The correct answer is B because the compilation time is the time it takes for the optimizer to create an optimal query plan for the efficient execution of the query. The compilation time depends on the complexity of the query, such as the number of tables, columns, joins, filters, aggregations, subqueries, etc. The more complex the query, the longer it takes to compile.
Option A is incorrect because the query processing time is not affected by the size of the dataset, but by the size of the virtual warehouse. Snowflake automatically scales the compute resources to match the data volume and parallelizes the query execution. The size of the dataset may affect the execution time, but not the compilation time.
Option C is incorrect because the query queue time is not part of the compilation time or the execution time. It is a separate metric that indicates how long the query waits for a warehouse slot before it starts running. The query queue time depends on the warehouse load, concurrency, and priority settings.
Option D is incorrect because the query remote IO time is not part of the compilation time or the execution time. It is a separate metric that indicates how long the query spends reading data from remote storage, such as S3 or Azure Blob Storage. The query remote IO time depends on the network latency, bandwidth, and caching efficiency. References:
Understanding Why Compilation Time in Snowflake Can Be Higher than Execution Time: This article explains why the total duration (compilation + execution) time is an essential metric to measure query performance in Snowflake. It discusses the reasons for the long compilation time, including query complexity and the number of tables and columns.
Exploring Execution Times: This document explains how to examine the past performance of queries and tasks using Snowsight or by writing queries against views in the ACCOUNT_USAGE schema. It also describes the different metrics and dimensions that affect query performance, such as duration, compilation, execution, queue, and remote IO time.
What is the “compilation time” and how to optimize it?: This community post provides some tips and best practices on how to reduce the compilation time, such as simplifying the query logic, using views or common table expressions, and avoiding unnecessary columns or joins.
