One of the biggest difficulties in traditional databases is replicating your database objects from one environment to another.
It involves proper planning, additional storage costs and long waiting times for the entire process to complete.
Snowflake simplifies the process of replicating your data without incurring any additional storage costs or long waiting times through a powerful feature called Zero CopyCloning.
All data in Snowflake tables is automatically divided into Micro-Partitions, which are smallest continuous units of storage.
When a database object is cloned, Snowflake creates new metadata information pointing the micro-partitions of the original source object instead of creating copies of existing micro-partitions.
Creates copies of database objects without actually copying the data. Hence the name Zero Copy Cloning.
However, rows can then be added, deleted, or updated in the clone independently from the original table.
Objects supported for Cloning:
Data Containment Objects like Databases, Schemas, Tables and Streams
Data Configuration and Transformation Objects like Stages, File Formats, Sequences and Tasks