DEA-C02 Storage and Data Protection Practice Question
A data engineer maintains a transient table named RAW_EVENTS in a Snowflake Enterprise Edition account. The table currently has DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS set to 1. The engineer attempts to run ALTER TABLE RAW_EVENTS SET DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS = 14; and the statement fails. What is the reason for the failure?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that a higher account edition raises the Time Travel limit for every table type, when transient tables remain capped at 1 day.
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
✓
Transient tables support a maximum Time Travel retention of 1 day, so 14 days exceeds the allowed limit.
Transient tables are designed for data that does not require long recovery windows, so Snowflake caps their Time Travel retention at 1 day. Attempting to set 14 days violates that cap and the ALTER statement fails. Permanent tables, by contrast, can go up to 90 days on Enterprise Edition, which is the distinction the engineer is missing.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The account is on Enterprise Edition, which limits Time Travel to 1 day for all table types.
Why it's wrong here
Enterprise Edition actually permits Time Travel retention up to 90 days for permanent tables, so the edition is not the limiting factor. The restriction being hit here comes from the transient table type itself, not from the account edition. Blaming the edition misidentifies the actual constraint that caused the ALTER to fail.
- ✗
Time Travel retention can only be increased during the table creation statement, not with ALTER TABLE.
Why it's wrong here
ALTER TABLE ... SET DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS is a valid and supported way to change retention on existing tables, provided the target value is allowed for that table type. The failure is not because ALTER is unsupported; it is because the requested value violates the transient table limit. This option misstates the capabilities of ALTER TABLE.
- ✓
Transient tables support a maximum Time Travel retention of 1 day, so 14 days exceeds the allowed limit.
Why this is correct
Transient tables are capped at a maximum Time Travel retention of 1 day regardless of account edition. Setting 14 days exceeds that ceiling, so the statement is rejected. The 1-day value is the only valid nonzero retention for transient objects, which is why the attempt to extend it fails in this scenario.
- ✗
The table must be cloned before its retention period can be modified beyond the default.
Why it's wrong here
Cloning has no bearing on whether a table's retention can be altered. Clones inherit retention characteristics but do not unlock higher retention values for the source table. The engineer's problem is the transient table's 1-day maximum, not a missing clone step, so this reasoning does not explain the failure.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Snowflake exam blueprint
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