SnowPro Associate: Platform Certification Exam Questions and Answers
Question 33
Which SQL command is commonly used to load structured data from a stage into a Snowflake table?
Options:
A.
INSERT INTO
B.
COPY INTO
C.
LOAD DATA
D.
IMPORT DATA
Answer:
B
Explanation:
The COPY INTO
command is Snowflake’s primary and optimized mechanism for loading large volumes of structured data from either internal or external stages. Unlike INSERT INTO, which is used for row-level inserts or small datasets, COPY INTO is designed for high-throughput operations, parallel loading, and performant ingestion from files stored in S3, Azure Blob Storage, GCS, or Snowflake-managed stages. The COPY INTO command supports detailed file formatting options (such as TYPE=CSV, FIELD_DELIMITER, SKIP_HEADER), error-handling rules (ON_ERROR), and transformations using SQL expressions inside the COPY statement. Snowflake does not support LOAD DATA or IMPORT DATA as SQL commands; these exist in other database systems but not within Snowflake. COPY INTO ensures efficient, resilient, fault-tolerant data ingestion and is heavily used for ETL/ELT, data lake ingestion, and large batch ingestion pipelines.
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Question 34
What are the steps to create a new stage in Snowsight?
Options:
A.
Data >> Create Schema
B.
Data >> add data >> Create Schema
C.
Data Product >> Create Schema
D.
Data >> Database >> Schema >> Create Stage
Answer:
D
Explanation:
To create a new stage in Snowsight, users navigate through:Data → Database → Schema → Create Stage. Within the schema, selecting the "+" icon opens the option to create a stage. Users may configure internal or external stages, encryption settings, and directory table options. Other paths listed reference creating schemas rather than creating stages and are therefore incorrect.
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Question 35
What is the default Time Travel data retention period?
Options:
A.
45 days
B.
1 day
C.
7 days
D.
90 days
Answer:
B
Explanation:
The default Time Travel retention period for most objects in Snowflake is1 day(24 hours). Time Travel enables access to historical versions of data after updates, deletes, or drops. It also allows cloning databases, schemas, and tables at previous points in time, and recovering dropped objects.
While Snowflake Enterprise Edition and higher tiers allow retention periods up to 90 days, this extended window is not the default—administrators must explicitly configure it for each table, schema, or database.
Retention periods of 7, 45, or 90 days are possible only with higher service editions; the default for all accounts and objects remains 1 day unless explicitly overridden.
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Question 36
Which command is used to create a new virtual warehouse in Snowflake?
Options:
A.
CREATE VIRTUALWAREHOUSE warehouse_name;
B.
CREATE DATABASE warehouse_name;
C.
CREATE SCHEMA warehouse_name;
D.
CREATE WAREHOUSE warehouse_name;
Answer:
D
Explanation:
Snowflake uses the SQL command CREATE WAREHOUSE warehouse_name to create a new virtual warehouse. Warehouses provide the compute resources for executing SQL queries, loading data, and performing transformations. When creating a warehouse, additional parameters may be specified, such as warehouse size, auto-suspend timeout, auto-resume, scaling policy, or multi-cluster mode. The options involving “CREATE VIRTUALWAREHOUSE” are invalid syntax in Snowflake. CREATE DATABASE and CREATE SCHEMA create storage containers, not compute resources. Therefore, CREATE WAREHOUSE is the only correct command for provisioning compute.
