3. Data Architecture
Three Layers
| Layer | Description |
|---|---|
| Cloud Services | Authentication, query optimization, metadata management, infrastructure management |
| Compute (Virtual Warehouses) | Elastic clusters of EC2/VM instances that execute queries. Can be resized, suspended, or scaled out. |
| Storage | Compressed, columnar format in cloud blob storage (S3/Azure Blob/GCS). Pay only for what you use. |
Key Principles
- Separation of storage and compute — Scale independently
- Near-zero management — No indexes, partitioning, or vacuuming
- Automatic optimization — Micro-partitions, clustering, compression
-- Snowflake automatically manages storage
-- No DBA needed for indexing or partitioning
SHOW DATABASES;✏️ Exercise: Draw the Snowflake three-layer architecture from memory. Label each layer and write one sentence about what it does.