What is Snowflake Data Sharing?
Snowflake Data Sharing is a feature that allows organizations to securely share live, read-only access to data with other Snowflake accounts, without the need to move or copy the data. This enables real-time collaboration across different teams, partners, or external stakeholders.
Unlike traditional data sharing methods that require data replication, Snowflake’s Secure Data Sharing provides instant access to shared data without duplicating storage, making it highly efficient and cost-effective.
What is the Minimum Snowflake Edition That Provides Data Sharing?
Snowflake’s Secure Data Sharing is available in the Standard Edition and above. This means that even organizations using Snowflake’s entry-level tier can take advantage of data sharing without upgrading to higher-tier editions.
Which Database Objects Can Be Shared Using the Snowflake Secure Data Sharing Feature?
With Snowflake Secure Data Sharing, the following database objects can be shared:
- Tables – Share structured data directly with other Snowflake accounts.
- Views – Provide controlled access to specific data without exposing the underlying tables.
- Secure Views – Ensure additional security by restricting query execution to the view definition.
- External Tables – Share metadata references for data stored in external locations like Amazon S3.
- Functions – Securely share UDFs (User-Defined Functions) with other users.
- Streams – Enable shared change data capture (CDC) for real-time insights.
Why Are External Functions and Data Sharing Both Sources and Outputs for Snowflake?
In Snowflake, both external functions and data sharing act as sources and outputs because they allow data to be either consumed or provided to external systems:
- As a source:
- Data Sharing allows Snowflake users to consume data from other Snowflake accounts.
- External Functions enable querying data from external APIs and cloud services.
- As an output:
- Data Sharing lets users provide live access to their Snowflake data for others to consume.
- External Functions can push query results to external services for further processing.
This bidirectional capability enhances Snowflake’s interoperability, making it a powerful platform for real-time data collaboration and integration.
Using Snowflake with Evidence
For teams looking to integrate Snowflake data into reports and dashboards, Evidence provides a seamless solution. Evidence allows you to:
- Connect directly to Snowflake and analyze shared datasets.
- Build interactive reports and dashboards with SQL-based workflows.
- Collaborate efficiently by leveraging version-controlled reporting.
Learn more about using Snowflake with Evidence by visiting the Evidence documentation.
