SnowPro Associate: Platform Question 100
Single answer● DatabasesA data engineering team is reorganizing objects in Snowflake. They currently have a database named PROD_DB that contains several schemas, tables, and views used by downstream reporting tools. To align with a new naming standard, they want the database to be renamed to ANALYTICS_PROD with the least operational effort and without moving individual objects. Which action should they take?
- A
Use ALTER DATABASE PROD_DB RENAME TO ANALYTICS_PROD
- B
Create a new database named ANALYTICS_PROD and use INSERT INTO ... SELECT to copy all data from PROD_DB
- C
Clone PROD_DB to ANALYTICS_PROD and then drop PROD_DB to complete the rename
- D
Use ALTER SCHEMA on each schema in PROD_DB to change the parent database name to ANALYTICS_PROD
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The best solution is to rename the database directly using ALTER DATABASE PROD_DB RENAME TO ANALYTICS_PROD. In Snowflake, a database is a top-level logical container for schemas and objects, and Snowflake supports renaming databases without requiring data movement. This makes the change fast and operationally simple. Alternatives such as manually copying data or using cloning are valid for other use cases, like environment provisioning or creating test copies, but they are not the best choice for a straightforward name change. This aligns with Snowflake documentation on database management and DDL operations, where ALTER DATABASE is used to modify database properties, including renaming.
- A. Correct.
Correct. Snowflake supports renaming a database directly with ALTER DATABASE ... RENAME TO. This is the simplest and most operationally efficient approach when the goal is only to change the database name. It avoids copying data or recreating objects individually.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Creating a new database and copying data manually would require significantly more effort and would not preserve all database objects and metadata as efficiently as a rename. This approach is unnecessary when Snowflake provides a direct database rename capability.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Cloning creates a new database that starts as a zero-copy clone, but it is not the same as renaming. It can introduce unnecessary complexity, and dropping the original database afterward may affect dependencies, grants, and object references differently than a simple rename operation.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Schemas can be renamed, but ALTER SCHEMA does not change the parent database of a schema in place. In Snowflake, schemas belong to a database, and changing the database name is done at the database level, not by modifying each schema individually.