COF-C03 - Snowflake AI Data Cloud Features and Architecture - Section 1.1

Describe the three-layer Snowflake architecture of database storage, query processing, and cloud services, and how the layers scale independently.

Explain the three layers of the Snowflake architecture: centralised database storage, the multi-cluster compute (query processing) layer made of virtual warehouses, and the cloud services layer that coordinates authentication, metadata, optimisation, and security. Recognise that storage and compute scale and are billed independently, and how this differs from shared-disk and shared-nothing designs.

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