SNOW-CSA Database Administration and CMDB Practice Question
An administrator wants to improve the performance of a report that aggregates data from a large custom table. Which database administration technique is most effective?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse a database view (Option B) with a materialized view or pre-aggregated table, but ServiceNow does not support materialized views, so a standard view provides no performance benefit for aggregation.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use a glide aggregate query with a group by clause.
A glide aggregate query with a GROUP BY clause is the most effective technique because it offloads the aggregation work to the database server, reducing the amount of data transferred to the application tier and minimizing processing overhead. This approach leverages the database's native ability to compute sums, counts, or averages directly on the large custom table, which is far more efficient than retrieving all rows and aggregating in memory.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use a glide aggregate query with a group by clause.
Why this is correct
GlideAggregate processes the aggregation efficiently on the server.
- ✗
Create a database view that pre-aggregates the data.
Why it's wrong here
Views are static and may become stale.
- ✗
Schedule a job to archive old records.
Why it's wrong here
Archiving reduces size but is not an immediate performance fix.
- ✗
Add an index on the table's sys_updated_by field.
Why it's wrong here
Indexing a seldom-used field does not improve aggregate queries.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SNOW-CSA practice question is part of Courseiva's free ServiceNow certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SNOW-CSA exam.