Secure data sharing basics in Snowflake - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Secure data sharing basics

📖 Scenario: You work at a company that uses Snowflake for data storage. You want to share a specific dataset securely with a partner company without copying the data. Snowflake's secure data sharing lets you do this safely and efficiently.

🎯 Goal: Create a secure data share in Snowflake, add a database and schema to it, grant usage rights, and then create a share consumer account to access the shared data.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a share named partner_share

Add the database sales_db to the share

Add the schema public from sales_db to the share

Grant usage on the share to the consumer account partner_account

Create a database from the share in the consumer account named shared_sales_db

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Companies often need to share data securely with partners without copying or moving large datasets. Snowflake's secure data sharing enables this efficiently.

💼 Career

Understanding secure data sharing is essential for cloud data engineers and architects working with Snowflake to enable collaboration and data monetization.

1

Create a secure share

Write a Snowflake SQL command to create a share called partner_share.

Snowflake

-- Your code here

Hint

Use the CREATE SHARE statement followed by the share name.

2

Add database and schema to the share

Write Snowflake SQL commands to add the database sales_db and its schema public to the share partner_share.

Snowflake

CREATE SHARE partner_share;
-- Your code here

Hint

Use ALTER SHARE partner_share ADD DATABASE sales_db; and ALTER SHARE partner_share ADD SCHEMA sales_db.public;.

3

Grant usage on the share to the consumer account

Write a Snowflake SQL command to grant usage on the share partner_share to the consumer account partner_account.

Snowflake

CREATE SHARE partner_share;
ALTER SHARE partner_share ADD DATABASE sales_db;
ALTER SHARE partner_share ADD SCHEMA sales_db.public;
-- Your code here

Hint

Use GRANT USAGE ON SHARE partner_share TO ACCOUNT partner_account; to allow the consumer account to access the share.

4

Create a database from the share in the consumer account

In the consumer account, write a Snowflake SQL command to create a database named shared_sales_db from the share partner_account.partner_share.

Snowflake

CREATE SHARE partner_share;
ALTER SHARE partner_share ADD DATABASE sales_db;
ALTER SHARE partner_share ADD SCHEMA sales_db.public;
GRANT USAGE ON SHARE partner_share TO ACCOUNT partner_account;
-- Your code here

Hint

Use CREATE DATABASE shared_sales_db FROM SHARE partner_account.partner_share; in the consumer account to access the shared data.

Practice

1. What is the main benefit of using secure data sharing in Snowflake?

easy

A. Encrypt data before sharing it manually

B. Share live data without making copies

C. Create multiple copies of data for each user

D. Send data files via email securely

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand secure data sharing purpose

   Secure data sharing allows sharing data directly without duplication.

2. Step 2: Compare options

   Options A, B, and D involve copying or manual steps, which are not the main benefit.

3. Final Answer:

   Share live data without making copies -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Secure sharing = live data, no copies [OK]

Hint: Secure sharing means no data copies needed [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Thinking data is copied to recipients
• Confusing sharing with encryption only
• Assuming manual file transfer is secure sharing

2. Which Snowflake object do you create first to start sharing data securely?

easy

A. Share

B. Role

C. Warehouse

D. Database

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify the object for sharing

   In Snowflake, a Share object is created to define what data to share.

2. Step 2: Eliminate other options

   Databases hold data, warehouses process queries, roles manage permissions but do not start sharing.

3. Final Answer:

   Share -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Create a Share to share data [OK]

Hint: Start sharing by creating a Share object [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Trying to share by creating a database
• Confusing warehouse with sharing object
• Assuming roles start sharing

3. Given this SQL snippet, what does it do?

CREATE SHARE my_share;
GRANT SELECT ON DATABASE sales_db TO SHARE my_share;
ALTER SHARE my_share ADD ACCOUNTS = ('account_123');

medium

A. Creates a share, grants access to sales_db, and shares with account_123

B. Creates a database named my_share and grants access to account_123

C. Adds a new database to sales_db and shares it with account_123

D. Creates a warehouse named my_share and assigns it to account_123

Solution

1. Step 1: Analyze each command

   CREATE SHARE my_share; creates a share object named my_share.
   GRANT SELECT ON DATABASE sales_db TO SHARE my_share; grants read access on sales_db to the share.
   ALTER SHARE my_share ADD ACCOUNTS = ('account_123'); adds account_123 as a recipient.

2. Step 2: Understand the overall effect

   This sequence shares sales_db data with account_123 via my_share.

3. Final Answer:

   Creates a share, grants access to sales_db, and shares with account_123 -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Share + grant + add account = share data [OK]

Hint: Look for CREATE SHARE then GRANT and ADD ACCOUNTS [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing share with database creation
• Thinking ALTER SHARE adds data, not accounts
• Mixing warehouse and share concepts

4. You run this command but get an error:

ALTER SHARE my_share ADD ACCOUNTS = ('account_123', 'account_123');

What is the likely cause?

medium

A. Account names must be numeric

B. Missing SELECT privilege on the share

C. Share name is invalid

D. Duplicate account names in the list

Solution

1. Step 1: Check the command syntax and parameters

   The command tries to add two accounts with the same name 'account_123' to the share.

2. Step 2: Identify the error cause

   Duplicate account names in the ADD ACCOUNTS list cause an error because each account must be unique.

3. Final Answer:

   Duplicate account names in the list -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Duplicate accounts cause errors [OK]

Hint: Avoid duplicate accounts in ADD ACCOUNTS list [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming share name is invalid without checking
• Thinking privileges cause this error
• Believing account names must be numbers

5. You want to share only specific tables from your database securely. Which approach should you use?

hard

A. Grant SELECT on the entire database to the share

B. Grant SELECT on specific schemas to the share

C. Grant SELECT on specific tables to the share

D. Create a new database with only those tables and share it

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand granularity of sharing

   Snowflake allows granting privileges at database, schema, or table level to shares.

2. Step 2: Choose the most precise option

   Granting SELECT on specific tables limits sharing to only those tables, which fits the requirement.

3. Step 3: Evaluate other options

   Granting on entire database or schema shares more than needed; creating a new database is extra work and less flexible.

4. Final Answer:

   Grant SELECT on specific tables to the share -> Option C

5. Quick Check:

   Grant on tables = share specific data [OK]

Hint: Grant on tables to share only those tables [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Granting on database shares too much data
• Assuming schema-level grant is always best
• Creating new databases unnecessarily