Egress PrivateLink Endpoint Setup: Snowflake on AWS for Confluent Cloud

This topic presents the steps for configuring the Snowflake Sink connector in Confluent Cloud with AWS PrivateLink and Egress PrivateLink Endpoint.

Confluent Cloud is available through AWS Marketplace or directly from Confluent.

Prerequisites

The following is a list of prerequisites for configuring the Snowflake Sink connector with an Egress PrivateLink Endpoint:

• A Confluent Cloud Dedicated cluster was set up and is running within an AWS PrivateLink network.
• A source topic was created to sink data into the Snowflake database.
• Snowflake instance was created to sink data into and is running within the same region and cloud as the Confluent Cloud cluster.
• A database and a schema were created in Snowflake to sink data into.
• Snowflake imposes restrictions on which DNS hostnames can be used to connect. Be sure to use the hostnames mentioned in AWS PrivateLink and Snowflake.

Note

For added security, you can set up a Network rule within Snowflake to restrict incoming traffic to the specific VPC Endpoint setup as part of Egress PrivateLink Endpoints.

Step 1. Create a gateway in Confluent Cloud (for Enterprise cluster only)

If using an Enterprise cluster in Confluent Cloud, you must set up a gateway in Confluent Cloud as described in Create a gateway for outbound connectivity in Confluent Cloud.

Step 2. Request Snowflake to allowlist Confluent’s AWS account

1. In the Confluent Cloud Console, go to Environment → Network, and select the associated Privatelink network you want to use.

2. In the Egress PrivateLink Endpoints tab, make note of Confluent’s AWS Account ID associated with the PrivateLink Endpoint.

   

3. Open a support case with Snowflake with the following information to request that Confluent’s AWS Account ID be allowlisted for private connectivity.

   • Your Snowflake Account URL.
   • Confluent’s AWS Account ID associated with the Egress PrivateLink Endpoint. You retrieved this in the previous step.

4. Wait to receive confirmation from Snowflake that Confluent’s AWS Account ID has been allowlisted before proceeding.

Step 3. Obtain the Snowflake Private Link Service ID

To obtain the Service ID associated with your Snowflake instance, execute the following statement from within your Snowflake account and make note of the value of privatelink-vpce-id:

USE ROLE ACCOUNTADMIN;

SELECT KEY, VALUE::VARCHAR VPCE_SERVICE_ID

FROM TABLE(FLATTEN(INPUT=>PARSE_JSON(SYSTEM$GET_PRIVATELINK_CONFIG())))
WHERE KEY = 'privatelink-vpce-id';

Step 4. Create an Egress PrivateLink Endpoint

1. In the Network Management tab of the desired Confluent Cloud environment, click the Confluent Cloud network you want to add the PrivateLink Endpoint to. The Connection Type of the network needs to be “PrivateLink Access”.

2. Click Create endpoint in the Egress connections tab.

3. Click the service you want to connect to, specifically, Snowflake.

4. Follow the guided steps to specify the field values, including:

   • Name: Name of the PrivateLink Endpoint.

   • PrivateLink service name: The name of the PrivateLink service you retrieved in Obtain AWS PrivateLink Service name.

   • Create an endpoint with high availability: Check the box if you wish to deploy an endpoint with High Availability.

     Endpoints deployed with high availability have network interfaces deployed in multiple availability zones.

5. Click Create to create the PrivateLink Endpoint.

6. If there are additional steps for the specific target service, follow the prompt to complete the tasks, and then click Finish.

Step 5. Create a DNS record

1. When the PrivateLink Endpoint status transitions to “Ready”, in the DNS tab, click Create record on the associated PrivateLink Endpoint.

   

2. Specify the following, and click Save.

   • Endpoint: Select the PrivateLink Endpoint you created above.
   • Domain: privatelink.snowflakecomputing.com
   

Step 6. Create the Snowflake Sink connector

1. Specify the authentication details for Snowflake.

   For the Connection URL, specify Snowflake’s private endpoint URL (https://<org_name>-<account_name>.privatelink.snowflakecomputing.com).

   

2. Follow the steps to create the sink connector in Confluent Cloud.