Snowflake AI Data Cloud architecture: free practice questions

Option A is correct: creating one virtual warehouse per business unit and attaching a Resource Monitor to each warehouse gives precise compute cost attribution and credit limit enforcement per unit—this directly satisfies the isolated billing requirement. Option C is correct: using RBAC with distinct roles per business unit—granting each role only the necessary privileges on specific schemas or views—is the standard Snowflake mechanism to ensure Finance results and objects are never visible to Marketing or Operations users, satisfying the data isolation requirement. Option B is wrong because sharing a single warehouse defeats cost isolation (all usage rolls up to one warehouse) and Row Access Policies alone do not address billing separation. Option D is wrong because Tri-Secret Secure is an encryption-at-rest feature requiring a customer-managed key; it does not control result cache access between roles within the same account—RBAC already prevents unauthorized cache access. Option E is wrong because separate accounts would technically work for isolation but would introduce significant operational overhead, and the question asks for the solution within the same account context as described.

CORRECT — The Cloud Services layer is the 'brain' of Snowflake. It handles authentication, access control, SQL parsing and optimization, transaction management, and metadata operations. It runs on Snowflake-managed compute (not customer virtual warehouses), so it does NOT consume virtual warehouse credits. However, Cloud Services charges do apply if they exceed 10% of the daily warehouse compute cost for the account — beyond that threshold, the excess is billed separately. OPTION A is wrong because query parsing/optimization is performed by the Cloud Services layer, not by the virtual warehouse; the warehouse executes the query plan but does not compile it. OPTION C is wrong because the Storage layer handles only the persistent storage of micro-partitioned data; it does not perform access control, query optimization, or transaction management, and it is billed per-TB, not as part of Cloud Services. OPTION D is wrong because Cloud Services does NOT consume credits in the same way virtual warehouses do; it has its own billing model with the 10% daily compute adjustment, making the claim that it 'always consumes warehouse credits' inaccurate.

MIN_CLUSTER_COUNT defines the minimum number of clusters that remain running while the warehouse is in the STARTED state. With MIN_CLUSTER_COUNT = 2, at least 2 clusters are always active, even during low or zero query load—ensuring immediate capacity availability. Option A is incorrect: if the warehouse itself is suspended (via AUTO_SUSPEND or manually), 0 clusters run, but the question asks about the quiet period while the warehouse is running—and MIN_CLUSTER_COUNT prevents scale-in below 2. Option B is incorrect: Snowflake does not override the administrator's MIN_CLUSTER_COUNT setting to keep exactly 1 cluster; the minimum is whatever is configured. Option D is incorrect: MAX_CLUSTER_COUNT is an upper bound, not a provisioning target; additional clusters only spin up in response to queue pressure.

Snowsight allows sharing dashboards with other users or roles within the same Snowflake account. Importantly, when a shared dashboard is viewed, the queries execute under the viewer's own role and privileges—not the owner's—so the viewer only sees data their role has access to. Option A is wrong—there is no restriction limiting sharing to SYSADMIN or higher; any user can share dashboards with others. Option C is wrong—sharing a dashboard does not grant table/view access; the recipient must already have the necessary privileges through their role. Option D is wrong—Snowsight supports in-product dashboard sharing and does not limit sharing to PDF export only.

Tri-Secret Secure (customer-managed encryption key combined with Snowflake's key, requiring both parties to decrypt data) is exclusively a Business Critical edition feature. Downgrading to Enterprise removes this capability. Option A is wrong because Multi-Cluster Warehouses are available in both Enterprise and Business Critical editions. Option B is wrong because Materialized Views are also available in both Enterprise and Business Critical editions. Option D is wrong because Time Travel up to 90 days is an Enterprise (and above) feature; both Enterprise and Business Critical support up to 90 days of Time Travel, so this is not lost on downgrade.