Warehouses and Lakes
Warehouses and Lakes

How to load data from Snowflake to Redshift

Learn how to use Airbyte to synchronize your Snowflake data into Redshift within minutes.

TL;DR

This can be done by building a data pipeline manually, usually a Python script (you can leverage a tool as Apache Airflow for this). This process can take more than a full week of development. Or it can be done in minutes on Airbyte in three easy steps:

  1. set up Snowflake as a source connector (using Auth, or usually an API key)
  2. set up Redshift as a destination connector
  3. define which data you want to transfer and how frequently

You can choose to self-host the pipeline using Airbyte Open Source or have it managed for you with Airbyte Cloud.

This tutorial’s purpose is to show you how.

What is Snowflake

Snowflake Data Cloud is a cloud-based data warehousing and analytics platform that allows organizations to store, manage, and analyze large amounts of data in a secure and scalable manner. It provides a single, integrated platform for data storage, processing, and analysis, eliminating the need for multiple tools and systems. Snowflake Data Cloud is built on a unique architecture that separates compute and storage, allowing users to scale up or down as needed without affecting performance. It also offers a range of features such as data sharing, data governance, and machine learning capabilities, making it a comprehensive solution for modern data management and analytics.

What is Redshift

A fully managed data warehouse service in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, Amazon Redshift is designed for storage and analysis of large-scale datasets. Redshift allows businesses to scale from a few hundred gigabytes to more than a petabyte (a million gigabytes), and utilizes ML techniques to analyze queries, offering businesses new insights from their data. Users can query and combine exabytes of data using standard SQL, and easily save their query results to their S3 data lake.

Integrate Snowflake with Redshift in minutes

Try for free now

Prerequisites

  1. A Snowflake account to transfer your customer data automatically from.
  2. A Redshift account.
  3. An active Airbyte Cloud account, or you can also choose to use Airbyte Open Source locally. You can follow the instructions to set up Airbyte on your system using docker-compose.

Airbyte is an open-source data integration platform that consolidates and streamlines the process of extracting and loading data from multiple data sources to data warehouses. It offers pre-built connectors, including Snowflake and Redshift, for seamless data migration.

When using Airbyte to move data from Snowflake to Redshift, it extracts data from Snowflake using the source connector, converts it into a format Redshift can ingest using the provided schema, and then loads it into Redshift via the destination connector. This allows businesses to leverage their Snowflake data for advanced analytics and insights within Redshift, simplifying the ETL process and saving significant time and resources.

Step 1: Set up Snowflake as a source connector

1. First, you need to have a Snowflake Data Cloud account and the necessary credentials to access it.

2. Once you have the credentials, go to the Airbyte dashboard and click on "Sources" on the left-hand side of the screen.

3. Click on the "Create a new source" button and select "Snowflake Data Cloud" from the list of available sources.

4. Enter a name for your Snowflake Data Cloud source and click on "Next".

5. In the "Connection" tab, enter the following information:  
- Account name: the name of your Snowflake account  
- Username: your Snowflake username  
- Password: your Snowflake password  
- Warehouse: the name of the warehouse you want to use  
- Database: the name of the database you want to use  
- Schema: the name of the schema you want to use

6. Click on "Test connection" to make sure that the connection is successful.

7. If the connection is successful, click on "Next" to proceed to the "Configuration" tab.

8. In the "Configuration" tab, select the tables or views that you want to replicate and configure any necessary settings.

9. Click on "Create source" to save your Snowflake Data Cloud source and start replicating data.

Step 2: Set up Redshift as a destination connector

1. First, log in to your Airbyte account and navigate to the "Destinations" tab on the left-hand side of the screen.
2. Click on the "Add Destination" button and select "Redshift" from the list of available connectors.
3. Enter your Redshift database credentials, including the host, port, database name, username, and password.
4. Choose the schema you want to use for your data in Redshift.
5. Select the tables you want to sync from your source connector to Redshift.
6. Map the fields from your source connector to the corresponding fields in Redshift.
7. Choose the sync mode you want to use, either "append" or "replace."
8. Set up any additional options or filters you want to use for your sync.
9. Test your connection to ensure that your data is syncing correctly.
10. Once you are satisfied with your settings, save your configuration and start your sync.

Step 3: Set up a connection to sync your Snowflake data to Redshift

Once you've successfully connected Snowflake as a data source and Redshift as a destination in Airbyte, you can set up a data pipeline between them with the following steps:

  1. Create a new connection: On the Airbyte dashboard, navigate to the 'Connections' tab and click the '+ New Connection' button.
  2. Choose your source: Select Snowflake from the dropdown list of your configured sources.
  3. Select your destination: Choose Redshift from the dropdown list of your configured destinations.
  4. Configure your sync: Define the frequency of your data syncs based on your business needs. Airbyte allows both manual and automatic scheduling for your data refreshes.
  5. Select the data to sync: Choose the specific Snowflake objects you want to import data from towards Redshift. You can sync all data or select specific tables and fields.
  6. Select the sync mode for your streams: Choose between full refreshes or incremental syncs (with deduplication if you want), and this for all streams or at the stream level. Incremental is only available for streams that have a primary cursor.
  7. Test your connection: Click the 'Test Connection' button to make sure that your setup works. If the connection test is successful, save your configuration.
  8. Start the sync: If the test passes, click 'Set Up Connection'. Airbyte will start moving data from Snowflake to Redshift according to your settings.

Remember, Airbyte keeps your data in sync at the frequency you determine, ensuring your Redshift data warehouse is always up-to-date with your Snowflake data.

Use Cases to transfer your Snowflake data to Redshift

Integrating data from Snowflake to Redshift provides several benefits. Here are a few use cases:

  1. Advanced Analytics: Redshift’s powerful data processing capabilities enable you to perform complex queries and data analysis on your Snowflake data, extracting insights that wouldn't be possible within Snowflake alone.
  2. Data Consolidation: If you're using multiple other sources along with Snowflake, syncing to Redshift allows you to centralize your data for a holistic view of your operations, and to set up a change data capture process so you never have any discrepancies in your data again.
  3. Historical Data Analysis: Snowflake has limits on historical data. Syncing data to Redshift allows for long-term data retention and analysis of historical trends over time.
  4. Data Security and Compliance: Redshift provides robust data security features. Syncing Snowflake data to Redshift ensures your data is secured and allows for advanced data governance and compliance management.
  5. Scalability: Redshift can handle large volumes of data without affecting performance, providing an ideal solution for growing businesses with expanding Snowflake data.
  6. Data Science and Machine Learning: By having Snowflake data in Redshift, you can apply machine learning models to your data for predictive analytics, customer segmentation, and more.
  7. Reporting and Visualization: While Snowflake provides reporting tools, data visualization tools like Tableau, PowerBI, Looker (Google Data Studio) can connect to Redshift, providing more advanced business intelligence options. If you have a Snowflake table that needs to be converted to a Redshift table, Airbyte can do that automatically.

Wrapping Up

To summarize, this tutorial has shown you how to:

  1. Configure a Snowflake account as an Airbyte data source connector.
  2. Configure Redshift as a data destination connector.
  3. Create an Airbyte data pipeline that will automatically be moving data directly from Snowflake to Redshift after you set a schedule

With Airbyte, creating data pipelines take minutes, and the data integration possibilities are endless. Airbyte supports the largest catalog of API tools, databases, and files, among other sources. Airbyte's connectors are open-source, so you can add any custom objects to the connector, or even build a new connector from scratch without any local dev environment or any data engineer within 10 minutes with the no-code connector builder.

We look forward to seeing you make use of it! We invite you to join the conversation on our community Slack Channel, or sign up for our newsletter. You should also check out other Airbyte tutorials, and Airbyte’s content hub!

What should you do next?

Hope you enjoyed the reading. Here are the 3 ways we can help you in your data journey:

flag icon
Easily address your data movement needs with Airbyte Cloud
Take the first step towards extensible data movement infrastructure that will give a ton of time back to your data team. 
Get started with Airbyte for free
high five icon
Talk to a data infrastructure expert
Get a free consultation with an Airbyte expert to significantly improve your data movement infrastructure. 
Talk to sales
stars sparkling
Improve your data infrastructure knowledge
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and get the community’s new enlightening content along with Airbyte’s progress in their mission to solve data integration once and for all.
Subscribe to newsletter

Connectors Used

What should you do next?

Hope you enjoyed the reading. Here are the 3 ways we can help you in your data journey:

flag icon
Easily address your data movement needs with Airbyte Cloud
Take the first step towards extensible data movement infrastructure that will give a ton of time back to your data team. 
Get started with Airbyte for free
high five icon
Talk to a data infrastructure expert
Get a free consultation with an Airbyte expert to significantly improve your data movement infrastructure. 
Talk to sales
stars sparkling
Improve your data infrastructure knowledge
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and get the community’s new enlightening content along with Airbyte’s progress in their mission to solve data integration once and for all.
Subscribe to newsletter

Connectors Used

Frequently Asked Questions

What data can you extract from Snowflake?

Snowflake Data Cloud provides access to a wide range of data types, including:

1. Structured Data: This includes data that is organized in a specific format, such as tables, columns, and rows. Examples of structured data include customer information, financial data, and inventory records.
2. Semi-Structured Data: This type of data is partially organized and may not fit into a traditional relational database structure. Examples of semi-structured data include JSON, XML, and CSV files.
3. Unstructured Data: This includes data that does not have a specific format or organization, such as text documents, images, and videos.
4. Time-Series Data: This type of data is organized based on time stamps and is commonly used in industries such as finance, healthcare, and manufacturing.
5. Geospatial Data: This includes data that is related to geographic locations, such as maps, GPS coordinates, and satellite imagery.
6. Machine Learning Data: This type of data is used to train machine learning models and includes features and labels that are used to predict outcomes.

Overall, Snowflake Data Cloud provides access to a wide range of data types, making it a versatile tool for data analysis and management.

What data can you transfer to Redshift?

You can transfer a wide variety of data to Redshift. This usually includes structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data like transaction records, log files, JSON data, CSV files, and more, allowing robust, scalable data integration and analysis.

What are top ETL tools to transfer data from Snowflake to Redshift?

The most prominent ETL tools to transfer data from Snowflake to Redshift include:

  • Airbyte
  • Fivetran
  • Stitch
  • Matillion
  • Talend Data Integration

These tools help in extracting data from Snowflake and various sources (APIs, databases, and more), transforming it efficiently, and loading it into Redshift and other databases, data warehouses and data lakes, enhancing data management capabilities.