ARA-C01 Question 341
Single answerBenefits, limitations, propertiesA global retail company is redesigning its Snowflake data architecture to support multiple business units that each require isolated storage, compute, billing visibility, and independent failover planning. The lead architect proposes using separate Snowflake accounts under a single organization instead of a single account with multiple warehouses and databases. Which benefit of the multi-account approach most directly supports this requirement?
- A
Each account provides independent security boundaries, compute resources, and account-level features such as replication and failover configuration
- B
A multi-account design allows virtual warehouses in one account to directly access local tables stored in another account without data sharing
- C
Using multiple accounts eliminates the need for role-based access control because each business unit is already isolated at the account level
- D
Separate accounts guarantee lower storage costs because Snowflake automatically deduplicates all replicated data across accounts
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
This question tests understanding of the benefits, limitations, and properties of Snowflake account-level architecture decisions. A multi-account strategy is commonly used when organizations need stronger isolation for security, administration, billing, regional deployment, or business continuity. Compared with a single-account design, separate accounts provide clearer boundaries for compute, administration, object ownership, and certain account-level capabilities. However, this comes with tradeoffs: more governance complexity, more overhead for identity and deployment management, and the need to use approved sharing/replication patterns for cross-account access. Snowflake documentation and architecture guidance consistently distinguish logical isolation within one account from stronger organizational isolation across multiple accounts. Candidates should recognize that multi-account architecture is primarily about governance, isolation, and operational autonomy, not transparent cross-account querying or automatic cost reduction.
- A. Correct.
Correct. A key benefit of a multi-account architecture is stronger isolation across business units. Each Snowflake account has its own security boundary, users/roles, virtual warehouses, databases, resource monitors, and account-level configuration. This also supports separate billing/chargeback visibility and independent planning for business continuity features such as replication and failover groups where applicable. This is often the right architectural choice when organizations need operational autonomy in addition to logical separation.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Virtual warehouses do not directly access tables across accounts as if they were local objects. Cross-account access is typically enabled through Secure Data Sharing, listings, or database replication mechanisms depending on the use case. The misconception is assuming that multiple accounts behave like schemas within one account; they do not.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Role-based access control is still required within each account. While account separation improves isolation, administrators must still manage privileges for users, roles, objects, and compute inside every account. A multi-account strategy reduces blast radius but does not replace RBAC.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Snowflake does not guarantee lower storage costs through automatic deduplication of replicated data across accounts. In fact, multiple accounts can increase administrative overhead and may increase storage or replication-related costs depending on how data is copied or replicated. The misconception is treating multi-account design as a cost optimization feature rather than an isolation and governance strategy.