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Data & Analytics · Advanced

Spilling

Writing intermediate query data to local disk, or remote cloud storage, when warehouse or executor memory is insufficient.

Definition

Spilling slows queries significantly, and remote spilling is worse than local. Fixes include a larger Snowflake warehouse, reducing data processed, or in Spark, adjusting partitions and executor memory.

Exam tip

In Snowflake, remote spilling is the clearest signal that the warehouse should be scaled up.

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