How To Pull Data With the Snowflake Tool

Choosing where to store data is one of the biggest hurdles for any business. Businesses have acquired large quantities of data and need a safe place to access it, which is reliable and provides a high-speed connection.

Snowflake is a top-of-the-line cloud data warehouse serving many business operations. With this tool, you can pull data and maximize the analysis of data masses.

Here, we’ll explore how to pull data with the snowflake tool and how to connect Alteryx to Snowflake.

What Is the Snowflake Tool

The data platform from 2012 serves as a SaaS (Software as a Service). The tool allows businesses to organize and analyze shared data using data warehouses, data science, data lakes, and data engineering, all while keeping everything secure.

Snowflake will allow cross-usage of third-party tools to make data extractions simple and quick. These methods provide an advanced approach to mining data analytics, unlike conventional data platforms, which make it impossible.

The data tool has several benefits, such as:

• Unlimited scalability due to its cloud computing ability.

• Automation is a priority, allowing enterprises to control data management, security, availability, and more.

• Data is protected by governance and compliance policies to keep it as a single copy, allowing access to it remotely.

• An integration platform allows clients to connect data workflow with easy-to-use third-party applications.

Connecting Snowflake With Alteryx

Alteryx is an advanced automation system providing easy access to data analysis for any data scientist or data worker. The software system provides its clients with fast results allowing them to take action in their work without getting behind from the weight of data analysis.

Connecting Alteryx to Snowflake will guarantee faster and more reliable deliveries of data for all clients.

Set up the Snowflake Tool

Like many data applications, it is best to try out the tool using a trial. A 30-day free trial will allow you to get a glimpse of what the tool is capable of and see how your business benefits from it. 

Create Your Account

Once you have purchased the trial, create your account by selecting your cloud provider from the list. Creating an account will allow you to begin storing data, load and query data, and create data warehouses.

Configure ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) Connection

Below are the steps to configuring an ODBC connection:

1. Download the Correct Driver

After you log in to your Snowflake account, access the “help” function and locate “downloads”.

Next, you will select the ODBC driver from the downloads pop-up menu. Two drivers should appear. Select the driver type: Snowflake Repository and download the version your computer will use. 

2. Add Input-data Tool to Alteryx Canvas

After accessing the Alteryx software, add the input-data tool to the canvas and select Snowflake ODBC connection. 

3. Access Admin To Add the Driver

Next, select ODBC Admin to reach the User DSN tab to add the driver.

Select the Snowflake driver from the driver list that you want to set up for the data source and click “finish”. 

4. Fill Out the Credentials

In the following window, you should fill out the username, password, server, and warehouse for your Snowflake account. You can find the server in the name of your Snowflake URL(between “https://” and the first “/”). 

Once all configurations finish, fill in your username and password into the data connection prompt. You will now be able to read data tables and fields into the workflow of Alteryx.

The Benefit of Using Alteryx to Push or Pull Data

Anytime you need to add a new input data tool to access data, Alteryx will ask for credentials because of the ODBC connection. This helps keep your databases more secure and free of unwanted changes.

The Alteryx Snowflake connection allows you to move around data when applying changes to certain tables and configurations.

Begin Pulling Data Using the Snowflake Tool Using Two Methods

Input-data tool and the Connect In-DB tool are two typical methods to read data into Snowflake. Each method below will load a workflow database tree allowing you to input the data that you choose. This operation avoids the need to use SQL (the most common language for pulling data).

Method 1: Input Data Tool

Use the input data tool with the data source and connection selected as Snowflake ODBC. This method requires more rigorous work but could be a comfortable way for those who want to see each step. 

Method 2: Connect In-DB tool

Another popular way to read data into the workflow is to use the Connect In-DB tool. Using this tool allows you to connect to a database of preconfigured connections, making it quick and easy.

Are You Ready To Pull Data Using Your Snowflake Tool?

Now that you know what the Snowflake tool is and how to connect Alteryx to Snowflake for better and faster database processing, you are ready to give it a go.

Never look back and continue storing and organizing your larger masses of data in a structured software system with unlimited scaling abilities.