ARA-C01 Practice Exam Questions with Answers SnowPro Advanced: Architect Certification Exam Certification

This is the valid object hierarchy when building a Snowflake environment, according to the Snowflake documentation and the web search results. Snowflake is a cloud data platform that supports various types of objects, such as databases, schemas, tables, views, stages, warehouses, and more. These objects are organized in a hierarchical structure, as follows:

• Organization: An organization is the top-level entity that represents a group of Snowflake accounts that are related by business needs or ownership. An organization can have one or more accounts, and can enable features such as cross-account data sharing, billing and usage reporting, and single sign-on across accounts12.
• Account: An account is the primary entity that represents a Snowflake customer. An account can have one or more databases, schemas, stages, warehouses, and other objects. An account can also have one or more users, roles, and security integrations. An account is associated with a specific cloud platform, region, and Snowflake edition34.
• Database: A database is a logical grouping of schemas. A database can have one or more schemas, and can store structured, semi-structured, or unstructured data. A database can also have properties such as retention time, encryption, and ownership56.
• Schema: A schema is a logical grouping of tables, views, stages, and other objects. A schema can have one or more objects, and can define the namespace and access control for the objects. A schema can also have properties such as ownership and default warehouse .
• Stage: A stage is a named location that references the files in external or internal storage. A stage can be used to load data into Snowflake tables using the COPY INTO command, or to unload data from Snowflake tables using the COPY INTO LOCATION command. A stage can be created at the account, database, or schema level, and can have properties such as file format, encryption, and credentials .

The other options listed are not valid object hierarchies, because they either omit or misplace some objects in the structure. For example, option A omits the organization level and places the warehouse under the schema level, which is incorrect. Option C omits the organization, account, and stage levels, and places the table under the schema level, which is incorrect. Option D omits the database level and places the stage and table under the account level, which is incorrect.

References:

• Snowflake Documentation: Organizations
• Snowflake Blog: Introducing Organizations in Snowflake
• Snowflake Documentation: Accounts
• Snowflake Blog: Understanding Snowflake Account Structures
• Snowflake Documentation: Databases
• Snowflake Blog: How to Create a Database in Snowflake
• [Snowflake Documentation: Schemas]
• [Snowflake Blog: How to Create a Schema in Snowflake]
• [Snowflake Documentation: Stages]
• [Snowflake Blog: How to Use Stages in Snowflake]

According to the SnowPro Advanced: Architect documents and learning resources, the ways that Snowflake databases that are created from shares differ from standard databases that are not created from shares are:

• Shared databases are read-only. This means that the data consumers who access the shared databases cannot modify or delete the data or the objects in the databases. The data providers who share the databases have full control over the data and the objects, and can grant or revoke privileges on them1.
• Shared databases cannot be cloned. This means that the data consumers who access the shared databases cannot create a copy of the databases or the objects in the databases. The data providers who share the databases can clone the databases or the objects, but the clones are not automatically shared2.
• Shared databases are not supported by Time Travel. This means that the data consumers who access the shared databases cannot use the AS OF clause to query historical data or restore deleted data. The data providers who share the databases can use Time Travel on the databases or the objects, but the historical data is not visible to the data consumers3.

The other options are incorrect because they are not ways that Snowflake databases that are created from shares differ from standard databases that are not created from shares. Option B is incorrect because shared databases do not need to be refreshed in order for new data to be visible. The data consumers who access the shared databases can see the latest data as soon as the data providers update the data1. Option E is incorrect because shared databases will not have the PUBLIC or INFORMATION_SCHEMA schemas without explicitly granting these schemas to the share. The data consumers who access the shared databases can only see the objects that the data providers grant to the share, and the PUBLIC and INFORMATION_SCHEMA schemas are not granted by default4. Option F is incorrect because shared databases cannot be created as transient databases. Transient databases are databases that do not support Time Travel or Fail-safe, and can be dropped without affecting the retention period of the data. Shared databases are always created as permanent databases, regardless of the type of the source database5. References: Introduction to Secure Data Sharing | Snowflake Documentation, Cloning Objects | Snowflake Documentation, Time Travel | Snowflake Documentation, Working with Shares | Snowflake Documentation, CREATE DATABASE | Snowflake Documentation

In Snowflake, the characteristics of result set caches include persistence of data results for 24 hours (B), each use of persisted results resets the 24-hour retention period (C), and result set caches are not shared between different warehouses (F). The result set cache is specifically designed to avoid repeated execution of the same query within this timeframe, reducing computational overhead and speeding up query responses. These caches do not contribute to storage costs, and their retention period cannot be extended beyond the default duration nor up to 31 days, as might be misconstrued.References: Snowflake Documentation on Result Set Caching.

The purpose of creating a storage integration in Snowflake includes:B. Store a generated identity and access management (IAM) entity for an external cloud provider - This helps in managing authentication and authorization with external cloud storage without embedding credentials in Snowflake. It supports various cloud providers like AWS, Azure, or GCP, ensuring that the identity management is streamlined across platforms.C. Support multiple external stages using one single Snowflake object - Storage integrations allow you to set up access configurations that can be reused across multiple external stages, simplifying the management of external data integrations.D. Avoid supplying credentials when creating a stage or when loading or unloading data - By using a storage integration, Snowflake can interact with external storage without the need to continuously manage or expose sensitive credentials, enhancing security and ease of operations.References: Snowflake documentation on storage integrations, found within the SnowPro Advanced: Architect course materials.

The best design to store and analyze large amounts of structured and semi-structured data for different business units and departments is to use a centralized Snowflake database for core business data, and use separate databases for departmental or project-specific data. This design allows for scalability, security, and cost efficiency by leveraging Snowflake’s features such as:

• Database cloning: Cloning a database creates a zero-copy clone that shares the same data files as the original database, but can be modified independently. This reduces storage costs and enables fast and consistent data replication for different purposes.
• Database sharing: Sharing a database allows granting secure and governed access to a subset of data in a database to other Snowflake accounts or consumers. This enables data collaboration and monetization across different business units or external partners.
• Warehouse scaling: Scaling a warehouse allows adjusting the size and concurrency of a warehouse to match the performance and cost requirements of different workloads. This enables optimal resource utilization and flexibility for different data analysis needs. References: Snowflake Documentation: Database Cloning, Snowflake Documentation: Database Sharing, [Snowflake Documentation: Warehouse Scaling]

According to the SnowPro Advanced: Architect documents and learning resources, the best way to enable optimal clustering to enhance performance for different access paths on a given table is to create multiple materialized views with different cluster keys. A materialized view is a pre-computed result set that is derived from a query on one or more base tables. A materialized view can be clustered by specifying a clustering key, which is a subset of columns or expressions that determines how the data in the materialized view is co-located in micro-partitions. By creating multiple materialized views with different cluster keys, an Architect can optimize the performance of queries that use different access paths on the same base table. For example, if a base table has columns A, B, C, and D, and there are queries that filter on A and B, or on C and D, or on A and C, the Architect can create three materialized views, each with a different cluster key: (A, B), (C, D), and (A, C). This way, each query can leverage the optimal clustering of the corresponding materialized view and achieve faster scan efficiency and better compression.

References:

• Snowflake Documentation: Materialized Views
• Snowflake Learning: Materialized Views

https://www.snowflake.com/blog/using-materialized-views-to-solve-multi-clustering-performance-problems/

According to the Snowflake documentation, the following are some considerations for choosing clustering for a table1:

• Clustering is optimal when either:
• Clustering is most effective when the clustering key is used in the following types of query predicates:
• Clustering is less effective when the clustering key is not used in any of the above query predicates, or when the clustering key is used in a predicate that requires a function or expression to be applied to the key (e.g. DATE_TRUNC, TO_CHAR, etc.).
• For most tables, Snowflake recommends a maximum of 3 or 4 columns (or expressions) per key. Adding more than 3-4 columns tends to increase costs more than benefits.

Based on these considerations, the best option for the clustering key columns is C. C1, C3, C2, because:

• These columns are heavily used in filter and join conditions of SELECT queries, which are the most effective types of predicates for clustering.
• These columns have high cardinality, which means they have many distinct values and can help reduce the clustering skew and improve the compression ratio.
• These columns are likely to be correlated with each other, which means they can help co-locate similar rows in the same micro-partitions and improve the scan efficiency.
• These columns do not require any functions or expressions to be applied to them, which means they can be directly used in the predicates without affecting the clustering.

References: 1: Considerations for Choosing Clustering for a Table | Snowflake Documentation

• Warehouse credits are used to pay for the processing time used by each virtual warehouse in Snowflake. A virtual warehouse is a cluster of compute resources that enables executing queries, loading data, and performing other DML operations. Warehouse credits are charged based on the number of virtual warehouses you use, how long they run, and their size1.
• Among the commands listed in the question, the following ones will use warehouse credits:
• The command that will not use warehouse credits is:

References: : Understanding Compute Cost : MAX Function : COUNT Function : GROUP BY Clause : SHOW TABLES

This approach is the least complex because it uses Snowflake’s built-in replication feature to copy the data and database objects from the Production account to the QA account. Replication is a fast and efficient way to synchronize data across accounts, regions, and cloud platforms. It also preserves the privileges and metadata of the replicated objects. By creating clones of the replica databases, the QA account can run tests on the cloned data without affecting the original data. Clones are also zero-copy, meaning they do not consume any additional storage space unless the data is modified. This approach does not require any external stages, tasks, Snowpipe, or external functions, which can add complexity and overhead to the data transfer process.

References:

• Introduction to Replication and Failover
• Replicating Databases Across Multiple Accounts
• Cloning Considerations

The Snowpipe REST API provides two endpoints for retrieving the data load history: insertReport and loadHistoryScan. The insertReport endpoint returns the status of the files that were submitted to the insertFiles endpoint, while the loadHistoryScan endpoint returns the history of the files that were actually loaded into the table by Snowpipe. To keep a log of data load history, it is recommended to use the loadHistoryScan endpoint, which provides more accurate and complete information about the data ingestion process. The loadHistoryScan endpoint accepts a start time and an end time as parameters, and returns the files that were loaded within that time range. The maximum time range that can be specified is 15 minutes, and the maximum number of files that can be returned is 10,000. Therefore, to keep a log of data load history, the best option is to call the loadHistoryScan endpoint every 10 minutes for a 15-minute time range, and store the results in a log file or a table. This way, the log will capture all the files that were loaded by Snowpipe, and avoid any gaps or overlaps in the time range. The other options are incorrect because:

• Calling insertReport every 20 minutes, fetching the last 10,000 entries, will not provide a complete log of data load history, as some files may be missed or duplicated due to the asynchronous nature of Snowpipe. Moreover, insertReport only returns the status of the files that were submitted, not the files that were loaded.
• Calling loadHistoryScan every minute for the maximum time range will result in too many API calls and unnecessary overhead, as the same files will be returned multiple times. Moreover, the maximum time range is 15 minutes, not 1 minute.
• Calling insertReport every 8 minutes for a 10-minute time range will suffer from the same problems as option A, and also create gaps or overlaps in the time range.

References:

• Snowpipe REST API
• Option 1: Loading Data Using the Snowpipe REST API
• PIPE_USAGE_HISTORY

The minimum value supported for the buffer.flush.time property is 1 (in seconds). For higher average data flow rates, we suggest that you decrease the default value for improved latency. If cost is a greater concern than latency, you could increase the buffer flush time. Be careful to flush the Kafka memory buffer before it becomes full to avoid out of memory exceptions. https://docs.snowflake.com/en/user-guide/data-load-snowpipe-streaming-kafka

To improve the performance of queries on semi-structured data, such as JSON stored in a VARIANT column, Snowflake’s search optimization service can be utilized. By adding search optimization specifically for the longitude and latitude fields within the VARIANT column, the system can perform point lookups and substring queries more efficiently. This will allow for faster retrieval of weather statistics, which is critical for the drivers to receive timely updates.

References: The solution is supported by Snowflake documentation that details how search optimization can enhance query performance for semi-structured data1.

 According to the SnowPro Advanced: Architect documents and learning resources, the requirement to allow data sharing between two companies that are not on the same cloud platform is to set up data replication to the region and cloud platform where the consumer resides. Data replication is a feature of Snowflake that enables copying databases across accounts in different regions and cloud platforms. Data replication allows data providers to securely share data with data consumers across different regions and cloud platforms by creating a replica database in the consumer’s account. The replica database is read-only and automatically synchronized with the primary database in the provider’s account. Data replication is useful for scenarios where data sharing is not possible or desirable due to latency, compliance, or security reasons1. The other options are incorrect because they are not required or feasible to allow data sharing between two companies that are not on the same cloud platform. Option A is incorrect because creating a pipeline to write shared data to a cloud storage location in the target cloud provider is not a secure or efficient way of sharing data. It would require additional steps to load the data from the cloud storage to the consumer’s account, and it would not leverage the benefits of Snowflake’s data sharing features. Option B is incorrect because ensuring that all views are persisted is not relevant for data sharing across cloud platforms. Views can be shared across cloud platforms as long as they reference objects in the same database. Persisting views is an option to improve the performance of querying views, but it is not required for data sharing2. Option D is incorrect because Company A and Company B do not need to agree to use a single cloud platform. Data sharing is possible across different cloud platforms using data replication or other methods, such as listings or auto-fulfillment3. References: Replicating Databases Across Multiple Accounts | Snowflake Documentation, Persisting Views | Snowflake Documentation, Sharing Data Across Regions and Cloud Platforms | Snowflake Documentation

The best way to integrate an enterprise identity provider with federated authentication and enable automatic user creation and role assignment in Snowflake is to use SCIM (System for Cross-domain Identity Management). SCIM allows Snowflake to synchronize with the identity provider and create users and groups based on the information provided by the identity provider. The groups are mapped to roles in Snowflake, and the users are assigned the roles based on their group membership. This way, the identity provider remains the source of truth for user and group management, and Snowflake automatically reflects the changes without manual intervention. The other options are either incorrect or incomplete, as they involve using OAuth, which is a protocol for authorization, not authentication or user provisioning, and require additional configuration of authorization and resource servers.

According to the Snowflake documentation1 and the web search results2, these two statements are true about how the change of local time due to daylight savings time is handled in Snowflake tasks. A task is a feature that allows scheduling and executing SQL statements or stored procedures in Snowflake. A task can be scheduled using a cron expression that specifies the frequency and time zone of the task execution.

• A task scheduled in a UTC-based schedule will have no issues with the time changes. UTC is a universal time standard that does not observe daylight savings time. Therefore, a task that uses UTC as the time zone will run at the same time throughout the year, regardless of the local time changes1.
• Task schedules can be designed to follow specified or local time zones to accommodate the time changes. Snowflake supports using any valid IANA time zone identifier in the cron expression for a task. This allows the task to run according to the local time of the specified time zone, which may include daylight savings time adjustments. For example, a task that uses Europe/London as the time zone will run one hour earlier or later when the local time switches between GMT and BST12.

References:

• Snowflake Documentation: Scheduling Tasks
• Snowflake Community: Do the timezones used in scheduling tasks in Snowflake adhere to daylight savings?

The Time Travel retention period for T1 will be 30 days, which is the retention period set at the table level. The Time Travel retention period determines how long the historical data is preserved and accessible for an object after it is modified or dropped. The Time Travel retention period can be set at the account level, the database level, the schema level, or the table level. The retention period set at the lowest level of the hierarchy takes precedence over the higher levels. Therefore, the retention period set at the table level overrides the retention periods set at the schema level, the database level, or the account level. When the user drops the database DB1, the table T1 is also dropped, but the historical data is still preserved for 30 days, which is the retention period set at the table level. The user can use the UNDROP command to restore the table T1 within the 30-day period. The other options are incorrect because:

• 10 days is the retention period set at the database level, which is overridden by the table level.
• 20 days is the retention period set at the schema level, which is also overridden by the table level.
• 37 days is not a valid option, as it is not the retention period set at any level.

References:

• Understanding & Using Time Travel
• AT | BEFORE
• Snowflake Time Travel & Fail-safe

This is the correct command to create a clone of the table Data as it was 5 minutes ago using cloning and Time Travel. Cloning is a feature that allows creating a copy of a database, schema, table, or view without duplicating the data or metadata. Time Travel is a feature that enables accessing historical data (i.e. data that has been changed or deleted) at any point within a defined period. To create a clone of a table at a point in time in the past, the syntax is:

CREATE TABLE CLONE AT (OFFSET => );

The OFFSET parameter specifies the time difference in seconds from the present time. A negative value indicates a point in the past. For example, -60*5 means 5 minutes ago. Alternatively, the TIMESTAMP parameter can be used to specify an exact timestamp in the past. The clone will contain the data as it existed in the source table at the specified point in time12.

References:

• Snowflake Documentation: Cloning Objects
• Snowflake Documentation: Cloning Objects at a Point in Time in the Past

The Snowflake system functions used to view and monitor the clustering metadata for a table are:

• SYSTEM$CLUSTERING_INFORMATION
• SYSTEM$CLUSTERING_DEPTH

Comprehensive But Short Explanation:

• The SYSTEM$CLUSTERING_INFORMATION function in Snowflake returns a variety of clustering information for a specified table. This information includes the average clustering depth, total number of micro-partitions, total constant partition count, average overlaps, average depth, and a partition depth histogram. This function allows you to specify either one or multiple columns for which the clustering information is returned, and it returns this data in JSON format.
• The SYSTEM$CLUSTERING_DEPTH function computes the average depth of a table based on specified columns or the clustering key defined for the table. A lower average depth indicates that the table is better clustered with respect to the specified columns. This function also allows specifying columns to calculate the depth, and the values need to be enclosed in single quotes.

References:

• SYSTEM$CLUSTERING_INFORMATION: Snowflake Documentation
• SYSTEM$CLUSTERING_DEPTH: Snowflake Documentation

 Option C is the correct answer because it allows the company to share data privately with the customer across different cloud platforms and regions. The company can create a new Snowflake account in Azure East US 2 (Virginia) and set up replication between AWS us-west-2 (Oregon) and Azure East US 2 (Virginia) for the database objects to be shared. This way, the company can ensure that the data is always up to date and consistent in both accounts. The company can then create a share and add the database privileges to the share, and alter the share and add the customer’s Snowflake account to the share. The customer can then access the shared data from their own Snowflake account in Azure East US 2 (Virginia).

Option A is incorrect because the Snowflake Marketplace is not a private way of sharing data. The Snowflake Marketplace is a public data exchange platform that allows anyone to browse and subscribe to data sets from various providers. The company would not be able to control who can access their data if they use the Snowflake Marketplace.

Option B is incorrect because it requires the customer to create a new Snowflake account in Azure East US 2 (Virginia), which may not be feasible or desirable for the customer. The customer may already have an existing Snowflake account in a different cloud platform or region, and may not want to incur additional costs or complexity by creating a new account.

Option D is incorrect because it involves creating a reader account in Azure East US 2 (Virginia), which is a limited and temporary way of sharing data. A reader account is a special type of Snowflake account that can only access data from a single share, and has a fixed duration of 30 days. The company would have to manage the reader account’s URL and credentials, and renew the account every 30 days. The customer would not be able to use their own Snowflake account to access the shared data, and would have to rely on the company’s reader account.

References:

• Snowflake Replication
• Secure Data Sharing Overview
• Snowflake Marketplace Overview
• Reader Account Overview

In a managed access schema, the privilege management is centralized with the schema owner, who has the authority to grant object privileges within the schema. Additionally, the SECURITYADMIN role has the capability to manage object grants globally, which includes within managed access schemas. Other roles, such as SYSADMIN or database owners, do not inherently have this privilege unless explicitly granted.

References: The verified answers are based on Snowflake’s official documentation, which outlines the roles and privileges associated with managed access schemas12.

Zero-copy cloning is a feature that allows creating a clone of a table, schema, or database without physically copying the data. Zero-copy cloning is suitable for scenarios where the cloned object needs to have the same data and metadata as the original object, and where the cloned object does not need to be modified or updated frequently. Zero-copy cloning is also suitable for scenarios where the cloned object needs to be shared within the same Snowflake account or across different accounts in the same cloud region2

However, zero-copy cloning is not suitable for scenarios where the cloned object needs to have different data or metadata than the original object, or where the cloned object needs to be modified or updated frequently. Zero-copy cloning is also not suitable for scenarios where the cloned object needs to be shared across different accounts in different cloud regions. In these scenarios, copying of data would be required, either by using the COPY INTO command or by using data sharing with secure views3

The following are examples of development and testing scenarios where copying of data would be required, and zero-copy cloning would not be suitable:

• Developers create their own datasets to work against transformed versions of the live data. This scenario requires copying of data because the developers need to modify the data or metadata of the cloned object to perform transformations, such as adding, deleting, or updating columns, rows, or values. Zero-copy cloning would not be suitable because it would create a read-only clone that shares the same data and metadata as the original object, and any changes made to the clone would affect the original object as well4
• Data is in a production Snowflake account that needs to be provided to Developers in a separate development/testing Snowflake account in the same cloud region. This scenario requires copying of data because the data needs to be shared across different accounts in the same cloud region. Zero-copy cloning would not be suitable because it would create a clone within the same account as the original object, and it would not allow sharing the clone with another account. To share data across different accounts in the same cloud region, data sharing with secure views or COPY INTO command can be used5

The following are examples of development and testing scenarios where zero-copy cloning would be suitable, and copying of data would not be required:

• Production and development run in different databases in the same account, and Developers need to see production-like data but with specific columns masked. This scenario can use zero-copy cloning because the data needs to be shared within the same account, and the cloned object does not need to have different data or metadata than the original object. Zero-copy cloning can create a clone of the production database in the development database, and the clone can have the same data and metadata as the original database. To mask specific columns, secure views can be created on top of the clone, and the developers can access the secure views instead of the clone directly6
• Developers create their own copies of a standard test database previously created for them in the development account, for their initial development and unit testing. This scenario can use zero-copy cloning because the data needs to be shared within the same account, and the cloned object does not need to have different data or metadata than the original object. Zero-copy cloning can create a clone of the standard test database for each developer, and the clone can have the same data and metadata as the original database. The developers can use the clone for their initial development and unit testing, and any changes made to the clone would not affect the original database or other clones7
• The release process requires pre-production testing of changes with data of production scale and complexity. For security reasons, pre-production also runs in the production account. This scenario can use zero-copy cloning because the data needs to be shared within the same account, and the cloned object does not need to have different data or metadata than the original object. Zero-copy cloning can create a clone of the production database in the pre-production database, and the clone can have the same data and metadata as the original database. The pre-production testing can use the clone to test the changes with data of production scale and complexity, and any changes made to the clone would not affect the original database or the production environment8 References:
• 1: SnowPro Advanced: Architect | Study Guide 9
• 2: Snowflake Documentation | Cloning Overview
• 3: Snowflake Documentation | Loading Data Using COPY into a Table
• 4: Snowflake Documentation | Transforming Data During a Load
• 5: Snowflake Documentation | Data Sharing Overview
• 6: Snowflake Documentation | Secure Views
• 7: Snowflake Documentation | Cloning Databases, Schemas, and Tables
• 8: Snowflake Documentation | Cloning for Testing and Development
• : SnowPro Advanced: Architect | Study Guide
• : Cloning Overview
• : Loading Data Using COPY into a Table
• : Transforming Data During a Load
• : Data Sharing Overview
• : Secure Views
• : Cloning Databases, Schemas, and Tables
• : Cloning for Testing and Development

In Snowflake, a storage integration is used to define and configure external cloud storage that Snowflake will interact with. This includes specifying security policies for access control. One of the main features of storage integrations is the ability to set restrictions on where data may be exported. This is done by binding the storage integration to specific cloud storage locations, thereby ensuring that Snowflake can only access those locations. It helps to maintain control over the data and complies with data governance and security policies by preventing unauthorized data exports to unspecified locations.

This design meets all the requirements for the data pipeline. Snowpipe is a feature that enables continuous data loading into Snowflake from object storage using event notifications. It is efficient, scalable, and serverless, meaning it does not require any infrastructure or maintenance from the user. Streams and tasks are features that enable automated data pipelines within Snowflake, using change data capture and scheduled execution. They are also efficient, scalable, and serverless, and they simplify the data transformation process. External functions are functions that can invoke external services or APIs from within Snowflake. They can be used to integrate with Amazon Comprehend and perform sentiment analysis on the data. The results can be written back to a Snowflake table using standard SQL commands. Snowflake Marketplace is a platform that allows data providers to share data with data consumers across different accounts, regions, and cloud platforms. It is a secure and easy way to make data publicly available to other companies.

References:

• Snowpipe Overview | Snowflake Documentation
• Introduction to Data Pipelines | Snowflake Documentation
• External Functions Overview | Snowflake Documentation
• Snowflake Data Marketplace Overview | Snowflake Documentation

• A pipe is a Snowflake object that continuously loads data from files in a stage (internal or external) into a table. A pipe can be configured to use auto-ingest, which means that Snowflake automatically detects new or modified files in the stage and loads them into the table without any manual intervention1.
• A pipe is the most cost-effective way to bring large numbers of small JSON files into a Snowflake table, because it minimizes the number of COPY commands executed and the number of micro-partitions created. A pipe can use file aggregation, which means that it can combine multiple small files into a single larger file before loading them into the table. This reduces the load time and the storage cost of the data2.
• An external table is a Snowflake object that references data files stored in an external location, such as Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Microsoft Azure Blob Storage. An external table does not store the data in Snowflake, but only provides a view of the data for querying. An external table is not a cost-effective way to bring data into a Snowflake table, because it does not support file aggregation, and it requires additional network bandwidth and compute resources to query the external data3.
• A stream is a Snowflake object that records the history of changes (inserts, updates, and deletes) made to a table. A stream can be used to consume the changes from a table and apply them to another table or a task. A stream is not a way to bring data into a Snowflake table, but a way to process the data after it is loaded into a table4.
• A copy command is a Snowflake command that loads data from files in a stage into a table. A copy command can be executed manually or scheduled using a task. A copy command is not a cost-effective way to bring large numbers of small JSON files into a Snowflake table, because it does not support file aggregation, and it may create many micro-partitions that increase the storage cost of the data5.

References: : Pipes : Loading Data Using Snowpipe : External Tables : Streams : COPY INTO

References:

• 1: COPY INTO

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