Snowflake

The Snowflake destination writes data to one or more tables in a Snowflake database. You can use the Snowflake destination to write to any accessible Snowflake database, including those hosted on Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Microsoft Azure, and private Snowflake installations. For information about supported versions, see Supported Systems and Versions.

Tip: To write large files to Snowflake with no pipeline processing, try using the Snowflake File Uploader with the Snowflake executor for better performance.

The Snowflake destination stages CSV files to either an internal Snowflake stage or an external stage in Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Microsoft Azure. Then, the destination sends a command to Snowflake to process the staged files.

You can use the Snowflake destination to write new data or change data capture (CDC) data to Snowflake. When processing new data, the destination can load data to Snowflake using the COPY command or Snowpipe. When processing CDC data, the destination uses the MERGE command.

The Snowflake destination writes data from record fields to table columns based on matching names. The destination can compensate for data drift by creating new columns and tables in Snowflake when new fields and table references appear in records.

When you configure the Snowflake destination, you specify the Snowflake region, account and connection information and the number of connections to use to write to Snowflake. You can specify an organization name to use and define additional Snowflake connection properties, as needed. You can also use a connection to configure the destination.

You configure the Snowflake warehouse, database, schema, and the tables to use. You specify load method, error handling, and staging details, and optionally define advanced properties for Amazon S3 or Microsoft Azure.

You can optionally enable data drift. You can have the destination create new tables, as needed. You can also specify whether to create all new columns as Varchar instead of inferring the type, and whether to create Decimal columns for decimal data.

You can configure the root field for the row, and any first-level fields that you want to exclude from the record. You can also configure the destination to replace missing fields or fields containing invalid data types with the specified default values, and to replace newline characters in string fields with a specified character. You can specify the quoting mode, define quote and escape characters, and configure the destination to trim spaces. When processing CDC data, you specify the primary key location.

Before you use the Snowflake destination, you must complete several prerequisite tasks.

Note: It is best practice to configure the Snowflake warehouse to auto-resume upon receiving new queries.

Tip: If you change the destination table schema manually rather than enabling data drift handling, restart the pipeline to allow the destination to discover schema changes.

Sample Use Cases

The following use cases show how you can replicate a database or offload a Hadoop data lake to Snowflake.

Tip: For additional use cases for the Snowflake destination, review the sample Snowflake pipelines included in the Data Collector pipeline library. Download the sample pipelines and then import them into Data Collector. Review the sample pipelines or use them as a starting point to write data to Snowflake.

Here are a couple common scenarios for using the Snowflake destination:

Replicating a database

Say you want to replicate data being written to five tables in an Oracle database schema. You want to write both existing data and incoming CDC data to Snowflake.

To do this, you create two pipelines, one to load the existing data and one to process incoming data, as follows:

First pipeline for replicating data - The first pipeline uses the multithreaded JDBC Multitable Consumer origin to read from the tables that you want to replicate. To take advantage of Snowflake’s bulk load abilities, you configure the origin to use a very large batch size - somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 records per batch. You set the number of threads to five to read data from all five tables concurrently, and you increase the connection pool size to five to allow writing to five tables in Snowflake concurrently.
In the pipeline, you use as many processors as needed to process the data. Then, you configure the Snowflake destination to load the data into Snowflake.
If you wanted the data to be immediately available after being written to Snowflake, you would use the default COPY command load method. But since you can tolerate a bit of latency, you use the faster, cheaper Snowpipe to load the data. Using Snowpipe requires performing some prerequisite steps in Snowflake.
After the initial load is complete, you stop the first pipeline and start the second pipeline to process incoming CDC data.
Second pipeline for CDC data - In the second pipeline, you use the Oracle CDC Client origin and the Snowflake destination. You configure this origin to use a very large batch size as well, somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 records per batch.
In the destination, you select the Processing CDC Data (Use MERGE) property to perform CRUD operations when writing to Snowflake. This results in the destination using the MERGE command to load data into Snowflake. You specify a field in the records that contains the table name to use when writing to Snowflake, and you define the key columns for each table or configure the destination to query Snowflake for the key columns.
To improve performance, you also increase the connection pool size. For more information, see Performance Optimization.

Offloading from Hadoop

Say you have a Hadoop data lake that you want to move into Snowflake. In this case, you only need one pipeline that includes the multithreaded Hadoop FS Standalone origin, all of the processors that you need, and the Snowflake destination.

In the Snowflake destination, you could use Snowpipe if you can afford a little latency in the availability of the data after its written. But Snowpipe only writes to tables that already exist. To allow the destination to create new tables to compensate for drifting data, you use the default COPY command to load data. As mentioned earlier, you can use large batches, multiple threads, and multiple connections to optimize pipeline performance.

Since the data in the data lake is probably less structured than typical database data, configure the following data drift and advanced data properties in the destination to smooth out the transition:

Enable the Data Drift property to allow creating new columns in tables when a new field appears.
Enable the Table Auto Create property to create new tables as needed.
To avoid generating unnecessary error records:
- Use the Ignore Missing Fields property to replace missing data with default values.
- Use the Ignore Fields with Invalid Types property to replace data of invalid data types with default values.
- Define the default values to use for each Snowflake data type.
- Replace newline characters in string fields with a specified character.

Prerequisites

Before you configure the Snowflake destination, complete the following prerequisites:

Create an internal or external Snowflake stage.
To use the COPY command to load new data, complete the COPY prerequisites.
To use Snowpipe to load new data, complete the Snowpipe prerequisites.
To use the MERGE command to load CDC data, complete the MERGE prerequisites.

Create a Snowflake Stage

Before using the destination in a pipeline, you must create a Snowflake internal or external stage.

To use an external stage, create the external stage with the cloud service provider that hosts your Snowflake warehouse.

Create one of the following Snowflake stages, as appropriate:

Snowflake internal stage

You can stage data in Snowflake internal user stages or named stages. Do not use internal table stages.

User stages are created by default for each user. For steps on how to create a named stage, see CREATE STAGE in the Snowflake SQL command reference documentation.

You can use the default Snowflake configuration for both user and named stages.

For more information about Snowflake stages, see the Snowflake documentation.

Amazon S3 external stage

To stage data in an Amazon S3 external stage, create a Snowflake external stage in a bucket in the same S3 region that hosts your Snowflake virtual warehouse. For example, if your Snowflake warehouse is in AWS US West, then create the Snowflake external stage in a bucket in the AWS US West region.

When you create a Snowflake external stage, you specify a URL that defines the name and location for the stage. Include a trailing slash in the URL to ensure that Snowflake loads all staged data. You might also include a prefix in the stage name to indicate that the external stage is for Data Collector.

For example, the following URL creates an external stage named sdc-externalstage in s3://mybucket/ and ensures that all staged data loads to Snowflake:

s3://mybucket/sdc-externalstage/

You can create an S3 stage using the Snowflake web interface or SQL. For more information, see the Snowflake documentation.

Google Cloud Storage external stage

To stage data in a Google Cloud Storage external stage, create a Snowflake storage integration in Google Cloud Storage. This is a multistep process described in the Snowflake documentation that ends with creating a Snowflake external stage. Be sure to complete all required steps.

Snowflake supports Regional Storage and Multi-Regional Storage accounts only.

For example, the following URL creates an external stage named sdc-externalstage in gcs://mybucket/ and loads all staged data to Snowflake:

gcs://mybucket/sdc-externalstage/

Microsoft Azure external stage

To stage data in a Microsoft Azure external stage, complete the following tasks:

Configure Snowflake authentication for the Microsoft Azure Blob Storage container that you want to use.
You can use an SAS token or an Azure account name and key for authentication. For information about configuring SAS token authentication, see the Snowflake documentation.
Create a Snowflake external stage in the container.
When you create a Snowflake external stage, you specify a URL that defines the name and location for the stage. Include a trailing slash in the URL to ensure that Snowflake loads all staged data. You might also include a prefix in the stage name to indicate that the external stage is for Data Collector.
For example, the following URL creates an external stage named sdc-externalstage in azure://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer/load/ and loads all staged data to Snowflake:
```
azure://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer/load/sdc-externalstage/
```
You can create an Azure stage using the Snowflake web interface or SQL. For more information, see Creating an Azure Stage in the Snowflake documentation.

AWS Credentials

When the Snowflake destination stages data on Amazon S3, it must pass credentials to Amazon Web Services.

Use one of the following methods to pass AWS credentials:

Instance profile: When the execution Data Collector runs on an Amazon EC2 instance that has an associated instance profile, Data Collector uses the instance profile credentials to automatically authenticate with AWS.; To use an instance profile, on the Staging tab, set the Authentication Method property to Instance Profile.; For more information about associating an instance profile with an EC2 instance, see the Amazon EC2 documentation.
AWS access key pair: When the execution Data Collector does not run on an Amazon EC2 instance or when the EC2 instance doesn’t have an instance profile, you can connect with an AWS access key pair.

To connect with an AWS access key pair, on the Staging tab, set the Authentication Method property to AWS Keys. Then define the access key ID and secret access key.
Tip: To secure sensitive information such as access key pairs, you can use runtime resources or credential stores.

Note: To stage data on Amazon S3, the role or access key pair that you use must have the permissions needed to write to Amazon S3, including s3:GetBucketLocation and s3:PutObject.

Google Cloud Storage Credentials

Before staging data on Google Cloud Storage, the Snowflake destination must pass credentials to Google Cloud.

You can provide credentials using one the following options:

Google Cloud default credentials
Credentials in a file
Credentials in a stage property

For details on how to configure each option, see Security in Google Cloud Stages.

COPY Prerequisites

When processing new data, you can configure the destination to use the COPY command to load data to Snowflake tables.

Using the COPY command to load data requires a role with one of the following sets of access privileges:

Required privileges when using an internal Snowflake stage:


Object Type	Privilege
Internal Snowflake stage	READ, WRITE
Table	SELECT, INSERT

Required privileges when using an external stage:


Object Type	Privilege
External stage	USAGE
Table	SELECT, INSERT

If necessary, create a custom role in Snowflake and grant the role the required access privileges. Then, associate the role with the stage. For more information, see Define a Role.

Snowpipe Prerequisites

When processing new data, you can use Snowpipe, the Snowflake continuous ingestion engine, to load data to Snowflake tables.

Before using Snowpipe, complete the following prerequisites:

In Snowflake, create a pipe for Snowpipe to use to load data.
For more information about creating a pipe, see the Snowflake documentation.
In Snowflake, generate a private key PEM and a public key PEM.
For details about key-pair authentication, see the Snowflake documentation. You do not need to generate JSON Web Tokens (JWT) as described in Step 5.
When you configure the destination, you specify the private key PEM and password and the public key PEM.
In Snowflake, assign the public key to the Snowflake user account configured in the destination.
You can use the Snowflake console or the ALTER USER command.
Optionally, to secure the private key PEM and password, use runtime resources or credential stores.
In Snowflake, create a custom role and grant the role the access privileges required to use Snowpipe.
For a list of the required Snowpipe access privileges, see the Snowflake documentation.
Then, associate the role with the stage.
For more information, see Define a Role.

MERGE Prerequisites

When processing CDC data, you can configure the destination to use the MERGE command to load data to Snowflake tables.

Using the MERGE command to load data requires a role with one of the following sets of access privileges:

Required privileges when using an internal Snowflake stage:


Object Type	Privilege
Internal Snowflake stage	READ, WRITE
Table	SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE

Required privileges when using an external stage:


Object Type	Privilege
External stage	USAGE
Table	SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE

If necessary, create a custom role in Snowflake and grant the role the required access privileges. Then, associate the role with the stage. For more information, see Define a Role.

Implementation Notes

Note the following implementation requirements when working with the Snowflake destination:

It is best practice to configure the Snowflake warehouse to auto-resume upon receiving new queries.
If you change the destination table schema manually rather than enabling data drift handling, restart the pipeline to allow the destination to discover schema changes.

Load Methods

The Snowflake destination can load data to Snowflake using the following methods:

COPY command for new data: The COPY command, the default load method, performs a bulk synchronous load to Snowflake, treating all records as INSERTS. Use this method to write new data to Snowflake tables.; The COPY command provides real-time access to data as it is written. It does, however, incur Snowflake warehouse usage fees, which are rounded up to the hour at this time. Use the recommended guidelines to optimize for performance and cost-effectiveness.; Since the COPY command is the default load method, you do not need to configure the Snowflake destination to use this command.
Snowpipe for new data: Snowpipe, the Snowflake continuous ingestion service, performs an asynchronous load to Snowflake, treating all records as INSERTS. Use this method to write new data to Snowflake tables. When needed, you can configure the destination to use a custom Snowflake endpoint.; Snowpipe provides slightly delayed access to data, typically under one minute. Snowpipe incurs Snowflake fees for only the resources used to perform the write.; Before using Snowpipe, perform the prerequisite steps. Also, use the recommended guidelines to optimize for performance and cost-effectiveness.; To use Snowpipe to load new data, enable the Use Snowpipe property on the Snowflake tab of the destination. Then, configure the properties on the Snowpipe tab.
MERGE command for CDC data: Like the COPY command, the MERGE command performs a bulk synchronous load to Snowflake. But instead of treating all records as INSERT, it inserts, updates, upserts, and deletes records as appropriate. Use this method to write change data capture (CDC) data to Snowflake tables using CRUD operations.; Also like the COPY command, the MERGE command provides real-time access to data as it is written. And, it incurs Snowflake warehouse usage fees, which are rounded up to the hour at this time.; Use the recommended guidelines to optimize for performance and cost-effectiveness.; Important: To maintain the original order of data, do not use multiple threads or cluster execution mode when processing CDC data.; To use the MERGE command to load CDC data, select the Processing CDC Data (Use MERGE) property on the Data tab of the destination. Then, configure the Primary Key Location property to indicate the primary key columns to use.

For more information about Snowpipe or the COPY or MERGE commands, see the Snowflake documentation.

Primary Key Location

When you configure the Snowflake destination to write CDC data using the MERGE command, you must provide primary key information. You can configure the destination to access primary key information in the following ways:

Query Snowflake: The destination queries Snowflake for the primary key columns for each table that it writes to. Use this option only when primary key columns are defined in the Snowflake tables.
Use JDBC record header attribute: The destination uses primary key columns stored in the jdbc.primaryKeySpecification record header attribute.; Several origins, such as the Oracle CDC Client origin and the PostgreSQL CDC Client origin, populate the record header attribute automatically. You can also use a processor, such as the Expression Evaluator, to populate the header attribute within the pipeline.; When the destination is enabled for data drift handling, the destination updates the primary key columns in the target table based on the primary keys specified in the header attribute. For more information, see Creating Tables.
Use specified columns for each table: The destination uses the primary key columns that you specify in the Table Key Columns properties.; Note: When key columns are known, entering them manually is more efficient than the other two options.

Error Handling

You can configure Snowflake error handling in the Snowflake destination. The error handling properties determine how the on_error option is defined in the Snowflake SQL query.

Since the Snowflake MERGE command does not allow the on_error option, you cannot configure error handling when the destination processes CDC data.

The Snowflake destination provides error handling properties for the COPY command and Snowpipe load methods, as follows:

COPY command

Use the Error Behavior property on the Snowflake tab when you use the COPY command to load data to Snowflake. When you use Snowpipe or the MERGE command, the Error Behavior property is ignored.

The Error Behavior property provides the following error handling options:

Default - Does not set the on_error option. When not explicitly set, the Snowflake default on_error behavior is Abort Statement.
Continue - Ignores errors and continues processing.
Skip File - When encountering errors, skips writing the batch.
When you use this option, you also configure a Skip File On Error property to specify when to skip the file:
- First - After discovering the first error record.
- Number - After discovering the specified number of error records in the batch.
- Percentage - After discovering the specified percentage of error records in the batch.
Abort Statement - Skips writing the batch upon the first error.

Snowpipe

You can use the Snowpipe Error Behavior property on the Snowpipe tab when you enable the Use Snowflake and the Snowpipe Auto Create properties on the Snowflake tab. The destination cannot manage Snowpipe error handling when the destination does not create the Snowpipe.

The Snowpipe Error Behavior property provides the following error handling options:

Default - Does not set the on_error option. When not explicitly set, the Snowflake default on_error behavior for autocreated Snowpipes is Skip File.
Continue - Ignores errors and continues processing.

Skip File - When encountering errors, skips writing the batch.
When you use this option, you also configure a Snowpipe Skip File On Error property to specify when the destination should skip the file:
- First - After discovering the first error record.
- Number - After discovering the specified number of error records in the batch.
- Percentage - After discovering the specified percentage of error records in the batch.

Define a Role

The Snowflake destination requires a Snowflake role that grants all privileges needed to load data using the configured load method. Each load method requires a different set of privileges.

Before configuring the destination, ensure that you have granted the required privileges to a Snowflake role, as explained in Prerequisites.

If you create a custom role with the required privileges, define the role that the stage uses in one of the following ways:

Assign the custom role as the default role: In Snowflake, assign the custom role as the default role for the Snowflake user account specified in the stage. A Snowflake user account is associated with a single default role.
Override the default role with the custom role: In the stage, use the Role property to specify the name of the custom role. The custom role overrides the role assigned to the Snowflake user account specified in the stage.; For example, you might define custom roles in Snowflake for specific data sources, and then specify one of the roles when configuring a Snowflake stage.
Use a Snowflake connection: When working with Control Hub, you can configure a Snowflake connection to provide connection details for Snowflake stages.; When a Snowflake stage is configured to use a Snowflake connection, the stage uses the role associated with the connection. You cannot define the role to use in stage properties. For more information, see the Control Hub documentation.

Performance Optimization

Use the following tips to optimize for performance and cost-effectiveness when using the Snowflake destination:

Increase the batch size

The maximum batch size is determined by the origin in the pipeline and typically has a default value of 1,000 records. To take advantage of Snowflake's bulk loading abilities, increase the maximum batch size in the pipeline origin to 20,000-50,000 records. Be sure to increase the Data Collector java heap size, as needed.

Important: Increasing the batch size is strongly recommended. Using the default batch size can be slow and costly.

Configure pipeline runners to wait indefinitely when idle

With the default configuration, a pipeline runner generates an empty batch after waiting idly for 60 seconds. As a result, the destination continues to execute metadata queries against Snowflake, even though no data needs to be processed. To reduce Snowflake charges when a pipeline runner waits idly, set the Runner Idle Time pipeline property to -1. This configures pipeline runners to wait indefinitely when idle without generating empty batches, which allows Snowflake to pause processing.

Important: Configuring pipeline runners to wait indefinitely when idle is strongly recommended. Using the default pipeline runner idle time can result in unnecessary Snowflake resource consumption and runtime costs.

Use multiple threads

When writing to Snowflake using Snowpipe or the COPY command, you can use multiple threads to improve performance when you include a multithreaded origin in the pipeline. When Data Collector resources allow, using multiple threads enables processing multiple batches of data concurrently.

As with increasing the batch size, when using multiple threads, you should make sure that the Data Collector java heap size is sized appropriately.

Note: Do not use multiple threads to write CDC data to Snowflake with the MERGE command. When using multiple threads to process data, the original order of the data is not retained.

Enable additional connections to Snowflake

When writing to multiple Snowflake tables using the COPY or MERGE commands, increase the number of connections that the Snowflake destination makes to Snowflake. Each additional connection allows the destination to write to an additional table, concurrently.

For example, when writing to 10 tables with only one connection, the destination can only write to one table at a time. With 5 connections, the destination can write to 5 tables at a time. 10 connections enables writing to all 10 tables at the same time.

By default, the destination uses one connection for standard single-threaded pipelines. In multithreaded pipelines, the destination matches the number of threads used by the pipeline. That is, when a multithreaded origin is configured to use up to 3 threads, then by default, the Snowflake destination uses 3 connections to write to Snowflake, one for each thread.

Note that the number of connections is for the entire pipeline, not for each thread. So when using multiple threads to write to multiple tables, you can also improve performance by allocating additional connections. For example, when using 3 threads to write to 3 tables, you might increase the number of connections to 9 for maximum throughput.

Use the Connection Pool Size property to specify the maximum number of connections that the Snowflake destination can use. Use this property when writing to Snowflake with the COPY or MERGE commands. Increasing the number of connections does not improve performance when using Snowpipe.

Row Generation

When writing a record to a table, the Snowflake destination includes all record fields in the resulting row, by default. The destination uses the root field, /, as the basis for the resulting row.

You can configure the Row Field property to specify a map or list-map field in the record as the basis for the row. The resulting record includes only the data from the specified map or list-map field and excludes all other record data. Use this functionality when the data that you want to write to Snowflake exists in a single map or list-map field within the record.

If you want to use the root field, but do not want to include all fields in the resulting row, you can configure the destination to ignore all specified first-level fields.

The Snowflake destination converts all map or list-map fields within the specified root field to the Snowflake Variant data type. The Snowflake destination fully supports the Variant data type.

By default, records with missing fields or with invalid data types in fields are treated as error records. You can configure the destination to replace missing fields and data of invalid types with user-defined default values. Then, you specify the default values to use for each data type. You can also configure the destination to replace newline characters in string fields with a replacement character.

Specifying Tables

You can use the Snowflake destination to write to one or more tables in a Snowflake schema.

Specify the tables to use based on how many tables you want to write to:

Single table

To write data to a single table, simply enter table name as follows:

<table_name>

Multiple tables

To write data to multiple tables, specify a field in the record that defines the database and tables.

For example, say you have tables named after departments in your company, such as Operations, Sales, and Marketing. The records being processed have a dept field with matching values. You configure the destination to write records to the various tables using the following expression: ${record:value('/dept')}.

When using the COPY or MERGE command to load data, you can configure the Snowflake destination to automatically create tables when a new value appears in the specified field. For example, if the dept field suddenly includes an Engineering department, the destination can create a new Engineering table in Snowflake for the new data. For more information, see Enabling Data Drift Handling.

When writing to multiple Snowflake tables, you might also increase the number of connections that the destination uses for the write. For more information, see Performance Optimization.

Use the Table property on the Snowflake tab to specify the tables to write to.

Enabling Data Drift Handling

The Snowflake destination can automatically compensate for changes in column or table requirements, also known as data drift. You cannot enable data drift handling when the destination is configured to use Snowpipe.

Note: If you change the destination table schema manually rather than enabling data drift handling, you must restart the pipeline to allow the destination to discover schema changes.

The destination can handle data drift in the following ways:

Create new columns

The destination can create new columns in Snowflake tables when new fields appear in records. For example, if a record suddenly includes a new Address2 field, the destination creates a new Address2 column in the target table.

By default, the destination creates new columns based on the data in the new fields, such as creating a Double column for decimal data. You can, however, configure the destination to create all new columns as Varchar.

To enable the automatic creation of new columns, select the Data Drift Enabled property on the Snowflake tab. To create new columns as Varchar, select the Create New Columns as Varchar property.

Create new tables

The destination can create new tables as needed. For example, say the destination writes data to tables based on the region name in the Region field. When a new SW-3 region shows up in a record, the destination creates a new SW-3 table in Snowflake and writes the record to the new table.

You can use this functionality to create all necessary tables in an empty Snowflake database schema.

To enable the creation of new tables, select the Table Auto Create property.

Generated Data Types

When creating new tables or creating new columns in existing tables, the Snowflake destination uses field names to generate the new column names.

You can configure the destination to create all new columns as Varchar. However, by default, the Snowflake destination creates columns as follows:


Record Field Data Type	Snowflake Column Data Type
Byte Array	Binary
Char	Char
String	Varchar
Byte, Integer, Long, Short	Number
Decimal, Double	Double
Boolean	Boolean
Date	Date
Datetime	Timestamp_Ntz
Float	Float
Time	Time
Zoned Datetime	Timestamp_Tz
Map, List-Map	Variant

The Snowflake destination fully supports the Variant data type.

Creating Tables

If you configure the Snowflake destination to use Snowpipe or to handle data drift, you can also configure the destination to create tables. Once configured, the destination creates tables when the specified or needed tables do not exist in Snowflake.

With the Table Auto Create property enabled on the Snowflake tab, the destination creates tables, columns, and primary key columns as follows:

Table

The destination creates a table if the table specified in the Table property does not exist.

While handling data drift, the destination creates tables needed to write records to tables that do not exist.

The destination names new tables based on the table name or expression specified in the Table property.

Table columns

In the created tables, the destination determines the columns from the first batch of data processed. The destination infers the data types from the data in the batch.

If the Upper Case Schema & Field Names property is enabled, then the destination uses upper case for all column names in the created tables.

The columns in the created tables are nullable, unless they are primary key columns.

Primary key columns

In the created tables, the destination creates primary key columns as follows:

If configured to use Snowpipe or the COPY command for new data, the destination uses the primary key information in the jdbc.primaryKeySpecification record header attribute to create primary key columns.
Several origins, such as the Oracle CDC Client origin and the PostgreSQL CDC Client origin, populate the record header attribute automatically. You can also use a processor, such as the Expression Evaluator, to populate the header attribute within the pipeline.
When the jdbc.primaryKeySpecification record header attribute does not exist, the destination creates tables without primary key columns.
If configured to use the MERGE command for CDC data and handle data drift, the destination uses the primary key information in the Primary Key Location property to create primary key columns. To allow for existing records that do not include the new primary key columns, the new primary key columns are nullable.
If configured to use the MERGE command for CDC data but not handle data drift, the destination uses the primary key information in the Primary Key Location property to create primary key columns. The new primary key columns are not nullable.

CRUD Operation Processing

The Snowflake destination can insert, update, upsert, or delete data when you configure the destination to process CDC data. When processing CDC data, the destination uses the MERGE command to write data to Snowflake.

When writing data, the Snowflake destination uses the CRUD operation specified in the sdc.operation.type record header attribute. The destination performs operations based on the following numeric values:

1 for INSERT
2 for DELETE
3 for UPDATE
4 for UPSERT

If your pipeline has a CRUD-enabled origin that processes changed data, the destination simply reads the operation type from the sdc.operation.type header attribute that the origin generates. If your pipeline has a non-CDC origin, you can use the Expression Evaluator processor or a scripting processor to define the record header attribute. For more information about Data Collector changed data processing and a list of CDC-enabled origins, see Processing Changed Data.

Configuring a Snowflake Destination

Configure a Snowflake destination to write data to Snowflake tables. Before you use the destination in a pipeline, complete the prerequisite tasks.

In the Properties panel, on the General tab, configure the following properties:


General Property	Description
Name	Stage name.
Description	Optional description.
Required Fields	Fields that must include data for the record to be passed into the stage. Tip: You might include fields that the stage uses. Records that do not include all required fields are processed based on the error handling configured for the pipeline.
Preconditions	Conditions that must evaluate to TRUE to allow a record to enter the stage for processing. Click Add to create additional preconditions. Records that do not meet all preconditions are processed based on the error handling configured for the stage.
On Record Error	Error record handling for the stage: Discard - Discards the record. Send to Error - Sends the record to the pipeline for error handling. Stop Pipeline - Stops the pipeline.

On the Snowflake Connection Info tab, configure the following properties:

Note: Snowflake JDBC driver versions 3.13.25 or higher convert underscores to hyphens, by default. When needed, you can bypass this behavior by setting the allowUnderscoresInHost driver property to true. For more information and alternate solutions, see this Snowflake community article.


Snowflake Connection Property	Description
Connection	Connection that defines the information required to connect to an external system. To connect to an external system, you can select a connection that contains the details, or you can directly enter the details in the pipeline. When you select a connection, Control Hub hides other properties so that you cannot directly enter connection details in the pipeline. To create a new connection, click the Add New Connection icon: . To view and edit the details of the selected connection, click the Edit Connection icon: .
Snowflake Region	Region where the Snowflake warehouse is located. Select one of the following: An available Snowflake region. Other - Enables specifying a Snowflake region not listed in the property. Custom JDBC URL - Enables specifying a virtual private Snowflake installation. Available when Include Organization is disabled.
Custom Snowflake Region	Custom Snowflake region. Available when using Other as the Snowflake region.
Organization	Snowflake organization.
Account	Snowflake account name.
Authentication Method	Authentication method to connect to Snowflake: User Credentials Key Pair Path - Use to specify the location of a private key file. Key Pair Content - Use to provide the contents of a private key file. OAuth None Available when not using a Control Hub connection for connection details.
User	Snowflake user name. The user account or the custom role that overrides the default role for this user account must have the required Snowflake privileges. For information about required privileges, see Prerequisites. Required when using authentication.
Password	Snowflake password. Required when using User Credentials authentication.
Private Key Path	Path to the private key file. Required when using Key Pair Path authentication.
Private Key Content	Contents of the private key file. Required when using Key Pair Content authentication.
Private Key Password	Optional password for the specified private key file or content. Use for encrypted private keys. Available when using Key Pair Path or Key Pair Content authentication.
OAuth Token	OAuth token to use. You can use a Snowflake security integration access token, refresh token, or code grant. Required when using OAuth authentication.
OAuth Client ID	Client ID for Snowflake security integration access tokens. Available when using OAuth authentication.
OAuth Client Secret	Client secret for Snowflake security integration access tokens. Available when using OAuth authentication.
OAuth Redirect URI	Redirect URI for Snowflake security integration access tokens. Available when using OAuth authentication.
Role	Overrides the default role for the specified user account. The custom role must have the required Snowflake privileges. The required privileges depend on the load method that the destination uses. For details, see Prerequisites. Available when not using a Control Hub connection for connection details.
Warehouse	Snowflake warehouse. Available when not using a Control Hub connection for connection details.
Database	Snowflake database. Available when not using a Control Hub connection for connection details.
Schema	Snowflake schema. Available when not using a Control Hub connection for connection details.
Use Custom JDBC URL	Custom JDBC URL to use when using a virtual private Snowflake installation.
Include Organization	Enables specifying the Snowflake organization.
Use Private Link Snowflake URL	Enables using a private link URL. You can specify the URL in the Custom JDBC URL property above. Or, you can define the appropriate values for the Account property and either the Snowflake Region or Organization properties.
Connection Properties	Additional Snowflake connection properties to use. To add properties, click Add and define the property name and value. Use the property names and values as expected by Snowflake.
Connection Pool Size	Maximum number of connections that the destination uses to write to Snowflake. The default, 0, ensures that the destination uses the same number of connections as threads used by the pipeline. When writing to multiple tables using the COPY or MERGE command, increasing this property can improve performance. Note: Must be set to 0 when processing CDC data.

On the Snowflake tab, configure the following properties:


Snowflake Property	Description
Override Warehouse	Snowflake warehouse. If the selected Snowflake connection specifies a warehouse to use, this property overrides it. Available only when using a connection.
Override Database	Snowflake database. If the selected Snowflake connection specifies a database to use, this property overrides it. Available only when using a connection.
Override Schema	Snowflake schema. If the selected Snowflake connection specifies a schema to use, this property overrides it. Available only when using a connection.
Table	Snowflake tables to write to. To write to a single table, enter the table name. To write to multiple tables, enter an expression that evaluates to the field in the record that contains the table name. For example: `${record:value('/table')}` Or, to write to tables based on the table name in the `jdbc.table` record header attribute defined by the JDBC Multitable Consumer origin, you can use the following expression: `${record:attribute('jdbc.tables')}`
Use Snowpipe	Uses Snowpipe to write to Snowflake. Use only when processing new data. You cannot use Snowpipe to load CDC data. Perform the necessary prerequisites before enabling Snowpipe. For more information about Snowpipe and other load methods, see Load Methods. For information about optimizing pipeline performance, see Performance Optimization.
Data Drift Enabled	Enables the destination to create new columns in Snowflake tables when new fields appear in records. Not available when using Snowpipe.
Upper Case Schema & Field Names	Converts all schema, table, and field names to all uppercase letters when querying Snowflake. When enabled, any new tables or fields created by the destination also use all uppercase letters.
Table Auto Create	Automatically creates tables when needed. Available when using Snowpipe or when data drift is enabled.
Create New Columns as Varchar	Creates all new columns as Varchar. By default, the destination creates new columns based on the type of data in the field. Available when data drift is enabled.
Error Behavior	Action to take when errors occur. Used only with the COPY load method. Determines how the Snowflake `on_error` option is used in a query: Default - Does not set the `on_error` option. When not explicitly set, the Snowflake default `on_error` behavior is Abort Statement. Continue - Ignores errors and continues processing. Skip File - When encountering errors, skips writing the batch. Requires configuring the Skip File on Error property. Abort Statement - Skips writing the batch upon the first error. For more information about the `on_error` option, see the Snowflake documentation.
Skip File on Error	Indicates when to skip writing a batch: First - After discovering the first error record. Number - After discovering the specified number of error records in the batch. Percentage - After discovering the specified percentage of error records in the batch. Available when using the Skip File error behavior.
Max Error Records	Maximum number of error records allowed in a batch before skipping writing the batch. Available when using the Number option for the Skip File on Error property.
Max Error Record Percentage	Maximum percentage of error records allowed in a batch before skipping writing the batch. Available when using the Percentage option for the Skip File on Error property.

When loading data with Snowpipe, on the Snowpipe tab, configure the following properties:


Snowpipe Property	Description
Pipe	Pipe to use when using Snowpipe to load data to Snowflake. Use Snowpipe only when processing new data. Be sure to complete all of the Snowpipe prerequisite tasks before configuring these Snowpipe properties.
Private Key	Private key PEM. Generated in Snowflake as part of the Snowpipe prerequisite tasks. Enter the key either as plain text or as a path to the file containing the private key content. Note: To secure sensitive information, you can use runtime resources or credential stores.
Private Key Password	Private key password. Generated in Snowflake as part of the Snowpipe prerequisite tasks.
Use Custom Snowpipe Endpoint	Enables using a custom Snowpipe endpoint.
Use TLS	Enables the use of TLS to connect to the custom Snowpipe endpoint.
Custom Snowpipe Host	Host name for the custom Snowpipe endpoint.
Custom Snowpipe Port	Port number for the custom Snowpipe endpoint.
Snowpipe Error Behavior	Action to take when errors occur. Used only when loading to an autocreated Snowpipe. Determines how the Snowflake `on_error` option is used in a query: Default - Does not set the `on_error` option. When not explicitly set, the Snowflake default `on_error` behavior for autocreated Snowpipes is Skip File. Continue - Ignores errors and continues processing. Skip File - When encountering errors, skips writing the batch. Requires configuring the Snowpipe Skip File on Error property. Abort Statement - Skips writing the batch upon the first error. For more information about the `on_error` option, see the Snowflake documentation.
Snowpipe Skip File on Error	Indicates when to skip writing a batch: First - After discovering the first error record. Number - After discovering the specified number of error records in the batch. Percentage - After discovering the specified percentage of error records in the batch. Available when using the Skip File error behavior.
Snowpipe Max Error Records	Maximum number of error records allowed in a batch before skipping writing the batch. Available when using the Number option for the Snowpipe Skip File on Error property.
Snowpipe Max Error Record Percentage	Maximum percentage of error records allowed in a batch before skipping writing the batch. Available when using the Percentage option for the Snowpipe Skip File on Error property.

On the Staging tab, configure the following properties:


Staging Property	Description
Stage Location	Location of the Snowflake stage: Amazon S3 Azure Blob Storage Google Cloud Storage Snowflake Internal Stage This property configuration determines the properties that display on this tab and the Staging Advanced tab.
Connection	Connection that defines the information required to connect to an external system. Available when staging data on Google Cloud Storage. To connect to an external system, you can select a connection that contains the details, or you can directly enter the details in the pipeline. When you select a connection, Control Hub hides other properties so that you cannot directly enter connection details in the pipeline. To create a new connection, click the Add New Connection icon: . To view and edit the details of the selected connection, click the Edit Connection icon: .
Stage Database	Optional database for the Snowflake stage. Configure this property when the stage is located in a different database than the Snowflake table. When not defined, the destination uses the database defined for the Snowflake table, on the Snowflake tab.
Stage Schema	Optional schema for the Snowflake stage. Configure this property when the stage is located in a different schema than the Snowflake table. When not defined, the destination uses the schema defined for the Snowflake table, on the Snowflake tab.
Snowflake Stage Name	Name of the Snowflake stage used to stage the data. Unless using a Snowflake internal user stage, you create this stage as part of the Snowflake prerequisite tasks. To use a Snowflake internal user stage, enter a tilde (`~`).
Authentication Method	Amazon authentication method: AWS Keys Instance Profile - Enables using an instance profile to write to an external stage on Amazon S3. Use only when Data Collector runs on an Amazon EC2 instance. None Available when using the Amazon S3 staging location.
AWS Access Key ID	AWS access key ID. Required when not using an instance profile to write to an external stage on Amazon S3.
AWS Secret Key ID	AWS secret access key. Required when not using an instance profile to write to an external stage on Amazon S3.
Purge Stage File After Ingesting	Removes a stage file after its data is written to Snowflake. Do not use when writing to Snowflake with Snowpipe.
S3 Stage File Name Prefix	Optional prefix for the external stage name.
S3 Compressed File	Compresses files before writing them to S3. Keep this option enabled for optimum performance.
Azure Authentication	Type of authentication to use to connect to Azure: Account Name and Key SAS Token
Azure Account Name	Azure account name.
Azure Account Key	Azure account key. Used only for Account Name and Key authentication. To secure sensitive information, you can use runtime resources or credential stores.
Azure SAS Token	Azure SAS Token. Used only for SAS Token authentication. To secure sensitive information, you can use runtime resources or credential stores.
Azure Stage File Name Prefix	Optional prefix for the external stage name.
Azure Compressed File	Compresses files before writing them to Azure. Keep this option enabled for optimum performance.
Project ID	Google Cloud project ID to use.
Credentials Provider	Provider for Google Cloud credentials: Default credentials provider - Uses Google Cloud default credentials. Service account credentials file (JSON) - Uses credentials stored in a JSON service account credentials file. Service account credentials (JSON) - Uses JSON-formatted credentials information from a service account credentials file.
Credentials File Path (JSON)	Path to the Google Cloud service account credentials file used to connect. The credentials file must be a JSON file. Enter a path relative to the Data Collector resources directory, `$SDC_RESOURCES`, or enter an absolute path.
Credentials File Content (JSON)	Contents of a Google Cloud service account credentials JSON file used to connect. Enter JSON-formatted credential information in plain text, or use an expression to call the information from runtime resources or a credential store.
Stage File Prefix	Prefix to use for files staged on Google Cloud Storage. Default is `sdc`.
Compress File with Gzip	Enables compressing files staged on Google Cloud Storage with gzip.

When using a Snowflake external stage, on the Staging Advanced tab, configure the following properties.

This tab displays different properties depending on the location of the external stage.

When using an external stage in Amazon S3, you can configure the following properties:


Amazon S3 Advanced Property	Description
S3 Connection Timeout	Seconds to wait for a response before closing the connection.
S3 Socket Timeout	Seconds to wait for a response to a query.
S3 Max Error Retry	Maximum number of times to retry requests.
S3 Uploading Threads	Size of the thread pool for parallel uploads. Used when working with multiple partitions and processing large objects in multiple parts. When working with multiple partitions, setting this property up to the number of partitions being used to can improve performance. For more information about this and the following properties, see the Amazon S3 TransferManager documentation.
S3 Minimum Upload Part Size (MB)	Minimum part size in bytes for multipart uploads.
S3 Multipart Upload Threshold (MB)	Minimum batch size in bytes for multipart uploads.
S3 Proxy Enabled	Specifies whether to use a proxy to connect.
S3 Proxy Host	Proxy host.
S3 Proxy Port	Proxy port.
S3 Proxy Authentication Enabled	Indicates that proxy authentication is used.
S3 Proxy User	S3 proxy user.
S3 Proxy Password	S3 proxy password.
S3 Encryption	Option that Amazon S3 uses to manage the encryption keys: None SSE-S3 - Use Amazon S3-managed keys. SSE-KMS - Use Amazon Web Services KMS-managed keys. Default is None.
S3 Encryption KMS ID	Amazon resource name (ARN) of the AWS KMS master encryption key. Use the following format: `<arn>:<aws>:<kms>:<region>:<acct ID>:<key>/<key ID>` Used for SSE-KMS encryption only.
S3 Encryption Context	Key-value pairs to use for the encryption context. Click Add to add key-value pairs. Used for SSE-KMS encryption only.
S3 Tags	List of Amazon S3 tags to add to the staged objects. You can use object tagging to categorize storage and maintain file metadata such as Data Classification. Each tag is a key-value pair. For more information, see the Amazon S3 documentation.

When using an external stage in Azure, you can configure the following properties:


Azure Advanced Property	Description
Use Custom Blob Service URL	Enables using a custom Azure Blob Storage URL.
Custom Blob Service URL	Custom Azure Blob Storage URL. Typically uses the following format: `https://<Azure Account>.blob.core.windows.net`
Azure Encryption	Enables using Azure default encryption at this time.

On the Data tab, configure the following properties:


Data Property	Description
Data Format	Format for staging files. Select one of the following options: CSV Parquet
Row Field	Map or list-map field to use as the basis for the generated row. Default is `/`, which includes all record fields in the resulting row.
Column Fields to Ignore	A list of fields to ignore when writing to the destination. You can enter a comma-separated list of first level fields to ignore.
Null Value	Characters to use to represent null values. Default is `\N`, the null value characters for Snowflake. Available when using the CSV staging file format.
Processing CDC Data (Use MERGE)	Enables performing CRUD operations and using the MERGE command to write to Snowflake tables. Select to process CDC data. Cannot be used when writing data with Snowpipe. Important: To maintain the original order of data, do not use multiple threads or cluster execution mode when processing CDC data. For more information about the MERGE command and other load methods, see Load Methods. For information about optimizing pipeline performance, see Performance Optimization.
Primary Key Location	Location of primary key details: Snowflake - Use when primary key columns are defined in the Snowflake tables. JDBC Header - Use when primary key columns are defined in the `jdbc.primaryKeySpecification` record header attribute. Specify for Each Table - Use to list each target table and the primary key columns for the table. Note: When key columns are known, entering them manually is more efficient than the other two options. Available when using the MERGE command to process CDC data.
Table Key Columns	Primary key columns to use for each Snowflake table. Click the Add icon to define primary key columns for additional tables. Click the Add icon in the Key Column field to add additional key columns for a table. Available when Primary Key Location is set to Specify for Each Table.

On the Data Advanced tab, configure the following properties:


Data Advanced Property	Description
Snowflake File Format	Allows the use of custom Snowflake CSV file formats. Should not be used unless recommended by customer support.
Ignore Missing Fields	Allows writing records with missing fields to Snowflake tables. Uses the specified default value for the data type of the missing field. When not enabled, records with missing fields are treated as error records.
Ignore Fields with Invalid Types	Allows replacing fields that contain data of an invalid type with the specified default value for the data type. When not enabled, records with data of invalid types are treated as error records.
Boolean Default	Default value to use when replacing missing Boolean fields or Boolean fields with invalid data. Default is \N, which represents a null value in Snowflake.
Char Default	Default value to use when replacing missing Char fields or Char fields with invalid data. Default is \N, which represents a null value in Snowflake.
Number Default	Default value to use when replacing missing Number fields or Number fields with invalid data. Default is \N, which represents a null value in Snowflake.
Double Default	Default value to use when replacing missing Double fields or Double fields with invalid data. Default is \N, which represents a null value in Snowflake.
Date Default	Default value to use when replacing missing Date fields or Date fields with invalid data. Default is \N, which represents a null value in Snowflake.
Timestampntz Default	Default value to use when replacing missing Timestampntz fields or Timestampntz fields with invalid data. Default is \N, which represents a null value in Snowflake.
Timestamptz Default	Default value to use when replacing missing Timestamptz fields or Timestamptz fields with invalid data. Default is \N, which represents a null value in Snowflake.
Time Default	Default value to use when replacing missing Time fields or Time fields with invalid data. Default is \N, which represents a null value in Snowflake.
Varchar Default	Default value to use when replacing missing Varchar fields or Varchar fields with invalid data. Default is \N, which represents a null value in Snowflake.
Binary Default	Default value to use when replacing missing Binary fields or Binary fields with invalid data. Default is \N, which represents a null value in Snowflake.
Variant Default	Default value to use when replacing missing Variant fields or Variant fields with invalid data. Default is \N, which represents a null value in Snowflake.
Replace Newlines	Replaces newline characters in string fields with the specified replacement character. Available when using the CSV staging file format.
New Line Replacement Character	Character to use to replace newline characters. Available when using the CSV staging file format.
Column Separator	Character to use as a column separator.
Quoting Mode	Mode for handling special characters in the data, such as the column separator and newline character: Quoted - Encloses data in each field with the specified quote character. The following example uses asterisks to enclose the data in a field: `string data, more string data` Escaped - Precedes a special character with the specified escape character. The following example uses a backtick to escape the comma column separator in a field: string data`, more string data
Quote Character	Character to enclose field data. Available when using Quoted mode.
Escape Character	Character to precede special characters in field data. Available when using Escape mode.
Trim Spaces	Trims leading and trailing spaces from field data.