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Version: 1.3.0

Connect GX Cloud to Snowflake

Prerequisites​

  • You have a GX Cloud account with Admin or Editor permissions.

  • You have a Snowflake database, schema, and table.

  • You have a Snowflake account with USAGE privileges on the table, database, and schema you are validating, and you have SELECT privileges on the table you are validating.

    • Optional. To improve data security, GX recommends using a separate Snowflake user service account to connect to GX Cloud.
    • Optional. To streamline automations and improve security, you can connect to Snowflake with key-pair authentication instead of a password. Note that this requires using GX Core in combination with GX Cloud.

  • Optional. You can use an existing Snowflake warehouse, but GX recommends creating a separate warehouse for GX Cloud to simplify cost management and optimize performance.

Optional. Create a separate Snowflake user and warehouse​

Depending on your Snowflake permissions, you may need to ask an admin on your team to create a separate Snowflake user for your GX Cloud connection.

  1. In Snowflake Snowsight, click Projects > Worksheets > Add > SQL Worksheet.

  2. Paste the following code into the SQL worksheet.

    Snowflake Snowsight
    use role accountadmin;
    create user if not exists gx_user password='<YOUR_PASSWORD>';
    create role if not exists gx_role;
    grant role gx_role to user gx_user;

    -- GX recommends creating a separate warehouse for GX Cloud to simplify cost 
    -- management and optimize resource consumption. 
    create warehouse if not exists gx_wh
    warehouse_size=xsmall
    auto_suspend=10
    auto_resume=true
    initially_suspended=true;
    grant usage, operate on warehouse gx_wh to role gx_role; 

    -- Replace <YOUR_DATABASE> and <YOUR_SCHEMA> with the names of the databases
    -- and schemas you want to test in GX Cloud.
    grant usage on database <YOUR_DATABASE> to role gx_role;
    grant usage on schema <YOUR_DATABASE>.<YOUR_SCHEMA> to role gx_role;
    grant select on all tables in schema <YOUR_DATABASE>.<YOUR_SCHEMA> to role gx_role;
    grant select on future tables in schema <YOUR_DATABASE>.<YOUR_SCHEMA> to role gx_role; 
    -- Gives the user with the gx_role role access to all future tables in the defined schema.
    • Replace YOUR_PASSWORD with your value and YOUR_DATABASE and YOUR_SCHEMA with the names of the database and schema you want to access in GX Cloud.
    • grant select on future tables in schema <YOUR_DATABASE>.<YOUR_SCHEMA> to role gx_role; is optional and gives the user with the gx_role role access to all future tables in the defined schema.
    • The settings in the code example optimize cost and performance. Adjust them to suit your business requirements.

  3. Select Run All to define your user password, create a new GX role (gx_role), assign the password and role to a new user (gx_user), create a new warehouse (gx_wh), and allow the user with the gx_role role to access data on the Snowflake database and schema.

    Snowflake Run All

Connect to a Snowflake Data Source and add a Data Asset​

To connect with key-pair authentication, use GX Core

To connect to a Snowflake Data Source using key-pair authentication instead of a password, do the following using GX Core:

  1. Create a Cloud Data Context.
  2. Pass your private key when you create a Data Source in the Cloud Data Context.

Then, you can use GX Cloud to add a Data Asset from that Data Source.

  1. In GX Cloud, click Data Assets > New Data Asset > New Data Source > Snowflake.

  2. Enter a meaningful name for the Data Source in the Data Source name field.

  3. Select whether you will enter your connection details as either separate Input parameters or a consolidated Connection string.

  4. Supply your connection details depending on the method you chose in the previous step. If you created a separate Snowflake user for your GX Cloud connection as recommended above, use those credentials in your connection details.

    • If you chose Input parameters, complete the following fields:

      • Account identifier: Enter your Snowflake organization and account name separated by a hyphen (oraganizationname-accountname) or your account name and a legacy account locator separated by a period (accountname.region). The legacy account locator value must include the geographical region. For example, us-east-1.

        To locate your Snowflake organization name, account name, or legacy account locator values see Finding the Organization and Account Name for an Account or Using an Account Locator as an Identifier.

      • Username: Enter the username you use to access Snowflake.

      • Password: Enter a Snowflake password. To improve data security, GX recommends using a Snowflake service account to connect to GX Cloud.

      • Database: Enter the name of the Snowflake database where the data you want to validate is stored. In Snowsight, click Data > Databases. In the Snowflake Classic Console, click Databases.

      • Schema: Enter the name of the Snowflake schema (table) where the data you want to validate is stored.

      • Warehouse: Enter the name of your Snowflake database warehouse. In Snowsight, click Admin > Warehouses. In the Snowflake Classic Console, click Warehouses.

      • Role: Enter your Snowflake role.

    • If you chose Connection string enter it with a format of:

      Snowflake connection string
      snowflake://<USER>:<PASSWORD>@<ACCOUNT_IDENTIFIER>/<DATABASE>/<SCHEMA>?warehouse=<WAREHOUSE>&role=<ROLE>

  5. Click Connect.

  6. Select one or more tables to import as Data Assets.

  7. Decide if you want to Generate Expectations that detect column changes in selected Data Assets.

  8. Click Add x Asset(s).

  9. Add an Expectation. See Add an Expectation.