DBeaver Documentation

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Snowflake

Table of contents

Important: If your Snowflake connection stopped working after updating to version 25.0, check the driver version.
If it’s 3.13.30 or older, please update it to the latest stable release manually.

Overview

This guide provides instructions on how to set up and use Snowflake with DBeaver.

Before you can start managing your database, it's essential to establish a connection in DBeaver. This involves selecting the Snowflake option to connect to the Snowflake database. If you have not yet created a connection in DBeaver, please refer to our Creating a Connection article for guidance.

Snowflake specialty

Snowflake is a cloud-native data platform designed for fast, scalable analytics on large datasets. Its architecture separates storage and compute, so you can scale each independently. Snowflake handles structured and semi-structured data, supports concurrent workloads, and automatically manages performance, availability, and maintenance. Snowflake stores data in a compressed columnar format and runs queries using MPP (massively parallel processing) for high performance.

For details, see the Snowflake documentation.

Setting Up

This section provides an overview of DBeaver's settings for establishing a direct connection and the configuration of secure connections using SSH, proxies, AWS SSM and Kubernetes.

Snowflake connection settings

In this subsection, we will outline the settings for establishing a direct connection to a Snowflake database using DBeaver. Correctly configuring your connection ensures seamless interaction between DBeaver and your Snowflake database.

The page of the connection settings requires you to fill in specific fields to establish the initial connection.

Field Description
Host Enter the Snowflake account URL (e.g., abcde12345.snowflakecomputing.com).
Port Use port 443 for HTTPS connections.
Database Enter the name of the database you want to connect to.
Warehouse Enter the name of the virtual warehouse to use for query execution.
Schema Enter the name of the schema that contains your tables and views.
Authentication Choose the type of authentication you want to use for the connection. For detailed guides on authentication types, please refer to the following articles:

- Native Database Authentication
- DBeaver Profile Authentication
- Private key
- SSO (Browser)

You can also read about security in DBeaver PRO.
Connection Details Provide additional connection details if necessary.
Driver Name This field will be autofilled based on your selected driver type.

Tip: Click the Test Connection button to load the list of available warehouses/schemas from the server.

Connection details

The Connection Details section in DBeaver allows you to customize your experience while working with Snowflake database. This includes options for adjusting the Navigator View, setting up Security measures, applying Filters, configuring Connection Initialization settings, and setting up Shell Commands. Each of these settings can significantly impact your database operations and workflow. For detailed guides on these settings, please refer to the following articles:

Secure Connection Configurations

DBeaver supports secure connections to your Snowflake database. Guidance on configuring such connections, specifically SSH, Proxy, Kubernetes, and AWS SSM connections, can be found in various referenced articles. For a comprehensive understanding, please refer to these articles:

Secure Storage with Secret Providers

DBeaver supports various cloud-based secret providers to retrieve database credentials. For detailed setup instructions, see Secret Providers.

Powering Snowflake

DBeaver provides a host of features designed for Snowflake databases. This includes the ability to view and manage databases, along with numerous unique capabilities aimed at optimizing database operations.

Snowflake database objects

DBeaver lets you view and manipulate a wide range of Snowflake database objects. DBeaver has extensive support for various Snowflake metadata types, allowing you to interact with a wide variety of database objects, such as:

  • Databases

    • Schemas
      • Tables
        • Columns
        • Primary Keys
        • Unique Keys
        • Foreign Keys
        • References
      • Views
      • Materialized Views
      • Procedures
      • Sequences
      • Stages
      • Pipes
      • Streams
      • Tasks
    • Data types

Snowflake features

DBeaver is not limited to typical SQL tasks. It also includes numerous unique features specifically for Snowflake. Beyond regular SQL operations, DBeaver provides a range of Snowflake-specific capabilities, such as:

Category Feature
Task management Automate workflows with Tasks and Streams.
Access control Role-based Access Control (RBAC).
Authentication Support for SSO and key pair authentication.

Additional features compatible with Snowflake, but not exclusive to it:

Category Feature
Data Transfer Data Import.
Data Export.
Data Visualization ERD Guide.

Tip: You can improve the performance in Snowflake by disabling metadata queries. For more information, see Disabling Metadata Queries.