Second generation Openflow objects and interfaces¶

Second-generation (gen 2) Openflow deployments, runtimes, and connectors are first-class Snowflake objects. You can use the Openflow UI or SQL commands to work with the same underlying objects.

Gen 1 and gen 2 resources can coexist in the same account:

New deployments are gen 2 only. You can no longer create new gen 1 deployments (BYOC or Snowflake). All new deployments must use CREATE OPENFLOW DEPLOYMENT.
Runtimes inherit the generation of their parent deployment. New runtimes on a gen 1 deployment are gen 1; new runtimes on a gen 2 deployment are gen 2.
Gen 2 runtimes support both gen 1 and gen 2 connectors. Both types can coexist on the same gen 2 runtime.
Gen 1 runtimes support gen 1 connectors only. Don’t install gen 2 connectors on a gen 1 runtime.
Existing gen 1 resources stay gen 1 and continue to work unchanged. Migration from gen 1 to gen 2 is available in Private Preview; contact your Snowflake account representative to be included.

Gen 2 introduces SQL-first lifecycle management, a revised security model, and connectors managed as File Based Entities (FBEs) with versioned configuration.

Start here¶

If you are new to gen 2 Openflow, read these topics in order:

Openflow gen 1 and gen 2 — Understand gen 1 vs gen 2 for deployments, runtimes, and connectors, and which documentation set applies to each.
About Openflow — Review Openflow concepts shared by gen 1 and gen 2 (deployment types, architecture, use cases).
Quickstart: gen 2 Openflow — Set up privileges and create your first gen 2 deployment, runtime, and connector.
Migrating from gen 1? Migration from gen 1 to gen 2 is available in Private Preview; contact your Snowflake account representative to be included.
Configure a connector with the setup wizard — Install and configure a gen 2 connector with the setup wizard.
Configure a gen 2 connector with SQL — Create and configure a gen 2 connector with SQL and stage commands.

Known limitations¶

For how gen 2 differs from gen 1 in supported operations and lifecycle, see Openflow gen 1 and gen 2.

Preview quotas

BYOC deployments: At most 20 per account (enforced by Openflow and Snowflake).
Snowflake deployments: At most three per account.
Runtimes: At most 100 per deployment. You can hit other limits before that maximum—for example, 50 EC2 nodes per node type on a BYOC deployment, or block storage quota on a Snowflake deployment when other applications consume storage.
A runtime can have at most 50 nodes. This applies to both generations (BYOC node groups and Snowflake deployment compute pools).

Diagnostics

Gen 2 runtime diagnostic bundles can be created from SQL or the Openflow UI. Snowflake deployment diagnostic bundles (not scoped to a single runtime) are also supported from SQL. For BYOC troubleshooting, you can also run ./diagnostics.sh on the deployment agent instance; see Troubleshoot Openflow.

Operations shared with gen 1

GRANT OWNERSHIP on gen 2 deployments, runtimes, or connectors can break underlying functionality today. Avoid ownership transfer until an upcoming update; see Transferring OWNERSHIP in Openflow gen 1 and gen 2.
For BYOC deployments, installation and upgrade documentation can only be downloaded from the UI; upgrades are not automatic. See Manage Openflow.

Setup wizard

Private link is not supported in the setup wizard flow. Private link for deployments and runtime UI access is supported separately; see Set up PrivateLink UI access in Openflow - Snowflake Deployments.

Gen 2 documentation¶

Topic	Description
Openflow gen 1 and gen 2	Compare gen 1 and gen 2 deployments, runtimes, and connectors; authorization and lifecycle differences; how to identify resources and which documentation to follow.
Quickstart: gen 2 Openflow	Prerequisites, privilege grants, and example commands to create gen 2 resources.
gen 2 connector configuration and versioning	Versioned configuration for SQL, Git, and automation (optional background if you use the UI only). Stage access and Git workflow for reusing validated configs.
Configure a connector with the setup wizard	Step-by-step setup wizard for gen 2 connectors.
Configure a gen 2 connector with SQL	Create and configure gen 2 connectors with SQL and stage commands (programmatic setup).
Manage the gen 2 Openflow connector lifecycle	Start, stop, and remove gen 2 connectors after installation.
Monitor connectors using the Openflow Connectors Dashboard	Monitor gen 2 connector health, throughput, and ingestion status.
Migrate deployment and runtimes (Private Preview)	Migrate an existing gen 1 deployment and all its runtimes to gen 2 objects. Covers prerequisites, the migration wizard, post-migration access grants, rollback constraints, and troubleshooting. Contact your Snowflake account representative for access.
Migrate connectors (Private Preview)	Migrate individual gen 1 connectors to gen 2 connector instances. Covers prerequisites, Snowflake Secrets rewiring, the disabled source connector, and failure recovery. Contact your Snowflake account representative for access.

Gen 1 documentation¶

Gen 1 Openflow resources continue to use the public Openflow documentation. When you work with gen 1 deployments, runtimes, or catalog-installed connectors, follow these topics:

Set up Openflow - BYOC and Set up Openflow - Snowflake Deployment - Task overview — Create gen 1 deployments.
Set up Openflow - Snowflake Deployment: Create runtime — Create gen 1 runtimes.
Openflow connectors — Install and configure gen 1 connectors with Install or Import from Registry on the runtime canvas.
Manage Openflow — Manage gen 1 deployments and runtimes in the UI.

For source-specific setup (for example, preparing PostgreSQL for CDC), use the connector setup topic in the public docs for gen 1 and gen 2 connectors alike. Gen 2 connector topics link to those instructions where the source configuration is the same.