Snowflake SnowPro Certification Practice Test

What action occurs when the auto_suspend timer expires?

1. The warehouse is scaled up

2. The warehouse is disabled

3. The warehouse is suspended

4. The warehouse is restarted

The correct answer is: The warehouse is suspended

When the auto_suspend timer expires, the warehouse is suspended. This is designed as a cost-saving feature in Snowflake architecture. When a warehouse is not actively processing queries, the auto_suspend functionality allows it to be automatically suspended after a specified period of inactivity. This helps to reduce costs by stopping the compute resources associated with that warehouse, which are billed based on usage. This means that any further queries made to that warehouse would result in an error unless the warehouse is explicitly resumed. The auto_suspend feature is essential for managing resources efficiently, particularly in scenarios where the demand for compute resources varies throughout the day. Thus, suspending the warehouse when it's not needed prevents unnecessary expenditure for compute time.