Snowflake ARA-R01 Exam Practice Test Instant Access

Question 1

An Architect needs to design a data unloading strategy for Snowflake, that will be used with the COPY INTO command.

Which configuration is valid?

ALocation of files: Snowflake internal location
. File formats: CSV, XML
. File encoding: UTF-8
. Encryption: 128-bit

BLocation of files: Amazon S3
. File formats: CSV, JSON
. File encoding: Latin-1 (ISO-8859)
. Encryption: 128-bit

CLocation of files: Google Cloud Storage
. File formats: Parquet
. File encoding: UTF-8
* Compression: gzip

DLocation of files: Azure ADLS
. File formats: JSON, XML, Avro, Parquet, ORC
. Compression: bzip2
. Encryption: User-supplied key

Answer : C

For the configuration of data unloading in Snowflake, the valid option among the provided choices is 'C.' This is because Snowflake supports unloading data into Google Cloud Storage using the COPY INTO <location> command with specific configurations. The configurations listed in option C, such as Parquet file format with UTF-8 encoding and gzip compression, are all supported by Snowflake. Notably, Parquet is a columnar storage file format, which is optimal for high-performance data processing tasks in Snowflake. The UTF-8 file encoding and gzip compression are both standard and widely used settings that are compatible with Snowflake's capabilities for data unloading to cloud storage platforms. Reference:

Snowflake Documentation on COPY INTO command

Snowflake Documentation on Supported File Formats

Snowflake Documentation on Compression and Encoding Options

Question 2

Which command will create a schema without Fail-safe and will restrict object owners from passing on access to other users?

Acreate schema EDW.ACCOUNTING WITH MANAGED ACCESS;

Bcreate schema EDW.ACCOUNTING WITH MANAGED ACCESS DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS - 7;

Ccreate TRANSIENT schema EDW.ACCOUNTING WITH MANAGED ACCESS DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS = 1;

Dcreate TRANSIENT schema EDW.ACCOUNTING WITH MANAGED ACCESS DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS = 7;

Answer : D

A transient schema in Snowflake is designed without a Fail-safe period, meaning it does not incur additional storage costs once it leaves Time Travel, and it is not protected by Fail-safe in the event of a data loss. The WITH MANAGED ACCESS option ensures that all privilege grants, including future grants on objects within the schema, are managed by the schema owner, thus restricting object owners from passing on access to other users1.

Reference =

* Snowflake Documentation on creating schemas1

* Snowflake Documentation on configuring access control2

* Snowflake Documentation on understanding and viewing Fail-safe3

Question 3

A company is designing a process for importing a large amount of loT JSON data from cloud storage into Snowflake. New sets of loT data get generated and uploaded approximately every 5 minutes.

Once the loT data is in Snowflake, the company needs up-to-date information from an external vendor to join to the dat

a. This data is then presented to users through a dashboard that shows different levels of aggregation. The external vendor is a Snowflake customer.

What solution will MINIMIZE complexity and MAXIMIZE performance?

A1. Create an external table over the JSON data in cloud storage.
2. Create a task that runs every 5 minutes to run a transformation procedure on new data, based on a saved timestamp.
3. Ask the vendor to expose an API so an external function can be used to generate a call to join the data back to the loT data in the transformation procedure.
4. Give the transformed table access to the dashboard tool.
5. Perform the aggregations on the dashboard tool.

B1. Create an external table over the JSON data in cloud storage.
2. Create a task that runs every 5 minutes to run a transformation procedure on new data based on a saved timestamp.
3. Ask the vendor to create a data share with the required data that can be imported into the company's Snowflake account.
4. Join the vendor's data back to the loT data using a transformation procedure.
5. Create views over the larger dataset to perform the aggregations required by the dashboard.
6. Give the views access to the dashboard tool.

C1. Create a Snowpipe to bring the JSON data into Snowflake.
2. Use streams and tasks to trigger a transformation procedure when new JSON data arrives.
3. Ask the vendor to expose an API so an external function call can be made to join the vendor's data back to the loT data in a transformation procedure.
4. Create materialized views over the larger dataset to perform the aggregations required by the dashboard.
5. Give the materialized views access to the dashboard tool.

D1. Create a Snowpipe to bring the JSON data into Snowflake.
2. Use streams and tasks to trigger a transformation procedure when new JSON data arrives.
3. Ask the vendor to create a data share with the required data that is then imported into the Snowflake account.
4. Join the vendor's data back to the loT data in a transformation procedure
5. Create materialized views over the larger dataset to perform the aggregations required by the dashboard.
6. Give the materialized views access to the dashboard tool.

Answer : D

Using Snowpipe for continuous, automated data ingestion minimizes the need for manual intervention and ensures that data is available in Snowflake promptly after it is generated. Leveraging Snowflake's data sharing capabilities allows for efficient and secure access to the vendor's data without the need for complex API integrations. Materialized views provide pre-aggregated data for fast access, which is ideal for dashboards that require high performance1234.

Reference =

* Snowflake Documentation on Snowpipe4

* Snowflake Documentation on Secure Data Sharing2

* Best Practices for Data Ingestion with Snowflake1

Question 4

A company is designing its serving layer for data that is in cloud storage. Multiple terabytes of the data will be used for reporting. Some data does not have a clear use case but could be useful for experimental analysis. This experimentation data changes frequently and is sometimes wiped out and replaced completely in a few days.

The company wants to centralize access control, provide a single point of connection for the end-users, and maintain data governance.

What solution meets these requirements while MINIMIZING costs, administrative effort, and development overhead?

AImport the data used for reporting into a Snowflake schema with native tables. Then create external tables pointing to the cloud storage folders used for the experimentation data. Then create two different roles with grants to the different datasets to match the different user personas, and grant these roles to the corresponding users.

BImport all the data in cloud storage to be used for reporting into a Snowflake schema with native tables. Then create a role that has access to this schema and manage access to the data through that role.

CImport all the data in cloud storage to be used for reporting into a Snowflake schema with native tables. Then create two different roles with grants to the different datasets to match the different user personas, and grant these roles to the corresponding users.

DImport the data used for reporting into a Snowflake schema with native tables. Then create views that have SELECT commands pointing to the cloud storage files for the experimentation data. Then create two different roles to match the different user personas, and grant these roles to the corresponding users.

Answer : A

The most cost-effective and administratively efficient solution is to use a combination of native and external tables. Native tables for reporting data ensure performance and governance, while external tables allow for flexibility with frequently changing experimental data. Creating roles with specific grants to datasets aligns with the principle of least privilege, centralizing access control and simplifying user management12.

Reference

* Snowflake Documentation on Optimizing Cost1.

* Snowflake Documentation on Controlling Cost2.

Question 5

Which Snowflake architecture recommendation needs multiple Snowflake accounts for implementation?

AEnable a disaster recovery strategy across multiple cloud providers.

BCreate external stages pointing to cloud providers and regions other than the region hosting the Snowflake account.

CEnable zero-copy cloning among the development, test, and production environments.

DEnable separation of the development, test, and production environments.

Answer : D

The Snowflake architecture recommendation that necessitates multiple Snowflake accounts for implementation is the separation of development, test, and production environments. This approach, known as Account per Tenant (APT), isolates tenants into separate Snowflake accounts, ensuring dedicated resources and security isolation12.

Reference

* Snowflake's white paper on ''Design Patterns for Building Multi-Tenant Applications on Snowflake'' discusses the APT model and its requirement for separate Snowflake accounts for each tenant1.

* Snowflake Documentation on Secure Data Sharing, which mentions the possibility of sharing data across multiple accounts3.

Question 6

What are characteristics of Dynamic Data Masking? (Select TWO).

AA masking policy that Is currently set on a table can be dropped.

BA single masking policy can be applied to columns in different tables.

CA masking policy can be applied to the value column of an external table.

DThe role that creates the masking policy will always see unmasked data In query results

EA masking policy can be applied to a column with the GEOGRAPHY data type.

Answer : A, B

Dynamic Data Masking is a feature that allows masking sensitive data in query results based on the role of the user who executes the query. A masking policy is a user-defined function that specifies the masking logic and can be applied to one or more columns in one or more tables. A masking policy that is currently set on a table can be dropped using the ALTER TABLE command. A single masking policy can be applied to columns in different tables using the ALTER TABLE command with the SET MASKING POLICY clause. The other options are either incorrect or not supported by Snowflake. A masking policy cannot be applied to the value column of an external table, as external tables do not support column-level security. The role that creates the masking policy will not always see unmasked data in query results, as the masking policy can be applied to the owner role as well. A masking policy cannot be applied to a column with the GEOGRAPHY data type, as Snowflake only supports masking policies for scalar data types.Reference:Snowflake Documentation: Dynamic Data Masking,Snowflake Documentation: ALTER TABLE

Question 7

Which technique will efficiently ingest and consume semi-structured data for Snowflake data lake workloads?

AIDEF1X

BSchema-on-write

CSchema-on-read

DInformation schema

Answer : C

Option C is the correct answer because schema-on-read is a technique that allows Snowflake to ingest and consume semi-structured data without requiring a predefined schema. Snowflake supports various semi-structured data formats such as JSON, Avro, ORC, Parquet, and XML, and provides native data types (ARRAY, OBJECT, and VARIANT) for storing them. Snowflake also provides native support for querying semi-structured data using SQL and dot notation. Schema-on-read enables Snowflake to query semi-structured data at the same speed as performing relational queries while preserving the flexibility of schema-on-read. Snowflake's near-instant elasticity rightsizes compute resources, and consumption-based pricing ensures you only pay for what you use.

Option A is incorrect because IDEF1X is a data modeling technique that defines the structure and constraints of relational data using diagrams and notations. IDEF1X is not suitable for ingesting and consuming semi-structured data, which does not have a fixed schema or structure.

Option B is incorrect because schema-on-write is a technique that requires defining a schema before loading and processing data. Schema-on-write is not efficient for ingesting and consuming semi-structured data, which may have varying or complex structures that are difficult to fit into a predefined schema. Schema-on-write also introduces additional overhead and complexity for data transformation and validation.

Option D is incorrect because information schema is a set of metadata views that provide information about the objects and privileges in a Snowflake database. Information schema is not a technique for ingesting and consuming semi-structured data, but rather a way of accessing metadata about the data.

Semi-structured Data

Snowflake for Data Lake

Snowflake ARA-R01 SnowPro Advanced: Architect Recertification Exam Practice Test