What is Snowflake CDC?
Snowflake CDC (Change Data Capture) is a method that enables real-time data replication from Snowflake databases by tracking and capturing changes made to tables. Using a specialized Snowflake Reader, it enables continuous replication after an initial load, ensuring that any data manipulation language (DML) changes like inserts, updates, and deletes are identified and captured in near real-time.
What Does It Do?
The Snowflake Reader is designed to monitor and read changes occurring in a Snowflake database. It identifies changes in tables through a “CHANGES” clause, querying the table at incrementing time intervals to ensure up-to-date information. This process is ideal for scenarios where keeping track of ongoing data modifications is essential for accurate analytics, reporting, or operational use cases.
The Snowflake Reader can capture both DML changes and certain limited DDL (Data Definition Language) changes, keeping your data in sync and allowing you to confidently use Snowflake as a dynamic, continuously updated data source.
How Do You Use It?
- Initial Load: Start by using the standard Database Reader to load your data into Snowflake for the first time.
- Continuous Replication: Once the initial load is complete, the Snowflake Reader takes over, enabling CDC to maintain ongoing updates in real time. This setup is beneficial for applications that require near real-time data synchronization, reducing latency and ensuring the data stays fresh.
How Does Striim Add Value?
Striim’s Snowflake CDC functionality supports several high-impact use cases:
- Reverse ETL: Many organizations need to read analytics results from Snowflake and apply those insights directly in operational systems like CRM, SCM, or other transactional databases. With Snowflake CDC, Striim enables this seamless reverse ETL process, allowing data like customer lifetime value (LTV) or churn predictions to be easily updated across systems.
- Data Warehouse Consolidation: Companies with multiple departmental data warehouses can use Snowflake CDC to continuously sync data across these instances, ensuring a consistent and consolidated view at the corporate level.
Additional Highlights
- Snowflake CDC Reader supports all Snowflake data types, except for the Vector type, making it flexible enough to handle diverse data requirements.
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