Using Snowpipe Streaming with Apache Iceberg™ tables

With Snowflake Ingest SDK versions 3.0.0 and later, Snowpipe Streaming can ingest data into Snowflake-managed Apache Iceberg tables. The Snowpipe Streaming Ingest Java SDK supports loading into both standard Snowflake tables (non-Iceberg) and Iceberg tables.

Snowpipe Streaming with Iceberg tables

Data sent through the Snowpipe Streaming API ingests rows through one or more channels, which are automatically flushed according to the specified MAX_CLIENT_LAG.

The MAX_CLIENT_LAG property controls the latency of streaming ingestion.

  • For standard Snowflake tables (non-Iceberg), the default MAX_CLIENT_LAG is 1 second.

  • For Iceberg tables, the default MAX_CLIENT_LAG is 30 seconds.

Snowflake connects to your storage location using an external volume, and Snowpipe Streaming flushes the data to create Iceberg-compatible Parquet data files with corresponding Iceberg metadata. These Parquet data and metadata files are uploaded to your configured external cloud storage location and made available as Snowflake-managed Iceberg tables registered with Snowflake as the Iceberg catalog.

Configurations

Create your Snowflake-managed Iceberg table with your configured external volume and specify the Iceberg table name in your open channel request.

To enable Snowpipe Streaming with the Snowflake-managed Iceberg table, you need to set the following property ENABLE_ICEBERG_STREAMING=true in the profile.json file.

Supported data types

  • The Snowflake Ingest SDK supports most of the Iceberg data types, the same as what Snowflake currently supports. For more information, see Data types for Apache Iceberg™ tables.

  • The Snowflake Ingest SDK supports ingestion into the three structured data types: Structured ARRAY, Structured OBJECT, Structured MAP.

Usage notes

  • The default MAX_CLIENT_LAG for streaming to Snowflake-managed Iceberg tables is 30 seconds to ensure optimized Parquet files. You can set the property to a lower value, but we recommend not doing this unless there is a significantly high throughput.

  • The Ingest SDK supports automatic serverless compaction of small Parquet files asynchronously.

  • The same client application cannot be used for Iceberg and non-Iceberg tables simultaneously.

  • Snowflake-managed Iceberg tables do not support client-side encryption.

  • The Iceberg compatible Parquet files are created based on the STORAGE_SERIALIZATION_POLICY specified on the Iceberg table.

  • Snowpipe Streaming only supports Snowflake as the Iceberg catalog, but it also supports syncing with Snowflake Open Catalog.

  • Snowflake connects to your storage location using an external volume. You are responsible for data storage for Iceberg tables.

Limitations

The limitations documented for Snowpipe Streaming also apply to Snowpipe Streaming with Iceberg tables.

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