Snowflake supports cloning of various objects, such as databases, schemas, tables, stages, file formats, sequences, streams, tasks, and roles. Cloning creates a copy of an existing object in the system without copying the data or metadata. Cloning is also known as zero-copy cloning1.
Among the objects listed in the question, the following ones can be cloned in Snowflake:
Permanent table: A permanent table is a type of table that has a Fail-safe period and a Time Travel retention period of up to 90 days. A permanent table can be cloned using the CREATE TABLE … CLONE command2. Therefore, option A is correct.
Transient table: A transient table is a type of table that does not have a Fail-safe period and can have a Time Travel retention period of either 0 or 1 day. A transient table can also be cloned using the CREATE TABLE … CLONE command2. Therefore, option B is correct.
External table: An external table is a type of table that references data files stored in an external location, such as Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Microsoft Azure Blob Storage. An external table can be cloned using the CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE … CLONE command3. Therefore, option D is correct.
The following objects listed in the question cannot be cloned in Snowflake:
Temporary table: A temporary table is a type of table that is automatically dropped when the session ends or the current user logs out. Temporary tables do not support cloning4. Therefore, option C is incorrect.
Internal stage: An internal stage is a type of stage that is managed by Snowflake and stores files in Snowflake’s internal cloud storage. Internal stages do not support cloning5. Therefore, option E is incorrect.
Cloning Considerations : CREATE TABLE … CLONE : CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE … CLONE : Temporary Tables : Internal Stages
