page26
6
There is one crucial but often overlooked benefit to adopting a consumption-based
model. Snowflake performance has steadily improved since reported performance
metrics were first established in August 2022, for two reasons.
•
Optimizer performance has steadily been enhanced over time,
realizing tangible benefit to overall query execution times.
•
CSP hardware replacement programs for obsolete or end-of- life
hardware utilize the latest hardware automatically providing
performance uplifts.
In August 2022, Snowflake began to record these zero-cost performance benefits.
Figure 1-1 illustrates the Snowflake Performance Index, which can be found at
https://
www.snowflake.com/en/data-cloud/pricing/performance-index/
.
Figure 1-1.
Snowflake Performance Index
The trend is set to continue as Snowflake is committed to improving its code base
and CSPs periodically replace hardware due to their preventative maintenance policies.
The key takeaway is to periodically monitor your system performance for
improvement or degradation over time and take into consideration the probability of
Snowflake and CSP changes positively affecting your consumption costs.
Still with me? Good, let’s explore common Snowflake starting points (although these
are not exhaustive, and your steps may differ).
ChaptEr 1
tuning thE SnowFlakE Data ClouD