Streams and Tasks Flashcards
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What is the primary purpose of a Snowflake Task?
Answer: To schedule and execute a SQL statement or stored procedure on a recurring basis
Snowflake Tasks are used to schedule a single SQL statement or stored procedure call to execute at a defined interval or cron schedule, enabling automated data pipelines.
Which syntax correctly schedules a Snowflake Task to run every day at midnight UTC?
Answer: SCHEDULE = 'USING CRON 0 0 * * * UTC'
Snowflake cron-based task schedules require the format SCHEDULE = 'USING CRON ', for example SCHEDULE = 'USING CRON 0 0 * * * UTC'.
What must you do before a newly created Snowflake Task will begin executing on its schedule?
Answer: Run ALTER TASK RESUME to activate it
Newly created tasks are in a SUSPENDED state by default; you must explicitly run ALTER TASK RESUME to activate scheduled execution.
What is a Snowflake Task DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph)?
Answer: A root task that triggers on a schedule with one or more dependent child tasks that run in order
A task DAG is a tree of tasks where a root task runs on a defined schedule and triggers child tasks upon completion, allowing complex multi-step pipeline orchestration.
What is the maximum number of child tasks that a single parent task can have in a Snowflake task DAG?
Answer: 100
A single task node in a Snowflake DAG can have up to 100 child tasks, enabling broad parallel branching in complex pipeline workflows.
Which account-level privilege is required for a role to own and execute Snowflake Tasks?
Answer: EXECUTE TASK on the account
The EXECUTE TASK privilege must be granted at the account level to allow a role to run scheduled task executions; without it, tasks owned by that role will fail.
How can a Snowflake Task be configured to skip execution when there is no new data to process in a stream?
Answer: Use a WHEN SYSTEM$STREAM_HAS_DATA('') clause in the task definition
Adding WHEN SYSTEM$STREAM_HAS_DATA('') to a CREATE TASK statement causes Snowflake to skip the task run if the stream contains no unconsumed change records.