Scaling AI Workload Permissions with Snowflake Roles

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To scale AI workload permissions with Snowflake roles using Pulumi, you will need to define roles, assign permissions to these roles for various Snowflake objects (like databases and schemas), and then grant those roles to users or other roles. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to achieve this, along with a Pulumi program in Python that demonstrates how to create and manage roles and permissions in Snowflake.

### Understanding Snowflake Resources and Permissions

In Snowflake, a **Role** is a collection of privileges that can be assigned to users or other roles. Permissions in Snowflake cover a range of operations and objects, such as databases, schemas, and warehouses.

The main resources related to roles and permissions in Snowflake are:
- `snowflake.Role`: This resource is used to create a new role within Snowflake.
- `snowflake.DatabaseGrant`: This resource grants privileges on a database to a specified role.
- `snowflake.SchemaGrant`: Grants privileges on a schema to a role.
- `snowflake.RoleGrants`: Grants a role to users or other roles.

When scaling AI workloads, you will typically create roles that reflect the different responsibilities and access levels required by your team (e.g., Data Engineers, Data Scientists, Analysts). These roles can then be given specific permissions such as `USAGE`, `SELECT`, or `MODIFY` on databases, schemas, and other Snowflake objects.

Below is a Pulumi program that creates a role named `ai_data_scientist` and grants it `USAGE` and `SELECT` privileges on a database called `ai_workloads` and its `analytics` schema.

```python
import pulumi
import pulumi_snowflake as snowflake

# Create a role specifically for your AI data scientist team
ai_data_scientist_role = snowflake.Role("aiDataScientistRole",
    name="AI_DATA_SCIENTIST"
)

# Grant USAGE privilege on a database to the AI_DATA_SCIENTIST role
ai_database_usage_grant = snowflake.DatabaseGrant("aiDatabaseUsageGrant",
    database_name="AI_WORKLOADS",
    roles=["AI_DATA_SCIENTIST"],
    privilege="USAGE"
)

# Grant USAGE and SELECT privileges on a schema to AI_DATA_SCIENTIST role
ai_schema_usage_grant = snowflake.SchemaGrant("aiSchemaUsageGrant",
    database_name="AI_WORKLOADS",
    schema_name="analytics",
    roles=["AI_DATA_SCIENTIST"],
    privilege="USAGE"
)

ai_schema_select_grant = snowflake.SchemaGrant("aiSchemaSelectGrant",
    database_name="AI_WORKLOADS",
    schema_name="analytics",
    roles=["AI_DATA_SCIENTIST"],
    privilege="SELECT"
)

# Export the name of the AI data scientist role
pulumi.export("ai_data_scientist_role_name", ai_data_scientist_role.name)
```

### How the Program Works

1. We use the `snowflake.Role` class to create a new role named `AI_DATA_SCIENTIST`.
2. With `snowflake.DatabaseGrant`, we grant `USAGE` permission on a database called `AI_WORKLOADS` to our `AI_DATA_SCIENTIST` role. This allows the role to access the database.
3. We also grant `USAGE` and `SELECT` privileges on the `analytics` schema within the `AI_WORKLOADS` database to our `AI_DATA_SCIENTIST` role using the `snowflake.SchemaGrant` class.
4. Finally, we export the name of the role, which can be useful for reference in other parts of your infrastructure as code or in CI/CD pipelines.

### Why Use Pulumi for Snowflake Role Management

Pulumi allows you to manage your Snowflake permissions in a declarative way, as code, which fits well within Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices. It promotes collaboration, versioning, and automated deployment, which is especially useful for scaling cloud environments and complex data workloads. With Pulumi, you can easily replicate your environments, track changes to permissions, and integrate the setup into your continuous integration and deployment workflows.

Please note that to run this program, you need to have the Pulumi CLI installed and configured with Snowflake credentials. Additionally, make sure to replace the resource names and privileges according to your specific requirements and Snowflake environment.