How to set up the DBeaver Snowflake Connection? 3 Easy Steps

In an organization, developers work with various database applications like MySQL, Oracle, and SQL Server to implement various ETL operations for storing, processing, and organizing data.

• Consequently, the organizational data is dispersed among multiple Database Management Systems, which are managed by different developers.
• However, it is a tedious process to work with specific data that is extensively scattered over different database systems in an organization. To eliminate such complexities, data analysts use Database Management Tools like DBeaver, which administer and manage overall data present across various database applications. 
• A popular Cloud Data Warehousing platform for handling massive volumes of data is Snowflake.
• You can easily set up the DBeaver Snowflake Connection and simplify your Data Management tasks.
• This Database Administration Tool serves as a SQL client and connects to multiple database applications for working with any specific data.

What is DBeaver?

• DBeaver is an Open-source and Multi-Platform Administration Database Tool that allows you to query data present in various database environments.
• In other words, DBeaver is a SQL client that connects with more than 80 database applications like MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Snowflake, and much more.
• With DBeaver editor, you can easily query data present across various databases using SQL commands. In addition, DBeaver is compatible with any external database application that has its own JDBC or ODBC driver. 

What is Snowflake?

Snowflakes offers an On-Demand Pricing feature, which allows you to pay based on the amount of data you store and total computing hours. It provides you with the flexibility to easily set up the ideal computing time limit so that you do not need to pay if the workspace is inactive. 

How to set up the DBeaver Snowflake Connection?

• Step 1: Download and Install DBeaver 
• Step 2: Setting up Snowflake account 
• Step 3: Connecting DBeaver to Snowflake

Pro Tip: Hevo provides native integration with Snowflake, a fully managed, reliable cloud data warehouse to fully automate your data flows. 

Connect Dbeaver to Snowflake Step 1: Download and Install DBeaver

• Step 1: For downloading DBeaver, visit the official DBeaver website and click on the Download button on the Welcome page.
  • Now, you will be redirected to the new page where you can download DBeaver according to your operating system. By clicking on the respective OS, you can download DBeaver to your local machine.

• Step 2: After downloading, follow the setup instructions to complete the installation process. Ensure that you select the check box to include the “Associate, SQL files” option in the “Choose Components” step.

• Step 3: After successfully installing DBeaver, the next step is to set up the application. Open the DBeaver application. You can see a workspace with several options for managing and connecting various database applications.

DBeaver Snowflake Connection Step 2: Setting up Snowflake account

• Step 1: Visit the official Snowflake website to create a new Snowflake account. On the homepage, click on the “Start for free” button. 
• Step 2: On the signup page, you are asked to fill in the user details like name, email id, and organization name. After filling the required fields, click on the Continue button. 
• Step 3: In the next step, you have to select the preferred Snowflake edition. You have three options to choose between Snowflake editions, such as Standard, Enterprise, and Business Critical. If you are a beginner, you can start with the standard edition. Else, you can choose between other editions based on your business requirements.
• Step 4: Then, you have to choose the respective cloud. Snowflake allows you to choose between the most popular cloud service providers like AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure.
• Step 5: Select your preferred cloud service provider and choose the respective cloud region.
• Step 6: After filling in the required details, click on the “Get Started” button. You will get a confirmation email to verify and activate your Snowflake account. 
• Step 7: By clicking on the activation link sent to the registered email, you will be redirected to the sign-in page of Snowflake. As you sign in for the first time, you are asked to set the username and password.
• Step 8: Set an appropriate username and password to sign in with Snowflake. On signing in with Snowflake, you will be redirected to the new web interface or web-based GUI(Graphical User Interface) tool that helps you implement various SQL queries to process data. 

• Step 9: With Snowflake, you can connect with external applications, explore warehouses and databases, view query history, and safely share data with external resources. If you have connected Snowflake with other external applications, you have to use the account name of Snowflake to establish a secure connection.

• Step 10: You can find the account name in Snowflake’s web URL. In the URL, the first string that comprises alphabets and numerical elements is the account name of the Snowflake. Besides, you can also find the region where Snowflake is hosted by the cloud service provider.

• Step 11: You can also note the account information from the “Accounts” field in the Snowflake framework.

DBeaver Snowflake Connection Step 3: Connecting DBeaver to Snowflake

• Usually, developers use the web interface of Snowflake that serves as an interactive GUI tool to write SQL commands or queries for working with data.
• However, you can also connect external tools like Command Line Interface, JDBC drivers, ODBC drivers, and Node js drivers with the Snowflake database. On embedding such tools, you can run SQL commands to query data present in the Snowflake database directly from any respective external application that supports driver or CLI connectivity.
• The simplest way to connect DBeaver and Snowflake is by using a JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) driver.
• JDBC driver is a software component written in Java, allowing Java applications to interact or communicate with external database servers.
• Since DBeaver is a Java-based application, you will use JDBC drivers to connect with external database applications like Snowflake. 
• In the below steps, you will learn how to set up the DBeaver Snowflake Connection for running SQL queries. 

• Step 1: To establish the DBeaver Snowflake Connection, open the DBeaver Editor. In a DBeaver workspace, click on the Database menu and select the “New database connection option”. 

• Step 2: DBeaver opens a new dialog box where you can see various database applications like PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle, MySQL, and more. From that list, scroll down and select Snowflake. You can also use the search bar to find the Snowflake icon. After selecting the respective database application, click on the “Next” button.

• Step 3: Now, you are directed to the “Snowflake Connection Settings” dialogue box. There you are prompted to fill in the DBeaver Snowflake connection details. In the Host field, copy the account string from your web URL of Snowflake. 

• Step 4: In the Database field, it has the default name as Test_DB. However, you can also provide any name to your database according to your preferences. 
• Step 5: Then, you fill in the security details. Provide your Snowflake’s username and password in the Username and Password field. After entering the details, click on the “Test Connection” button.

• Step 6: Now, a new dialogue box will appear where you can download the driver files for connecting DBeaver to Snowflake. Click on the “Download” button to download the JDBC driver.

• Step 7: After the downloading completes, you will get a confirmation, as shown in the above image. Click on the “Ok” button in the Connection Test dialog box.
• Step 8: Then, click on the “Finish” button in the Snowflake Connection Settings dialog box. After completing the DBeaver Snowflake connection configuration steps, you can find the Snowflake database in the “Database Navigator” panel of DBeaver UI or workspace. Using the SQL editor tool in DBeaver, you can execute SQL commands on the Snowflake database to check whether the DBeaver Snowflake connection is established properly.

Conclusion 

1. In this article, you have learned about DBeaver, Snowflake, how to install and set up the DBeaver Snowflake Connection using the JDBC driver.
2. However, you can also use other drivers like ODBC to set up DBeaver Snowflake Connection.
3. DBeaver acts as SQL Client allowing you to easily manage, maintain and query data from your Snowflake Data Warehouse.
4. DBeaver enables you to work with a broader range of datasets as it completely supports Structured & Unstructured Data stored in both Relational and Non-Relational Databases.

FAQ on DBeaver Snowflake Connection