SnowPro Advanced: Architect · Free practice question 9 of 10
Environment cloning
An Architect needs to give each Data Engineer a writable copy of the production database for testing. Storage cost must stay minimal, and each engineer must be able to modify their copy without touching production. What is the correct approach?
- A.Export production to S3 and import into a per-engineer database.
- B.Create a zero-copy clone of the production database for each engineer with CREATE DATABASE ... CLONE.
- C.Grant each engineer SELECT/INSERT/UPDATE on the production database.
- D.Replicate the production database into a QA account and let engineers share it.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. Create a zero-copy clone of the production database for each engineer with CREATE DATABASE ... CLONE.
Why: Zero-copy cloning creates a metadata pointer to the existing micro-partitions. Clones take seconds, use zero additional storage until the engineer writes, and are fully writable and isolated from the source. Export/import duplicates all data (wasteful). Granting write access on production is unsafe. Replication is for cross-region availability, not per-user sandboxes.