ADA-C01 Question 489
Single answerDetermine use cases for internal versus public data listingsA global retail company uses Snowflake across several business units. The central data engineering team wants to distribute a curated product reference dataset in two different ways: (1) make it available only to the company's regional Snowflake accounts in North America, EMEA, and APAC, and (2) later offer the same dataset for discovery by external Snowflake customers as a commercial data product. The administrator wants the simplest approach that matches each audience without rebuilding the dataset twice. Which approach should the administrator choose?
- A
Create an internal data listing for the regional company accounts, and create a separate public data listing when the company is ready to expose the dataset to external Snowflake customers.
- B
Create only a public data listing, because public listings can be restricted to selected internal company accounts first and then opened to external customers later.
- C
Create only an internal data listing, because internal listings are discoverable by any Snowflake customer once the provider shares the listing URL externally.
- D
Use direct secure data sharing for external customers and reserve listings only for sharing between databases within the same Snowflake account.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The key distinction is audience and discovery scope. Internal data listings are intended for sharing and discoverability within an organization's Snowflake environment, making them appropriate when a central team wants multiple internal business-unit or regional accounts to find and consume a data product. Public data listings are intended for external distribution and discovery by other Snowflake customers, such as when offering a commercial or broadly available dataset. In practice, an administrator can use the same underlying share/provider-managed dataset and expose it through different listing types to meet separate business goals. This aligns with Snowflake guidance on using internal listings for organizational sharing and public listings for marketplace/public data product distribution.
- A. Correct.
Correct. Internal data listings are intended for private discovery and access within an organization, typically across accounts in the same organization. Public data listings are used to publish data products for discovery by external Snowflake customers through the marketplace/public discovery experience, subject to Snowflake's publishing requirements. Using separate listings for the same underlying shared dataset is a practical way to serve both audiences without recreating the data.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. A public listing is designed for external discovery, not as a mechanism to privately target only specific internal organizational accounts. Restricting access to a small set of internal accounts is a use case for internal listings, not public listings. This option reflects a common misconception that public listings can function like private allowlists for internal distribution.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Internal listings are not made available to the general Snowflake customer base by sharing a URL. They are meant for internal organizational use and discovery. External customers should consume offerings through a public listing or another supported external sharing model, not through an internal listing link.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Listings are not limited to sharing between databases in the same account; they are specifically used to make shares discoverable to consumers across accounts. Also, direct secure data sharing can be used with external customers in some scenarios, but it does not address the requirement to make the dataset discoverable as a commercial product to external Snowflake customers. Public listings are the appropriate choice for that requirement.