Creating an Azure stage¶
A stage specifies where data files are stored (i.e. “staged”) so that the data in the files can be loaded into a table.
Data can be loaded directly from files in a specified Azure container or in an Azure “folder” path (i.e. key value prefix). If the path ends with /, all of the objects in the corresponding Azure folder are loaded.
External stages¶
In addition to loading directly from files in Azure containers, Snowflake supports creating named external stages, which encapsulate all of the required information for staging files, including:
The Azure container where the files are staged.
The named storage integration object or Azure credentials for the container (if it is protected).
An encryption key (if the files in the container have been encrypted).
Named external stages are optional, but recommended when you plan to load data regularly from the same location. For instructions for creating an external stage, See Creating an External Stage below.
Note
To improve query performance for an Azure external stage, configure your network routing to use Microsoft network routing. For instructions, see the Azure documentation.
Creating an external stage¶
You can create a named external stage using SQL or the web interface.
Note
To create an internal stage, you must use a role that is granted or inherits the necessary privileges. For details, see Access control requirements for CREATE STAGE.
Creating an external stage using SQL¶
Use the CREATE STAGE command to create an external stage.
The following example creates an external stage named my_azure_stage. The CREATE statement includes the azure_int storage
integration that was created in Configuring an Azure container for loading data to access the Azure container container1 in the myaccount
account.
The data files are stored in the load/files/ path. The stage references a named file format object named my_csv_format, which
describes the data in the files stored in the path:
CREATE STAGE my_azure_stage
STORAGE_INTEGRATION = azure_int
URL = 'azure://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer/load/files/'
FILE_FORMAT = my_csv_format;
Note
Use the blob.core.windows.net endpoint for all supported types of Azure blob storage accounts, including Data Lake Storage Gen2.
Note
By specifying a named file format object (or individual file format options) for the stage, it is not necessary to later specify the same file format options in the COPY command used to load data from the stage. For more information about file format objects and options, see CREATE FILE FORMAT.
Creating an external stage using Snowsight¶
To use Snowsight to create a named external stage, do the following:
Sign in to Snowsight.
In the navigation menu, select Create » Stage » External Stage.
Select your external cloud storage provider: Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform.
In the Create Stage dialog, enter a Stage Name.
Select the database and schema where you want to create the stage.
Enter the URL of your external cloud storage location.
If your external storage isn’t public, enable Authentication and enter your details. For more information, see CREATE STAGE.
Optionally deselect Directory table. Directory tables let you see files on the stage, but require a warehouse and thus incur a cost. You can choose to deselect this option for now and enable a directory table later.
If you enable Directory table, optionally select Enable auto-refresh and select your event notification or notification integration to automatically refresh the directory table when files are added or removed. To learn more, see Automated directory table metadata refreshes.
If your files are encrypted, enable Encryption and enter your details.
Optionally expand the SQL Preview to view a generated SQL statement. To specify additional options for your stage such as AUTO_REFRESH, you can open this SQL preview in a worksheet.
Select Create.
Creating an external stage using Classic Console¶
Select Databases 
» <db_name> » Stages.