DEA-C02 Storage and Data Protection Practice Question
A data engineer needs to move a large volume of archived data from an on-premises system into a Snowflake internal stage and then load it into a permanent table. The data must be protected against accidental deletion for at least 30 days. The account is Snowflake Enterprise Edition. Which configuration best meets these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming Fail-safe can extend short Time Travel retention to reach 30 days; Fail-safe is a fixed 7-day layer that starts after Time Travel expires and cannot be configured or used self-service.
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
✓
Create a permanent table and set DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS to 30.
A permanent table on Enterprise Edition can be configured with up to 90 days of Time Travel, so setting 30 days meets the protection requirement directly. Transient and temporary tables cap retention at 1 day, and relying on Fail-safe alone yields only a fixed 7-day window that requires Support intervention. Only the permanent table with 30-day retention satisfies the requirement.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create a transient table and set DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS to 30.
Why it's wrong here
Transient tables cannot have a retention period longer than 1 day, so setting it to 30 is not permitted. Snowflake would reject or clamp the value. Even though the engineer wants 30-day protection, the transient table type makes that impossible, so this configuration cannot satisfy the requirement and would leave the data under-protected.
- ✓
Create a permanent table and set DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS to 30.
Why this is correct
On Enterprise Edition, permanent tables support DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS up to 90, so 30 is valid and provides the required 30-day Time Travel window for recovery from accidental deletions or modifications. After Time Travel expires, the table also benefits from the 7-day Fail-safe period, adding further protection. This configuration directly satisfies the stated requirement.
- ✗
Create a permanent table and rely on the default 1-day retention, since Fail-safe will cover the remaining 29 days.
Why it's wrong here
Fail-safe is a fixed 7-day period that begins only after Time Travel expires, so 1 day of Time Travel plus 7 days of Fail-safe yields at most 8 days of protection, not 30. Fail-safe also requires Snowflake Support to recover, so it is not a self-service substitute for a longer Time Travel window. This configuration falls well short of the 30-day requirement.
- ✗
Create a temporary table and set DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS to 30.
Why it's wrong here
Temporary tables are session-scoped and are dropped when the session ends, so they cannot serve as a durable repository for archived data. Their Time Travel retention is also capped at 1 day, making a 30-day setting invalid. This option fails both the durability and the retention requirements and is unsuitable for archived data that must persist.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every DEA-C02 question from scratch — 229 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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
This DEA-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Snowflake 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 DEA-C02 exam.