Auto-suspend and auto-resume in Snowflake - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What is auto-suspend in Snowflake?

Auto-suspend is a feature that automatically pauses a virtual warehouse after a set period of inactivity to save compute costs.

beginner

What does auto-resume do in Snowflake?

Auto-resume automatically restarts a suspended virtual warehouse when a query or operation requires compute resources.

beginner

Why is auto-suspend useful for managing costs?

Because it stops the warehouse when not in use, preventing charges for idle compute time, similar to turning off a machine when not needed.

intermediate

How do you enable auto-suspend and auto-resume on a Snowflake warehouse?

You set the AUTO_SUSPEND parameter to a number of seconds and AUTO_RESUME to TRUE when creating or altering the warehouse.

intermediate

What happens if auto-resume is disabled and the warehouse is suspended?

Queries will fail until the warehouse is manually resumed, causing delays similar to waiting for a machine to be turned back on by hand.

What does setting AUTO_SUSPEND to 300 mean?

A The warehouse suspends immediately

B The warehouse runs for 300 seconds then stops

C The warehouse suspends after 300 seconds of inactivity

D The warehouse resumes every 300 seconds

AUTO_SUSPEND set to 300 means the warehouse will suspend after 5 minutes (300 seconds) of no activity.

If AUTO_RESUME is set to FALSE, what must happen to run queries after suspension?

A Queries run automatically

B Warehouse must be manually resumed

C Queries are queued indefinitely

D Warehouse auto-resumes after 1 minute

With AUTO_RESUME disabled, the warehouse stays suspended until manually resumed.

Why is auto-suspend important for cloud cost management?

A It pauses unused warehouses to save money

B It increases compute power

C It speeds up queries

D It backs up data automatically

Auto-suspend pauses warehouses when idle, avoiding charges for unused compute.

Which Snowflake object is affected by auto-suspend and auto-resume settings?

A Schema

B Database

C User account

D Virtual warehouse

Auto-suspend and auto-resume control the state of virtual warehouses.

What is the default behavior if AUTO_SUSPEND is not set?

A Warehouse suspends after 10 minutes

B Warehouse never suspends automatically

C Warehouse suspends after 1 minute

D Warehouse auto-resumes disabled

The default value for AUTO_SUSPEND is 600 seconds (10 minutes) of inactivity.

Explain how auto-suspend and auto-resume work together to optimize Snowflake warehouse usage and cost.

Think about turning off and on a machine automatically.

Describe the steps to configure a Snowflake warehouse to auto-suspend after 5 minutes and auto-resume on query.

Focus on warehouse parameters.