Data security, cost management, and access provisioning are complex tasks that require careful attention on any platform. Failure to restrict access to sensitive data can lead to expensive data breaches and cause huge headaches for an organization.
On Snowflake, managing access with role-based access control (RBAC) ensures that only authorized users can access specific data, but there is still some risk of compromised credentials leading to a breach of data. Separating sensitive data between separate Snowflake accounts can be a more bulletproof method of securing access and reducing the chance of a data breach.
With regards to cost management, combining all data within a single Snowflake account also combines compute and storage costs, making it more difficult to identify and manage expensive users and storage accounts.
With these considerations in mind, splitting data into managed Snowflake accounts underneath an organization is an excellent way to improve both cost tracking and bolster data security without losing the advantages of a single Snowflake account.
In this blog, we will walk you through how Hakkoda’s Snowflake2Snowflake solution makes it easy to migrate Snowflake accounts to new managed accounts using a metadata table-driven method to ensure that no crucial elements are left behind. We’ll also illustrate the security and cost management benefits of this approach with a customer success story.
Snowflake2Snowflake: How Does It Work?
Hakkoda utilizes a metadata-driven approach to ensure that a migration of Snowflake objects gathers and migrates all crucial elements of a Snowflake account. A table hosted on the source account contains details on all desired data to be migrated, all user and network access policies and all other Snowflake objects (warehouses, stages, roles, users).
An initial migration kicks off the migration of all Snowflake data and hands off the movement of data to Snowflake compute. This ensures that data is securely migrated and that the data between the source and the target are kept in sync up until the migration is complete. Additionally, handing the migration off to Snowflake Compute ensures that there can be movement of the data between cloud providers and regions with ease. Since data migration time can vary, Snowflake2Snowflake’s initial migration can run and keep data in sync until a user is ready to migrate the remaining objects and cutover the accounts.
When triggered, the next phase of migration migrates the final objects (users, role, warehouses, stages, network policies and the full permissions network for users and roles) and completes the migration. Upon completion, a validation is run that ensures that all objects scheduled to be migrated were successfully migrated and that data between the source and target are matching.
This process ensures that a migration, regardless of size, can be run at a user’s convenience while still ensuring that all needed objects and data will be safely and securely migrated. This system also enables the migration of different data to be migrated to as many accounts as desired.
Customer Success Story: An Affordable Path to Reducing Downtime and Enhancing Data Security
In one use case, Hakkoda worked with a large healthcare technology organization that was storing 300 different customer accounts with sensitive customer data inside of one singular Snowflake account. This made tracking costs or usage across their customers difficult, but more importantly, it made it difficult to keep that data secure. Hakkoda was therefore asked to assist in splitting the data and objects from these 300 customers into 300 accounts.
The scalability of Snowflake2Snowflake enabled Hakkoda to set up all these migrations and execute them synchronously. This reduced the downtime for customers and created a more smooth migration process for the company. By doing this, the client, dealing with sensitive data, also had a significantly more secure product offering. Additionally, the segmented accounts made it easier to track costs across customers and optimize warehouse sizes or limit usage among customers who were exceeding acceptable usage.
Overall, the ease of implementation, holistic migration and increased data security from this transformation made a large impact for the customer at a relatively low cost.
A Holistic Approach to Data Security and Cost Management
The paramount importance of data security in today’s digital landscape cannot be overstated, and Snowflake2Snowflake stands as a robust guardian of sensitive information. By implementing advanced encryption protocols and adhering to best practices in data protection, the tool ensures that the integrity and confidentiality of the migrated data remain uncompromised. This heightened security framework not only aligns with industry standards but also offers organizations the peace of mind necessary to navigate the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape.
Moreover, Snowflake2Snowflake introduces a valuable dimension to data management by enabling meticulous cost tracking across different accounts. In a landscape where financial prudence is paramount, the ability to monitor and allocate costs accurately is a game-changer. The tool’s intuitive interface and comprehensive reporting mechanisms empower users to analyze and optimize their expenditures, fostering a more transparent and accountable approach to resource allocation within the Snowflake platform.
Snowflake2Snowflake provides an innovative and efficient means for businesses to seamlessly transfer their data within the Snowflake ecosystem while prioritizing both data security and financial stewardship.
Going Beyond Snowflake Migrations with Hakkōda
In an industry like healthcare, where data is notoriously complex and strictly regulated, a rigorous data security and management framework is both non-negotiable and monumentally challenging to implement—especially while working within equally notorious budgetary constraints.
Innovative tools like Hakkoda’s Snowflake2Snowflake approach are instrumental for driving successful migrations to the cloud while navigating these significant obstacles. Not only does Snowflake2Snowflake streamline the migration process, it also establishes itself as an indispensable ally in safeguarding sensitive information and optimizing resource utilization. Snowflake2Snowflake paves the way for a smoother transition as customers retire their legacy tech debts while also laying the foundation for a more secure and cost-conscious data ecosystem within the end state Snowflake environment.
Hakkoda’s healthcare teams build solutions like Snowflake2Snowflake because we understand the challenges and blockers healthcare data leaders face. Our industry veterans come from some of the world’s biggest payers and providers, and marry their experience in the space with top-tier data expertise that spans the modern data stack to build strategies and practical solutions that empower healthcare providers to get more out of their data technology investments.
Ready to learn how solutions like Hakkoda’s Snowflake2Snowflake approach can help your organization overcome its greatest data challenges? Let’s talk.
