ADA-C01 Question 444
Single answerExplain the role of replicationsA global company uses Snowflake in AWS us-east-1 for production and wants a secondary environment in AWS eu-west-1 to support regional disaster recovery and provide local read-only access to shared reference data. The administrator needs a solution that keeps selected account-level objects synchronized across regions with minimal manual effort. Which Snowflake capability best addresses this requirement?
- A
Configure replication for eligible databases and selected account objects so they can be refreshed in the secondary region
- B
Create database clones in the secondary region because zero-copy cloning works across all Snowflake regions and accounts
- C
Use Time Travel on the primary databases to make the same data available automatically in the secondary region
- D
Create shares from the primary account and query them locally in the secondary region because Secure Data Sharing copies data across regions automatically
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
Replication in Snowflake exists to support scenarios such as disaster recovery, business continuity, and regional availability by maintaining synchronized copies of supported objects in another account and/or region. In practice, administrators use replication for eligible databases and certain account-level objects, and then refresh the secondary copy to bring it up to date. This is different from zero-copy cloning, which is intended for fast copy-on-write object duplication, and different from Time Travel, which provides point-in-time recovery within retention limits. It is also different from Secure Data Sharing, which provides access without copying data but does not create a replicated secondary for failover. Snowflake documentation on replication and failover/failback describes replication groups, object eligibility, refresh behavior, and disaster recovery use cases as core administrative patterns.
- A. Correct.
Correct. Replication is the Snowflake feature designed to maintain copies of supported objects in another region or account for business continuity and regional access patterns. Administrators can replicate eligible databases and certain account objects, then refresh the secondary to synchronize changes. This is the appropriate mechanism for cross-region disaster recovery scenarios and read-only access to replicated data.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Zero-copy cloning is extremely useful, but it does not serve as a cross-region replication mechanism in the way described here. Clones are created from existing objects within supported locality constraints and are not the feature used to keep selected objects synchronized across regions for disaster recovery. Choosing cloning here reflects the common misconception that cloning and replication are interchangeable.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Time Travel allows access to historical versions of data within the retention period in the same Snowflake environment; it is not a cross-region synchronization or disaster recovery feature. It helps recover changed or deleted data, but it does not create or maintain a secondary regional copy of account objects.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Secure Data Sharing enables live access to data without copying it for many sharing scenarios, but it is not the same as replication for disaster recovery. Sharing does not create a synchronized secondary copy of eligible account objects for failover purposes. This option confuses data distribution with business continuity replication.