5 Best Practices for Snowflake Management and Optimization

<p>As businesses increasingly rely on cloud-based data warehousing solutions, the demand for cost-efficient and scalable platforms has skyrocketed. Snowflake, a cloud-based data warehousing platform, has become a popular choice for organizations to store and analyze large amounts of data. However, without proper management and optimization practices, Snowflake credit consumption can catch you off guard.  While management and usage optimization start with effective monitoring, it is often easier said than done, unless of course you have the technical skills necessary. For those who do not have the technical expertise required to build out usage details within Snowflake, we offer easily accessible,…</p>

<div data-elementor-type="wp-post" data-elementor-id="14885" class="elementor elementor-14885" data-elementor-post-type="blog"> <section class="elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-2be7e61 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default" data-id="2be7e61" data-element_type="section"> <div class="elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default"> <div class="elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-31f6ef2" data-id="31f6ef2" data-element_type="column"> <div class="elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated"> <div class="elementor-element elementor-element-929d76b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor" data-id="929d76b" data-element_type="widget" data-widget_type="text-editor.default"> <div class="elementor-widget-container"> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As businesses increasingly rely on cloud-based data warehousing solutions, the demand for cost-efficient and scalable platforms has skyrocketed. </span><a href="https://trial.snowflake.com/?owner=SPN-PID-126628" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Snowflake</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a cloud-based data warehousing platform, has become a popular choice for organizations to store and analyze large amounts of data. However, without proper management and optimization practices, Snowflake credit consumption can catch you off guard. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While management and usage optimization start with <a href="https://www.datalakehouse.io/resources/blog/track-and-manage-snowflake-usage-with-analytics/">effective monitoring</a>, it is often easier said than done, unless of course you have the technical skills necessary. For those who do not have the technical expertise required to build out usage details within Snowflake, we offer easily accessible, comprehensive </span><a href="https://www.datalakehouse.io/platform/snowflake-usage-analytics/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Snowflake Usage Analytics</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> presented with understandable dashboard visualizations. Below we discuss five best practices for Snowflake management and optimization.</span></p><h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">1. Utilize Auto-Suspend and Auto-Resume Features</span></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Snowflake provides auto-suspend and auto-resume features that can help with optimization. Auto-suspend automatically shuts down a Snowflake warehouse when it&#8217;s idle for a specified amount of time. This feature can save costs by reducing the amount of time that the cluster runs without being used. Auto-resume automatically restarts a suspended cluster when a query is submitted. This feature ensures that the cluster is available when it is needed, without incurring additional costs when it is not.</span></p><h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">2. Use Appropriate Sizing and Scaling Options</span></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Choosing the appropriate cluster size and scaling options is critical for optimizing Snowflake costs. Snowflake offers various cluster sizes, each with a different level of compute and storage capacity. Choosing a smaller cluster size than necessary can lead to slower query performance, while choosing a larger cluster size can lead to unnecessary costs. Additionally, Snowflake offers scaling options, such as manual scaling and auto-scaling, that can help balance performance and cost.</span></p><h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">3. Monitor and Optimize Storage Usage</span></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Snowflake charges based on the amount of data stored in the platform, so it is essential to monitor and optimize storage usage. Snowflake provides tools, such as the storage usage dashboard and data retention policies, that can help manage and reduce storage costs. The storage usage dashboard provides visibility into storage usage and identifies data that can be deleted or archived. Data retention policies can be used to automatically remove data that is no longer needed. Pre-built Snowflake Usage Analytics are also available from </span><a href="https://www.datalakehouse.io/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">DataLakeHouse.io</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> for less technical users who require visibility of the organization&#8217;s Snowflake usage and costs.</span></p><h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">4. Minimize Data Movement</span></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Snowflake also charges based on data egress, or the amount of data transferred out of the platform. Minimizing data movement can help reduce costs. To minimize data movement, consider using Snowflake&#8217;s external tables feature to query data that resides outside of Snowflake without having to transfer it into the platform. Additionally, consider using Snowflake&#8217;s compute features, such as materialized views and result caching, to reduce the need to recompute data.</span></p><h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">5. Optimize Query Performance</span></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Optimizing query performance can help reduce Snowflake costs by minimizing the amount of time it takes to complete queries. Snowflake offers various features, such as query profiling and query optimization, that can help improve query performance. Query profiling provides visibility into query execution and can identify performance bottlenecks. Query optimization tools, such as query hinting and query rewriting, can be used to optimize queries for specific use cases.</span></p><h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">Conclusion</span></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Snowflake is a powerful data warehousing platform that can provide organizations with significant insights and cost efficiencies even if you don’t monitor usage. When you’re able to properly monitor your organization’s Snowflake account, you can easily determine whether your current data warehousing practices are appropriate or another approach should be taken. Implementing the best practices outlined in this blog post enables organizations to optimize their Snowflake spend while maintaining high performance and scalability. By utilizing auto-suspend and auto-resume features, choosing appropriate sizing and scaling options, monitoring and optimizing storage usage, minimizing data movement, and optimizing query performance, organizations can <a href="https://www.datalakehouse.io/resources/blog/drive-business-value-with-snowflake-usage-analytics-a-how-to-guide">maximize the value</a> of their Snowflake investment.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Although these best practices can be implemented by anyone who knows their way around Snowflake, we recognize that not everyone always has the time or the resources to do so. That’s where our partner </span><a href="https://www.aicg.com/contact-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">AICG</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> comes in! AICG’s team of SnowPro certified professionals can help you maximize your organization’s Snowflake by executing the best practices listed above.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Try our Snowflake Usage Analytics for </span><a href="https://app.datalakehouse.io/welcome/register"><span style="font-weight: 400;">free</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and start optimizing your Snowflake account. You can also watch our </span><a href="https://youtu.be/eqe_eqoi5LI" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">webinar</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> or set up a </span><a href="https://www.datalakehouse.io/book/demo/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">demo</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> with one of our data and analytics experts to see our dashboard visualizations in action. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Check out our </span><a href="https://www.datalakehouse.io/resources/blog/snowflake-usage-analytics-the-key-to-efficient-data-warehousing/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">blog post</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> for more information on maintaining an efficient cloud data warehouse. </span></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </section> </div>