.