1. Grow
  2. Connecting to Data Sources
  3. Databases

Snowflake

Article last updated:

Connecting to your Snowflake database? Here is an overview of things you can expect. This authentication method requires, as a minimum, a 2048-bit RSA key pair. You can generate the Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) private-public key pair using OpenSSL.

About the Key Pair

Snowflake supports using key pair authentication for enhanced authentication security as an alternative to basic authentication, such as username and password. Instructions for generating a key pair are found in the Snowflake documentation: Configuring key-pair authentication. One the key file is generated, proceed with the steps below.

Key Pair Authentication

Follow these steps to create a Snowflake connection.

  1. Click on the Data tab at the top left of the global navigation. Then click on Connections in the Data Library section.
  2. Click on the blue Connect button and search for Snowflake.
  3. Click on the Snowflake logo.
  4. Type in the connection nickname. This can be anything that you would like to name it.
  5. Enter the instance name in the Instance field.
  6. Type in your username in the username field.
  7. Select Key Pair for Authentication method type. The Upload Key File pane displays.
  8. Click the Upload Key File pane. Navigate to the location of the key file.
  9. Select the key file and click Open.
  10. Click Connect to initiate the connection.

FAQs + Tips and Tricks

Where do I find my instance?

In the API documentation, Snowflake provides a reference table to help you identify the format of what your Instance looks like. As an example, if your URL to connect to Snowflake is https://growexample.us-east-1.snowflakecomputing.com/, your instance would be growexample.us-east-1.

image__1_.png

How much data can I pull into Grow?

If any of your tables has more than 25 million rows, you will see an error when you try to warehouse your data.

How can I make sure my data is secure?

We have several items in place to keep your data safe. Check out our security article to see steps you can take to keep control of your data.

What to do when I get an Error?

"OperationFailedError - No active warehouse selected in the current session. Select an active warehouse with the 'use warehouse' command."

You need to run the following three commands:

Note that all three commands need to run for the same warehouse.

  • ALTER USER GROW_BI SET DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE = COMPUTE_WH
    Replace COMPUTE_WH with whichever warehouse you want to use.
    You need to be configured with a default warehouse (compute) to authorize the command.
    We also recommend creating a Grow specific user for your Snowflake instance, for example, GROW_BI. When any changes are done to a personal account, it does not reflect in Grow. A personal account also limits the access to certain sensitive data in Snowflake.

    • To avoid running your warehouse 24/7 and making the process resource intensive, we recommend configuring your warehouse with auto resume and auto suspend.

  • ALTER WAREHOUSE COMPUTE_WH SET AUTO_RESUME = TRUE
    This allows the warehouse to automatically turn on (resume) when it's needed by Grow.

  • ALTER WAREHOUSE COMPUTE_WH SET AUTO_SUSPEND = 120
    This turns off (suspends) the warehouse after 2 minutes of inactivity.

Was this article helpful?