Warehouses

Learn how to get started with Snowflake Warehouse optimization by watching our tutorial video here.

To access Warehouses, in the left hand navigation menu, select Resources > Warehouses.

What can I do with My Warehouses?

The Warehouses page displays a comprehensive table of all available warehouses that a user can view and take action on inside Slingshot. From the Warehouses page, you can:

• View a unified table of all available warehouses across management status (Managed vs. Unmanaged):
  • Managed warehouses have been assigned a schedule.
  • Unmanaged warehouses have been brought into Slingshot and need a schedule applied by the warehouse owner.
• Filter the table by:
  • Name
  • Org (or Tags, if tagging is enabled for your tenant)
  • Account
  • Warehouse management: Managed vs. Unmanaged
  • Query Acceleration Service (QAS): Enabled vs. Disabled
  • Alerts: Triggered vs. None
  • Optimizations: Available vs. None
• Sort several columns to surface cost and performance trends (see the Table columns below).
• See which warehouses have an available recommendation, using the optimization icon.
• See which warehouses have a triggered alert, using the alert icon.
• Export the table to a CSV file. The export reflects whatever filters are currently applied, and includes Slingshot deep links.

Select a warehouse name to open its Warehouse details page.

A warehouse with no query activity in the trailing 30 days shows a dash in each metric column rather than 0. So you can tell a quiet warehouse apart from one that’s simply inexpensive.

Roles for warehouses

View warehouses:

• Tenant admin
• Snowflake admin
• Snowflake owner
• Snowflake viewer
• Snowflake approver 1 and approver 2

Edit warehouses:

• Tenant admin
• Snowflake admin
• Snowflake owner

Warehouse details

Select a warehouse name in the table to open its Warehouse details page. The header shows the warehouse name and breadcrumb only. The warehouse settings, tags, and schedule are all managed from the Settings menu in the sidebar (below), not from buttons on the header.

The page is organized into tabs, with a sidebar alongside them.

A date-range picker and Daily/Weekly/Monthly view toggle scope everything on this tab. Weekly becomes available once your selected range is seven days or more, and Monthly once it’s 31 days or more; the maximum selectable range is 365 days.

Five summary cards sit above the chart. Selecting a card swaps the chart and table below to that metric:

• Total cost: Cost and query-run-count trend. Days where cost runs more than 50% above the monthly average are flagged as a spike.
• Total query runs: Query volume, broken out by complexity (Simple: under 100 partitions scanned. Moderate: 100–500. Complex: over 500).
• Query run-time: Max/P90/P50/Avg run-time trend. Days more than 50% above the monthly average are flagged.
• Queuing, failures & timeouts: Queued, failed, and timed-out query counts. Days more than 50% above the monthly average are flagged, plus a separate alert for any day where failed queries exceed 5% of that day’s runs.
• Bytes scanned & spilled: Scanned versus spilled data, listed in gigabytes (GB). Any day with spillage greater than zero is flagged.

Queries

Shows which queries are driving this warehouse’s cost. Use the sort selector to view the top 100 query patterns on this warehouse from the past 30 days (grouped by parameterized query hash), with total cost, run count, run-time percentiles (P90/P50/Avg), median bytes scanned, and median cost per run. The sort options are:

• Most expensive (default)
• Longest-running
• Most frequent
• Failed
• Timed out

The Results page displays 25 rows at a time. Select a query hash to open its Query details page.

Tasks

Tasks shows which scheduled tasks run on this warehouse. Use the sort selector to view up to 100 tasks, with total cost, average cost per run, total runs, last run status, a visual timeline of the last 10 runs, cost change, % of this warehouse’s cost, and owner. The sort options are:

• Most expensive (this is the default)
• Failed
• Highest cost change
• Longest-running

The Results page displays 10 rows at a time. Select a task name to open its Task details page. This tab only appears if you also have access to Task Observability.

Warehouse schedule

All time blocks on are in US Eastern Time.

• View the current warehouse schedule.

• Edit the current warehouse schedule.

  • If you edit an unmanaged warehouse, you will trigger the manage an unmanaged warehouse flow.
  • If you edit a managed warehouse, you will modify the existing warehouse schedule.

Impact analysis

Impact Analysis lets you compare warehouse performance and cost across two time periods, so you can understand the actual effect of a recommendation, schedule change, ad-hoc change, or new workload.

Sidebar

The sidebar is a panel with three sections:

• Settings: Menu with: Edit/Manage settings (account, org, statement timeout, QAS, environment, warehouse type, template, and resource constraint), Edit tags, Pause schedule, and Exclude/Re-enable schedule optimizations.
• Alerts: All alerts triggered for this warehouse.
• Warehouse history: A chronological list of every change made to the warehouse, including the day and the user who made it. Selecting an entry opens the Impact analysis tab with that change’s details, rather than navigating to a separate page.

Manage an unmanaged warehouse

Similar to other warehouse requests, Warehouse Owners submit management requests. Warehouses listed here are not currently managed in Slingshot. Adding them to your managed warehouse list is as easy as completing a form.

1. You can trigger the manage warehouse flow from two locations:

   a. Navigate to a warehouse that has the Managed column set to No, click the overflow menu (three dots all the way on the right), and select Manage.

   b. Navigate to Warehouse details page and click Edit in the Schedule section.

2. Select a Warehouse Environment from the drop-down menu.

3. Then choose a Warehouse Template.

4. Select a Resource Constraint (Gen1 or Gen2).

5. Adjust the Statement Timeout.

6. Select Continue.

7. Set a schedule or create a new schedule by making the following selections (you can also use the default schedule):

   • End Time
   • Warehouse Size
   • Cluster Minimum
   • Cluster Maximum
   • Scaling Policy
   • Auto Suspend
   • Toggle Warehouse on or off

8. Select Continue.

9. Review the information and Submit the request for approval.

10. Until the request is approved, the Management Request Pending icon will replace the overflow menu for the warehouse you requested to manage.

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    Note: The icon will show who submitted the management request and the date/time they submitted the request.

Once approved, the Manage column in the table will change to Yes.

Modify a managed warehouse

Once a warehouse is managed, you have full control over its settings in Slingshot.

1. You can trigger the manage warehouse from two locations:

   a. Navigate to a warehouse that has the Managed column set to Yes, click the overflow menu (three dots all the way on the right), and select Edit.

   b. Navigate to Warehouse details page and click Edit in the Schedule section.

2. Fill in the warehouse details.

3. Select Modify schedule.

4. Define the warehouse schedule across each day.

5. Select Review schedule.

6. Review the settings and Submit the request for approval.

7. Until the request is approved, the Modification Request Pending icon will replace the overflow menu for the warehouse you requested to modify.

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   Note: The icon will show who submitted the modification request and the date/time they submitted the request.

8. Once approved, the new warehouse settings/schedule will take effect.

Drop a managed warehouse

Dropping a managed warehouse deletes the warehouse.

1. Navigate to a warehouse that has the Managed column set to Yes, click the overflow menu, and select Drop.

2. A modal screen appears and prompts you provide a business justification.

3. Select Submit for approval.

4. Until the request is approved, the Drop Request Pending icon will replace the overflow menu for the warehouse you requested to drop.

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   Note: The icon will show who submitted the drop request and the date/time they submitted the request.

5. Once approved, the warehouse will no longer be active or appear in the Warehouses table, but historical will be retained.

Create a new warehouse

Warehouse owners may create warehouse provisioning requests.

Approvers are tasked with approving or denying warehouse provisioning requests.

1. Select + Create warehouse.

2. Set the parameters for the new Warehouse.

   a. Organizational Level - The Organizational Level setting allows you to dictate which level of the organization the warehouse will exist at, for example Supervisory vs Executive.

   b. Warehouse Environment -Different environments can be created during the onboarding process, for example Production vs Test.

   c. Warehouse Template - Warehouse Template contains customized rules and warehouse parameters defined by admins.

   d. Snowflake Account - Snowflake account where the warehouse resides.

   e. Warehouse Name - The name of the newly created warehouse.

   f. Resource Constraint - Determines if a warehouse is either a Gen1 or Gen2 warehouse.

   g. Statement Timeout - Amount of time, in seconds, after which a running SQL statement (query, DDL, DML, etc.) is canceled by the system.

3. Select Create schedule to set the warehouse schedule.

   The Warehouse Scheduling screen allows you to set several parameters based on time and days of the week, permitting Snowflake to run in the most efficient manner possible, along with a max monthly cost.

   • Schedules - Slingshot allows Snowflake to be provisioned with 1 or more schedules with the following parameters
     • Start Time and End Times - Schedule begin and end times in ET
     • Warehouse Size - Determines the processing power and cost of the warehouse ( See Warehouse size and cost)
     • Cluster Min/Max - The number of database instances (can vary from 1-10) devoted to processing
     • Scaling Policy - How the warehouse scales to meet demand
       • Standard - Minimizes queuing by starting warehouses when demand increases
       • Economy - Conserves costs by allowing warehouses to run fully loaded
     • Auto-Suspend - Automatically suspend the warehouse after a predetermined period of inactivity
       • When checked a field appears allowing you to set the period of inactivity (parameter varies based on the template settings). The warehouse will auto-suspend after this period expires with no activity.
       • If unchecked the warehouse runs continuously even if inactive.
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         This results in greater cost.
       • Warehouse on toggle determines when the Snowflake Data Warehouse will be on or off.
     • To complete warehouse configuration, the schedule must be set for a 24-hour period comprising of 7 days.

4. Select the Review schedule - the Warehouse Review screen displays all of the settings for the newly created warehouse details:

   • Organization
   • Snowflake Account
   • Warehouse Template
   • Warehouse Name
   • Statement Timeout
   • Approver(s) (if available)

5. Select Submit for Approval to start the approval process, or Back to continue adjusting the schedule.

6. Select Submit Request to confirm you’re ready to submit your request, or Back to Review to make additional changes before submitting.

   A success message appears and confirms your submission.

Warehouse management

Slingshot allows Warehouse owners, Tenant admins, and Org admins to make adjustments to warehouses. Approvers, like the name says, approve requests.

Approvals

Approvers act as gatekeepers for various requests in the assigned business org or unit (e.g. warehouse provisioning requests, changing a current warehouse schedule, etc). As an Approver, you have the ability to approve, decline, and view assigned requests.

View requests

To view requests,

1. In the left navigation menu, select Requests.

2. Select the Pending, Approved, or Declined tab to see a list for requests with those statuses.

Or

1. From the homepage, scroll to the Approvals Inbox section.

2. Select View Request for the chosen request.

3. Review the Warehouse Modification Request details.

4. If necessary, add a message, then decline or approve the request.

   Always include an explanation for denied requests.

Approve or decline requests

The Approvals Inbox provides you with tabs for:

• Open Requests
• In Progress requests
• Closed Requests.

The Closed Requests tab shows processed requests.

Each list includes the warehouse name, request type, status, requestor, maximum monthly cost, and request date.

To approve or decline requests:

1. Scroll down to the Approvals Inbox on the Homepage or select Approvals Inbox from the left navigation menu.

2. Select Approve to approve a request, or select Decline to deny the request and add a message explaining the denial.

3. Select Decline Request (if necessary).

4. The list refreshes and the request disappears from the Approvals Inbox.

Create and manage alerts

You can set custom performance thresholds to alert you (and/or any of your team members) if a warehouse has experienced any unexpected spikes in two key performance metrics: query queuing and query execution time.

1. Open the Performance alert modal in one of the following ways:

   a. Select the check box for a warehouse and then select Create alert or Manage alert.

   b. Select the overflow menu (three dots all the way on the right) at the warehouse level and select Create alert or Manage alert.

2. Select the check box for whichever of the three metrics you want to alert on.

3. Enter threshold values in the text box.

4. Add any emails that you want to receive the alert emails.

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   Any owners of this warehouse will automatically receive the email as well.

5. Select Save to confirm the updated alert configurations.

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   Note: Performance thresholds are evaluated every hour, meaning alerts will get triggered every hour at most.

Revert warehouse settings

To revert a warehouse to previous settings:

1. Navigate to the Warehouse details page for the warehouse.

2. Select a history entry from the Warehouse history section in the right sidebar.

3. Select Revert.

4. The Modify warehouse details flow displays your current settings, but you can change any of the settings if you wish.

5. Enter a business justification.

6. Select Modify schedule.

7. The schedule of the warehouse history entry displays, but you can modify the schedule further if you wish.

8. Submit for approval.