Snowflake is a cloud-based data warehouse. It helps companies store, manage, and analyze a huge amount of data.
To do this, Snowflake is built with three main components. These parts work together like a team to move, store, and use data quickly and safely.
Storage Layer – “Where Data Is Stored”
What It Does
This part is like a big digital storage room.
It saves all your data – structured (like tables) and semi-structured (like JSON or XML).
You can store unlimited amounts of data here.
Imagine a warehouse where you keep all your things. In Snowflake, this “warehouse” stores
Sales records
Customer details
Website clicks
App usage logs
Any other business data
Key Features
Auto-scalable: It grows as your data grows
Low-cost storage: You pay only for the space you use
Data is compressed to save space
All data is automatically encrypted for security
Compute Layer (Virtual Warehouses) – “Where Work Is Done”
What It Does
This part does the actual processing of data.
It helps you run SQL queries, reports, dashboards, etc.
It is called "Virtual Warehouse" in Snowflake.
Example in Simple Words
Think of this as the workers in a warehouse. They don’t store things, but they:
Find the data you need
Organize and sort it
Prepare it for you to use
When you run a query, the virtual warehouse reads the data from storage and processes it for you.
Key Features
You can start or stop it anytime
You can create multiple warehouses for different teams
No conflict between users – each warehouse works independently
You can adjust the size for faster performance
Cloud Services Layer – “The Brain of Snowflake”
What It Does
This is the control center or brain of Snowflake.
It handles everything that is not storage or computing.
It helps manage users, security, queries, and other tasks.
This is like the manager in the warehouse. They
Keep track of who is doing what
Manage security and login access
Decide how to send tasks to workers
Keep everything running smoothly
Key Services It Handles
Authentication (login security)
Query parsing and optimization (making queries faster)
Metadata management (keeping track of where data is)
Access control (deciding who can see or change data)
Job scheduling (managing automated tasks)
Quick Recap Table
| Component Name | What It Does | Real-Life Example |
|---|---|---|
| Storage Layer | Stores all your business data | Like a warehouse with boxes of items |
| Compute Layer | Runs your queries and reports | Like workers doing tasks with the data |
| Cloud Services Layer | Manages users, access, and system logic | Like a smart manager controlling tasks |
How These Components Work Together
Let’s say you want to get sales data from last month
You log in to Snowflake → Cloud Services checks your login and access.
You run a query → Compute Layer (virtual warehouse) reads the data.
The data is pulled from the Storage Layer.
Compute Layer processes it and gives you the result.
Cloud Services monitors everything and keeps track of it.
All of this happens fast and securely behind the scenes