Supported Cloud Platforms¶
Snowflake is provided as a self-managed service that runs completely on cloud infrastructure. This means that all three layers of Snowflake’s architecture (storage, compute, and cloud services) are deployed and managed entirely on a selected cloud platform.
A Snowflake account can be hosted on any of the following cloud platforms:
On each platform, Snowflake provides one or more regions where the account is provisioned.
If your organization’s other cloud services are already hosted on one of these platforms, you can choose to host all your Snowflake accounts on the same platform. However, you can also choose to host your accounts on a different platform.
Note
The cloud platform you choose for each Snowflake account is completely independent from your other Snowflake accounts. In fact, you can choose to host each Snowflake account on a different platform, although this may have some impact on data transfer billing when loading data.
Pricing¶
Differences in unit costs for credits and data storage are calculated by region on each cloud platform. For more information about pricing as it pertains to a specific region and platform, see the pricing page (on the Snowflake website).
Data Loading¶
Snowflake supports loading data from files staged in any of the following locations, regardless of the cloud platform for your Snowflake account:
Internal (i.e. Snowflake) stages
Amazon S3
Google Cloud Storage
Microsoft Azure blob storage
Snowflake supports both bulk data loading and continuous data loading (Snowpipe). Likewise, Snowflake supports unloading data from tables into any of the above staging locations.
For more information, see Loading Data into Snowflake.
Note
Some data transfer billing charges may apply when loading data from files staged across different platforms. For more information, see Understanding Data Transfer Cost.
HITRUST CSF Certification¶
This certification enhances Snowflake’s security posture in regulatory compliance and risk management, and is applicable to Snowflake editions that are Business Critical (or higher).
Current Limitations for Accounts on GCP¶
We strive to provide the same Snowflake experience regardless of the cloud platform you choose for your account; however, some services and features are currently unavailable (or have limited availability) for Snowflake accounts hosted on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
Google Cloud Private Service Connect¶
See the considerations and limitations sections for Google Cloud Private Service Connect & Snowflake.
Note that following Snowflake system functions for self-service management are not supported for Google Cloud Private Service Connect for your Snowflake account on GCP:
Private Connectivity to Internal Stages¶
Private connectivity to Snowflake internal stages is currently not supported on GCP.
Snowflake Clients¶
The following versions of the native Snowflake clients have been tested to work with Snowflake accounts on GCP:
Client |
Version |
|---|---|
1.2.4 (or higher) is required. |
|
2.2.0 (or higher) is required for PUT and GET command support and to support large result sets for business intelligence (BI); otherwise, the minimum supported version (or higher) is required. |
|
2.7.0 (or higher) is required. |
|
1.2.0 (or higher) is required. |
|
1.3.3 (or higher) is required to support large result sets for BI; otherwise, the minimum supported version (or higher) is required. |
|
1.5.0 (or higher) is required. |
|
1.1.0 (or higher) is required. |
|
3.11.0 (or higher) is required for PUT and GET command support and to support large result sets for BI; otherwise, the minimum supported version (or higher) is required. |
|
2.21.5 (or higher) is required for PUT and GET command support; otherwise, the minimum supported version (or higher) is required. |
For details, see:
Note
We strongly suggest upgrading to the latest version of any Snowflake client to take advantage of recent fixes and improvements.
For client integrations that do not require PUT or GET operations or the handling of large result sets for BI, client versions earlier than specified above may work, but have not been tested or validated by Snowflake.
Partner Applications¶
Most partner applications work with Snowflake accounts on GCP.
Current Limitations for Accounts on Azure¶
We strive to provide the same Snowflake experience regardless of the cloud platform you choose for your account; however, some services and features are currently unavailable (or have limited availability) for Snowflake accounts hosted on Microsoft Azure.
Azure Private Link¶
Snowflake Clients¶
Currently, using the account name URL format for private connectivity to the Snowflake service with SnowSQL, connectors and drivers is not supported. As a workaround, use the account locator format with SnowSQL, connectors, and drivers.
For details, see:
Partner Applications¶
Not all 3rd-party applications provide the same level of support for Snowflake.
The following 3rd-party applications and technologies are known to support Snowflake hosted on Azure:
Attunity
Databricks
Fivetran
Informatica
Looker
Matillion
MicroStrategy
Periscope
Power BI
Qubole
Sigma Computing
Stitch
Tableau
Talend
Wherescape