DEA-C02 Performance Optimization Practice Question
A warehouse is being used for both ETL processes and ad-hoc BI reporting. Users report that BI reports are slow during ETL runs. What is the best optimization?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates frequently suggest modifying warehouse scaling policies or query timeouts instead of the simplest architectural fix for workload contention: separation.
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
✓
Separate workloads into two distinct warehouses.
The most effective way to address contention between different workload types is to isolate them into separate virtual warehouses. ETL processes are typically compute-intensive, while BI reporting requires low latency. By separating these into two warehouses, the ETL process cannot starve the BI reports of resources, and you can size each warehouse appropriately for its specific task, ensuring both workloads run efficiently without competing for the same compute resources.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Increase the size of the existing warehouse.
Why it's wrong here
Increasing the size of the shared warehouse might provide more resources, but it does not solve the contention issue. Both workloads would still compete for the same cluster, and a large ETL job would likely still impact the performance of the smaller, latency-sensitive BI queries.
- ✓
Separate workloads into two distinct warehouses.
Why this is correct
Workload isolation is critical in Snowflake. By dedicating one warehouse to ETL and another to BI reporting, you prevent contention. This allows you to optimize each warehouse for its specific workload pattern, ensuring consistent performance for BI users regardless of how heavy the ETL jobs are.
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Use the 'Economy' scaling policy for the warehouse.
Why it's wrong here
The Economy policy is designed to save costs by minimizing the number of clusters. It does nothing to prevent contention between workloads. In fact, it might make the situation worse by forcing all queries to compete on fewer resources, further degrading the performance of the BI reports.
- ✗
Enable search optimization for the BI reporting tables.
Why it's wrong here
While search optimization helps with point-lookups, it is not a solution for warehouse contention. Even with search optimization, if the compute resources are fully occupied by the ETL job, the BI queries will still experience delays. Isolation via separate warehouses is the only way to guarantee performance.
About these practice questions
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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.