ADA-C01 Question 253
Single answerCreate and configure the Polaris CatalogA Snowflake administrator is setting up an open data governance solution so multiple analytics engines can discover and access Iceberg tables through a centralized catalog. The company has decided to use Snowflake Polaris Catalog and wants a configuration that supports secure, standards-based interoperability while minimizing custom integration work. Which action should the administrator take first when creating and configuring the Polaris Catalog?
- A
Create a Polaris Catalog account and configure catalog administration, then register the client engines to use the catalog’s open standard interfaces
- B
Create an external volume for every client engine before enabling Polaris Catalog, because Polaris requires one volume per engine connection
- C
Create a Snowflake Native App to expose Iceberg metadata, because Polaris Catalog can only be configured through an application package
- D
Configure Snowpipe Streaming on the source tables first, because Polaris Catalog depends on streaming ingestion to publish catalog metadata
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The best answer is to first create and configure the Polaris Catalog account and its administration model, then connect external engines using the supported open interfaces. In a real deployment, administrators should begin with the catalog service itself, define who can administer it, and then onboard client engines that will read or interact with cataloged Iceberg metadata. This aligns with the purpose of Polaris Catalog: centralized, open, interoperable cataloging for Iceberg and similar open table ecosystem use cases. By contrast, external volumes are storage configuration constructs, Snowflake Native Apps are for application packaging/distribution, and Snowpipe Streaming is for ingestion. None of those is the initial prerequisite for creating and configuring Polaris Catalog. Candidates should distinguish between metadata catalog setup and other Snowflake platform features that are adjacent but not required for this task. Refer to Snowflake documentation for Polaris Catalog setup and administration, along with Snowflake guidance on Apache Iceberg tables and open catalog interoperability.
- A. Correct.
Correct. The first step is to create and configure the Polaris Catalog environment itself, including administrative setup, and then connect supported client engines through the catalog’s standards-based interfaces. Polaris Catalog is designed to provide interoperable access to open table metadata, so establishing the catalog and its administration is the foundational action before clients can use it.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. This reflects a common misconception that each consuming engine requires its own external volume. External volumes are related to storage access for Iceberg tables in Snowflake, but Polaris Catalog setup is not based on creating a separate external volume for every engine connection. The catalog’s purpose is metadata interoperability, not one-volume-per-client provisioning.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Polaris Catalog does not require a Snowflake Native App or application package as the primary method of setup. Native Apps are a separate Snowflake capability for packaging and distributing applications. Confusing these services could lead an administrator to build unnecessary components instead of configuring the catalog directly.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Snowpipe Streaming is an ingestion technology and is unrelated to the foundational creation of a Polaris Catalog. A catalog manages and exposes metadata for open table access; it does not depend on streaming ingestion being enabled first. This option is plausible because both relate to data platform operations, but they solve different problems.