#snowflake sql

Managing large databases is the primary task of database administrators. They have to ensure that data is processed quickly and an efficient method to do so is migrating databases from traditional systems to the latest cloud-based ones.

One such likely scenario is migrating database Microsoft Server SQL to Snowflake. More and more organizations are opting for it because of the many benefits provided by Snowflake, a cloud-based data warehousing solution.

Here is what Snowflake has to offer to businesses.

·        The Snowflake architecture is compatible with a range of cloud vendors. Users can use the same tools to work on any of them.

·        The computing and storage facilities are separate in Snowflake and users can scale up or down seamlessly in any of them by paying only for the resources used.

·        An important reason for migrating databases from Server SQL to Snowflake is the high-performing abilities of the data warehouse even when multiple users are simultaneously executing intricate queries.

·        Unstructured, semi-structured, and structured data can be loaded to Snowflake with in-built support provided to JSON, Avro, XML, and Parquet data.

·        Snowflake automatically clusters data without needing indexes to be defined. Various tasks like computing to the encoding of columns are automated too.

How to migrate database Server SQL to Snowflake

This process is mostly automated and can be completed in a few clicks.

·        Extracting data from the SQL Server through queries for extraction with select statements being used to sort, filter, and limit the data during the retrieval process. For exporting large databases in text, CSV, or SQL queries formats, the Microsoft SQL Server Management tool is used.

·        The raw data extracted from SQL Server has to be processed and formatted to match the data types supported by the Snowflake architecture. For JSON or XML data there is no need to specify a schema before loading.

·        The processed MySQL data is then kept in a staging area. There are two staging areas - Internal staging area that has to be created by the user with SQL statements and External staging where data is uploaded using the respective cloud interface. Presently, the external staging areas supported by Snowflake are Microsoft Azure and Amazon S3.

·        The final stage in database migration from SQL to Snowflake is loading the data from the staging area to Snowflake. The data loading wizard of Snowflake is applied for migrating small databases. For large databases and bulk data, however, the Data Loading Overview, a unit of Snowflake has to be used. In this case, the PUT command is used to stage files and the COPY INTO command to load processed data into an intended table.  

SQL Server Replication is a technology that is currently used to copy and share data and databases from one source to another. The advantage here is that once the copying and sharing process is completed the technology automatically synchronizes between the databases to make sure that the consistency and integrity of the data are maintained. This synchronization can be tuned to run continually or at pre-set intervals whenever any activity takes place regardless of whether it is bi-directional, one-way, or one-to-many. Before the advent of SQL Server Replication, most applications worked on a standalone environment. A single server responded to multiple users working from various locations leading to a host of performance, availability, and maintenance problems, issues that were later ironed out with this system.