snowflake-architecture-variants

# Snowflake Architecture Variants ## Overview Three validated architecture blueprints for Snowflake deployments: traditional data warehouse, lakehouse with Iceberg, and data mesh with data sharing. ## Variant A: Traditional Data Warehouse **Best for:** Single team, centralized analytics, < 50 users ``` ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ Snowflake Account │ │ │ │ ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐ │ │ │ Bronze │→ │ Silver │→ Gold │ │ └────────┘ └────────┘ │ │ │ │ ┌─────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Single ETL Warehouse │ │ │ └─────────────────────┘ │ │ │ │ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │ │ │ BI Tools │ │ Analysts │ │ │ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ │ └──────────────────────────────┘ ``` ```sql -- Simple single-account setup CREATE DATABASE DW; CREATE SCHEMA DW.RAW; CREATE SCHEMA DW.CURATED; CREATE SCHEMA DW.ANALYTICS; CREATE WAREHOUSE ETL_WH WAREHOUSE_SIZE = 'MEDIUM' AUTO_SUSPEND = 120; CREATE WAREHOUSE QUERY_WH WAREHOUSE_SIZE = 'SMALL' AUTO_SUSPEND = 60; ``` ## Variant B: Lakehouse with Iceberg Tables **Best for:** Hybrid cloud/on-prem, existing data lake, open table format requirement ``` ┌──────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────┐ │ External Storage │ │ Snowflake Account │ │ (S3/GCS/Azure) │ │ │ │ │ │ ┌────────────────┐ │ │ ┌─────────────┐ │←───→│ │ Iceberg Tables │ │ │ │ Parquet...