The correct answers are C. Metadata management and E. Query parsing .
Snowflake's architecture has three main layers:
Cloud Services Layer
Query Processing Layer / Compute Layer
Database Storage Layer
The cloud services layer coordinates Snowflake activities and handles services such as authentication, infrastructure management, metadata management, query parsing and optimization, access control, and transaction management.
Why C is correct:
Metadata management is handled by the cloud services layer. This includes metadata about tables, micro- partitions, query optimization statistics, and access-related metadata.
Why E is correct:
Query parsing and optimization are handled by the cloud services layer before execution is assigned to compute resources.
Why the other options are incorrect:
A). Performance tuning is not usually described as a discrete cloud services task. Snowflake automatically optimizes many operations, but this option is too broad.
B). Query acceleration uses additional compute resources and is a performance feature, not a core task of the cloud services layer.
D). Query processing is performed by virtual warehouses in the compute layer, not by the cloud services layer.
Official Snowflake documentation reference:
Snowflake documentation explains that the cloud services layer manages authentication, infrastructure management, metadata, query parsing and optimization, access control, and transaction management.
Reference: Snowflake Documentation - Snowflake architecture; Snowflake Documentation - Cloud services layer; SnowPro Core Study Guide - Snowflake Architecture.
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