How to Connect DBeaver to Snowflake via a JDBC Driver

The CData JDBC Driver for Snowflake implements JDBC standards that enable third-party tools to interoperate, from wizards in IDEs to business intelligence tools. This article shows how to connect to Snowflake data with wizards in DBeaver and browse data in the DBeaver GUI.

Create a JDBC Data Source for Snowflake Data

Follow the steps below to load the driver JAR in DBeaver.

1. Open the DBeaver application and, in the "Database" menu, select the "Driver Manager" option. Click "New" to open the "Create new driver" form.
2. In the Settings tab:
   • Set Driver Name to a user-friendly name for the driver (e.g. CData JDBC Driver for Snowflake).
   • Set Class Name to the class name for the JDBC driver: cdata.jdbc.snowflake.SnowflakeDriver.
   • Set URL Template to jdbc:snowflake:.
3. In the Libraries tab, click "Add File," navigate to the "lib" folder in the installation directory (C:\Program Files\CData[product_name] XXXX\) and select the JAR file (cdata.jdbc.Snowflake.jar).

Create a Connection to Snowflake Data

Follow the steps below to add credentials and other required connection properties.

1. In the "Database" menu, click "New Database Connection."
2. In the "Connect to a database" wizard that results, select the driver you just created (e.g. CData JDBC Driver for Snowflake) and click "Next >."
3. On the Main tab of the configuration wizard, set the JDBC URL, using the required connection properties:

   To connect to Snowflake:

   1. Set User and Password to your Snowflake credentials and set the AuthScheme property to PASSWORD or OKTA.
   2. Set URL to the URL of the Snowflake instance (i.e.: https://myaccount.snowflakecomputing.com).
   3. Set Warehouse to the Snowflake warehouse.
   4. (Optional) Set Account to your Snowflake account if your URL does not conform to the format above.
   5. (Optional) Set Database and Schema to restrict the tables and views exposed.

   See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Snowflake JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.snowflake.jar

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   Below is a typical connection string:

   jdbc:snowflake:User=Admin;Password=test123;Server=localhost;Database=Northwind;Warehouse=TestWarehouse;Account=Tester1;
4. Click "Test Connection ..." to ensure you have configured the connection properly.
5. Click "Finish."

Query Snowflake Data

You can now query information from the tables exposed by the connection: Right-click a Table and then click View Table. The data is available on the Data tab.

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