SnowPro Specialty: Gen AI Question 29
Single answerCORTEX_MODELS_ALLOWLIST parameterA Snowflake administrator is preparing a production account for a customer support application that uses Snowflake Cortex LLM functions. The security team requires that developers be able to use only a small, approved set of models and that any attempt to use other models be blocked at runtime. Which action best meets this requirement?
- A
Set the CORTEX_MODELS_ALLOWLIST account parameter to the approved model names so only those Cortex models can be used in the account
- B
Grant USAGE on the approved models to the developer role and revoke USAGE on all other models
- C
Create a network policy that allows outbound requests only to the approved model providers
- D
Set a warehouse parameter to restrict model execution to approved model names for queries running on that warehouse
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The best answer is to configure the CORTEX_MODELS_ALLOWLIST parameter with the approved set of model names. This is the purpose-built control for constraining which Snowflake Cortex models can be used in an account, helping organizations implement governance and reduce the risk of unapproved model use. In practice, this is useful for production environments where legal, security, cost, or quality reviews have approved only certain models. Common misconceptions include assuming model restrictions are implemented through standard RBAC object grants, network policies, or warehouse settings. Snowflake documentation for Cortex governance and account parameters describes using CORTEX_MODELS_ALLOWLIST to explicitly permit approved models and block others.
- A. Correct.
Correct. CORTEX_MODELS_ALLOWLIST is the Snowflake parameter used to restrict which Snowflake Cortex models are permitted in an account. If the account is configured with an approved list, attempts to invoke models outside that list are blocked. This directly satisfies the security requirement to enforce a runtime restriction on model usage.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Snowflake Cortex model access is not controlled by granting or revoking object-level USAGE privileges on individual models in the way tables, schemas, or warehouses are managed. A candidate might choose this because RBAC is a common Snowflake control pattern, but this specific requirement is handled through the CORTEX_MODELS_ALLOWLIST parameter rather than model-specific grants.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Network policies in Snowflake govern client connectivity to Snowflake, such as allowed IP addresses, not which Cortex models can be invoked from SQL or application code. This is a plausible distractor because the scenario involves external model providers, but network policy is not the control used to limit Cortex model selection.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. There is no warehouse-level parameter used to allow or deny specific Cortex model names for query execution. Warehouses provide compute for many workloads, but model restrictions for Cortex are enforced through the relevant account parameter, not per warehouse.