ARA-C01 Question 150
Select 2Data sharing methodsA healthcare analytics company stores curated provider performance data in a Snowflake database on AWS us-east-1. The company must make the same near-real-time dataset available to dozens of external customers. Some customers already use Snowflake in other regions or clouds, while others do not have Snowflake accounts at all. The company wants to minimize data movement and ongoing maintenance, while allowing customers to query the data with low operational overhead. Which combination of approaches should the architect recommend? Select TWO.
- A
Create a direct share for customers that already have Snowflake accounts, and use listings/reader accounts as appropriate for customers without a Snowflake account.
- B
Replicate the database into every customer region and cloud first, then unload the data to object storage so each customer can ingest it into their own platform.
- C
Use Secure Data Sharing for Snowflake customers because it provides live, read-only access without copying the underlying shared data.
- D
Create one reader account per customer and use that as the only sharing method, including for customers that already have their own Snowflake accounts.
- E
Publish the data only through external functions so customers in any cloud can query it without requiring any Snowflake sharing configuration.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answers: A, C
Explanation
The best answer is to combine Snowflake-native sharing methods based on the consumer's capabilities. For consumers that already have Snowflake accounts, Secure Data Sharing enables live, read-only access to shared objects without copying the underlying data, which minimizes latency and maintenance. For consumers without Snowflake accounts, reader accounts allow the provider to share data directly to managed consumers. Listings can also be used for controlled distribution patterns, including private sharing workflows. In Snowflake best practices, architects should prefer native sharing over exports or custom integration patterns when the goal is low-latency distribution with minimal data movement. Key Snowflake documentation areas include Secure Data Sharing, Reader Accounts, and Listings/Marketplace sharing models, as well as guidance on cross-region and cross-cloud sharing considerations.
- A. Correct.
Correct. This approach matches Snowflake's supported sharing methods to the consumer types. For customers with their own Snowflake accounts, direct sharing is the standard low-overhead method. For customers without Snowflake accounts, reader accounts are specifically designed to let providers share data with non-Snowflake users. Listings can also be appropriate when the provider wants a marketplace-style or private listing experience for discovery and controlled access. This combination minimizes unnecessary data movement and operational complexity.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. This introduces significant data movement, storage duplication, and operational overhead. Snowflake data sharing is designed to avoid copying data for consumers on Snowflake. Although cross-region and cross-cloud data access may involve replication for some sharing patterns such as certain listings, replicating into every customer location and then unloading to object storage is not the best fit for the stated goal of minimizing movement and maintenance. It also removes the benefit of live shared data.
- C. Correct.
Correct. Secure Data Sharing is the core mechanism that allows a provider to share live, read-only database objects with other Snowflake accounts without physically copying the data into the consumer account. This is exactly aligned with the requirement to provide near-real-time access with low operational overhead for customers already on Snowflake.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Reader accounts work for consumers that do not already have a Snowflake account, but using them for customers who already operate their own Snowflake accounts is generally not the preferred design. It increases provider management responsibility because the provider manages the reader account lifecycle, compute, and access model. Direct shares are more appropriate for existing Snowflake customers.
- E. Incorrect.
Incorrect. External functions are for invoking external services from Snowflake, not for publishing shared datasets to customers. They do not replace Snowflake data sharing methods and would add unnecessary architectural complexity. This option reflects a misunderstanding of external functions versus data sharing capabilities.