Export Data Products to Snowflake

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

After you enrich a data product in Alation, you can export its definition to Snowflake as a semantic view. Alation converts the data product’s definition, including its tables, columns, metrics, relationships, and verified queries, into a Snowflake semantic view that you can use with native Snowflake tooling such as Cortex Analyst. This lets you maintain a single, governed source of truth in Alation and push the enriched semantics to Snowflake without changing how analysts and agents work.

This topic covers two related capabilities:

  • Export to Snowflake: Manually create or replace a Snowflake semantic view from the data product’s current definition. Use this when you want to push changes from Alation to Snowflake to reflect your enriched definition.

  • Auto-sync on metadata extraction: Automatically update a data product’s definition from its source system each time metadata extraction runs. Use this when you want the data product to stay current with changes made in Snowflake.

For information on creating a data product from a cataloged Snowflake semantic view, see Get Started with Creating Data Products.

In this topic:

Prerequisites

Before you can export a data product to Snowflake, verify the following:

  • You can edit the data product. Typically, you must be a Data Product Admin for the data product. See Configure Access in the Data Product App.

  • The data product is listed on the Marketplace. See List on Marketplace.

  • Chat is enabled for the data product. The Export to Snowflake option appears only after Chat is enabled, because the export reuses the same Snowflake authentication that the Chat uses. See Configure Chat with Data Product.

  • The data product’s data comes from Snowflake. This is the case when either:

    • The data product was created from a Snowflake semantic view, or

    • All of the data product’s tables come from a Snowflake data source.

  • Snowflake authentication is configured for the data product. Alation uses these credentials to create the semantic view in Snowflake. If you haven’t configured credentials yet, Alation prompts you to set them up the first time you export. See Configure Chat Authentication.

Export a Data Product to Snowflake

The Export to Snowflake action creates or replaces a Snowflake semantic view based on the current definition of the data product.

Important

Exporting overwrites any changes made directly in the data source to this semantic view. Alation replaces the semantic view with the definition from the data product.

To export a data product to Snowflake:

  1. Open the data product. You can start the export from either:

    • The data product’s catalog page, or

    • The Manage My Data Products page.

  2. Click the three-dot menu icon to open the action menu.

  3. Select Export to Snowflake. The Export to Snowflake dialog opens.

  4. Review the target. The dialog displays the location of the Snowflake semantic view that Alation will create or replace (DATABASE.SCHEMA.SEMANTIC_VIEW_NAME). For a data product created from a cataloged Snowflake semantic view, this target is set automatically.

  5. Click Sync.

    • If Snowflake authentication is not yet configured for the data product, the Enter credentials for dialog appears. Enter the Username and Password for the data source, optionally expand Advanced Connection Settings, and click Connect. Alation saves these credentials securely and continues with the export.

Alation notifies you when the export completes. Verify the changes in Snowflake. If the export fails, the dialog displays the error returned by Snowflake. Correct the issue—for example, a missing target location or invalid credentials—and try again.

What Alation Exports

When you export a data product to Snowflake, Alation maps the following parts of the data product’s definition into the Snowflake semantic view:

  • Tables and columns

  • Dimensions, time dimensions, and facts

  • Filters

  • Metrics

  • Relationships between tables

  • Evaluation questions

For example, if you added metrics to the data product in Alation, those metrics are written to the semantic view’s definition when you export.

Verify the Export in Snowflake

After the export completes, you can confirm the changes in Snowflake. Query the semantic view’s definition, or open its YAML in Snowflake, to verify that the additions you made in Alation, such as new metrics, appear in the semantic view.

Keep a Data Product in Sync with Its Source

When a data product was created from a semantic view, you can have Alation update the data product’s definition from the source system automatically. When auto-sync is enabled, Alation re-syncs the data product’s definition from the source each time metadata extraction runs on the source and a new version of the data product is generated. This ensures that the data product stays up to date with any changes made in Snowflake, such as new columns or metrics added to the semantic view.

Note

The Auto-sync on metadata extraction setting appears only for data products that were created from a semantic view. Data products that don’t have a semantic view source don’t show this setting.

To enable auto-sync:

  1. Open the data product settings. See Open the Data Product Settings.

  2. On the Overview tab, find the Auto-sync on metadata extraction card. The card displays the location of the source semantic view.

  3. Turn on the Auto-sync on metadata extraction toggle. Alation confirms that auto-sync is enabled.

The Auto-sync on metadata extraction toggle is turned off by default.

When auto-sync is enabled and a change in the source semantic view is detected during metadata extraction, Alation generates a new draft of the data product. You can switch between drafts on the Content tab to compare the differences before listing the updated version.