A Snowflake Administrator wants to create a virtual warehouse that supports several dashboards, issuing various queries on the same database. For this warehouse, why should the Administrator consider setting AUTO_SUSPEND to 0 or NULL?

Setting the AUTOSUSPEND parameter to 0 or NULL disables the automatic suspension of a virtual warehouse. For a workload driven by dashboards, which frequently issue similar or overlapping queries against the same data, this is beneficial. By keeping the warehouse continuously active, the local data cache on the warehouse's SSDs remains "warm." Subsequent queries can then retrieve data from this fast local cache instead of the slower remote cloud storage, significantly improving query performance and user experience on the dashboards.

A. To save costs on warehouse shutdowns and startups for different queries Disabling auto-suspend increases costs because the warehouse runs continuously, consuming credits even when idle. It does not save costs.
B. To save costs by running the warehouse as little as possible This setting achieves the opposite; it ensures the warehouse runs continuously, maximizing its uptime and associated costs, rather than minimizing them.
D. To keep the query result cache warm for good performance on repeated queries The query result cache is a global service in the cloud services layer, not tied to a specific virtual warehouse's state. It persists for 24 hours regardless of whether the warehouse is active or suspended.

1. Snowflake Documentation: Virtual Warehouse Considerations

Section: Overview of Warehouses > Virtual Warehouse Caching

Content: "When a warehouse is suspended

its data cache is dropped... Consequently

we recommend a sufficiently large auto-suspend period... For warehouses that you want to run continuously

you can set the auto-suspend period to 0 or NULL." This directly links continuous operation (disabling auto-suspend) with maintaining the data cache for performance.

2. Snowflake Documentation: CREATE WAREHOUSE

Section: Parameters > AUTOSUSPEND =

Content: "Specifies the number of seconds of inactivity after which a warehouse is automatically suspended... Setting a value of 0 or a NULL value means the warehouse never suspends." This confirms the technical effect of the setting.

3. Snowflake Documentation: Using Cached Results

Section: Result Cache

Content: "The result cache is a service that is available to all virtual warehouses in your account... The result cache is completely separate from the virtual warehouse cache." This reference clarifies that the query result cache (Option D) is independent of the warehouse's active state.