Snowflake Load history

Question

I have found 4 ways to see the load history in Snowflake:

SELECT * from "SNOWFLAKE"."ACCOUNT_USAGE"."COPY_HISTORY"

SELECT * FROM "SNOWFLAKE"."INFORMATION_SCHEMA"."LOAD_HISTORY"

SELECT * from "SNOWFLAKE"."ACCOUNT_USAGE"."LOAD_HISTORY"

SELECT * FROM "DATABASE_NAME"."INFORMATION_SCHEMA"."LOAD_HISTORY"

What are the differences between these and when should each be used (or not used) ?

Answer 1

Load History vs Copy History: 7 differences

Differences １ and 2: views vs table function and Account Usage vs information Schema

Here things get little confusing, bare with me, there are two Load History views, a view that belongs to Information Schema and a view that belongs to Account Usage schema. As for Copy History, there are Copy History table function of Information schema and a Copy History view of Account Usage schema.

Information Schema	Account Usage
Load History View	Load History View
Copy History Table Function	Copy History View

Load History of Information Schema example：

use database db_1;

select table_name, last_load_time
  from information_schema.load_history
  where schema_name = current_schema() and
  table_name='TABLE_1';

Load History of Account Usage example：

use database db_1;

select table_name, last_load_time
  from snowflake.account_usage.load_history
  where schema_name = current_schema() and
  table_name='TABLE_1';

Copy History view example:

select table_name, last_load_time
from snowflake.account_usage.copy_history
  where schema_name = current_schema() and
  table_name='TABLE_1';
;

Pay attention the way you query Copy History view and Load History views is almost identical.

Copy History table function example:

select *
from table(
    information_schema.copy_history(
        TABLE_NAME=>'TABLE_1',
        START_TIME=> DATEADD(hours, -1, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP())
        )
    )
;

Difference 3: query syntax and the number of tables that can be specified

If you haven't already noticed, let me clarify that using both Load History and Copy History views you can query load history of more than one table. But with Copy history table function, you are limited to querying load history of a single table at a time. Table name in Copy History table function is required.

Example：

Below query only returns load history of Table_1.

select *
from table(
    information_schema.copy_history(
        TABLE_NAME=>'TABLE_1',
        START_TIME=> DATEADD(hours, -1, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP())
        )
    )
;

Below query returns load history of (up to) 10 tables.

USE DATABASE database_a;

SELECT table_name, last_load_time
  FROM information_schema.load_history
  ORDER BY last_load_time DESC
  LIMIT 10;

Difference 4: Latency

Copy History and Load History views of Account Usage have latency between the latest changes and when those changes are reflected in these views. To be more precises, Copy History view of Account Usage has up to 120 minute latency and Load History view of Account Usage has up to 90 minute latency in most of the cases. But latency might be up to two days if both of the following conditions are met:

• Fewer than 32 DML statements have been added to the given table since it was last updated in COPY_HISTORY/LOAD_HISTORY.

• Fewer than 100 rows have been added to the given table since it was last updated in COPY_HISTORY/LOAD_HISTORY.

As for Load History view of Information Schema and Copy History table function there is no latency.

Source	Latency of Data
Copy History view	usually 120 minutes (up to 2 days)
Load History view of Account Usage	usually 90 minutes (up to 2 days)
Load History view of Information Schema	No latency
Copy History table function	No latency

If you need latest data with no latency, you had better use either Load History view of Information Schema or Copy History table function.

Difference 5: Retention Period

Load History view of Information Schema and Copy History table function retains historic data for 14 days. Copy History view and Load History view of Account Usage retain historic data for 1 year (365 days).

Source	Data Retention
Copy History view	365 days
Load History view of Account Usage	365 days
Load History view of Information Schema	14 days
Copy History table function	14 days

Difference 6: Tracking the history of data loaded using Snowpipe

Load History views (of both Information Schema and Account Usage) do NOT return the history of data loaded using Snowpipe, it only returns the history of data lated using COPY INTO command. While both Copy History table function and view return the history of data loaded using Snowpipe and Copy INTO command.

Snowpipe is used in continuous loading.

Snowpipe enables loading data from files as soon as they’re available in a stage.

Source	Load history type
Copy History view	COPY INTO and Snowpipe
Load History view of Account Usage	COPY INTO only
Load History view of Information Schema	COPY INTO only
Copy History table function	COPY INTO and Snowpipe

Difference 7: the maximum number of rows returned

Load History of Information Schema returns an upper limit of 10,000 rows. Copy History table function, Copy History view and Load History of Account Usage do not have this limit.

---

Summary

As you can see all have distinct features. To quickly grasp the differences among them, you can refer to the below table that summaries all the features of the Load History, Copy History views and Copy History table function.

Differences	Load History	Copy History	Load History	Copy History
View or Table function	view	view	view	table function
Schema they belong to	Account Usage	Account Usage	Information Schema	Information Schema
Multiple tables can be queried	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Data Retention	365 days	365 days	14 days	14 days
Latency	usually 90 minutes (up to 2 days)	usually 120 minutes (up to 2 days)	No latency	No latency
Load history type	COPY INTO only	COPY INTO and Snowpipe	COPY INTO only	COPY INTO and Snowpipe
Maximum number of rows returned	No limit	No limit	10,000	No limit

• I would recommend using Copy History view if you need load history data that is older than 2 days.
• Use Copy history table function if you need load history data of a single table with no latency.
• Use Load History view of Information schema if you need to query load history data of multiple tables with no latency.

Answer 2

> SELECT * from "SNOWFLAKE"."ACCOUNT_USAGE"."COPY_HISTORY"

This is an Account Usage view that is used to query data loading history for the last 365 days, for both batch loading (COPY INTO <table>) and continuous loading (with Snowpipe).
https://docs.snowflake.com/en/sql-reference/account-usage/copy_history.html#copy-history-view

> SELECT * from "SNOWFLAKE"."ACCOUNT_USAGE"."LOAD_HISTORY"

This is also an Account Usage view, but excludes files loaded with Snowpipe. This view may also be subject to latency of up to 90 mins.

> SELECT * FROM "DATABASE_NAME"."INFORMATION_SCHEMA"."LOAD_HISTORY"

This is an Information Schema view that is used to query the history of data loaded into tables using the COPY INTO <table> command within the last 14 days. The view displays one row for each file loaded, does not include data loaded with Snowpipe.

https://docs.snowflake.com/en/sql-reference/info-schema/load_history.html#load-history-view

> SELECT * FROM "SNOWFLAKE"."INFORMATION_SCHEMA"."LOAD_HISTORY"

This is just a specific example of the previous one, but since the Snowflake database is a system defined, shared, read-only database, querying this view probably won't return anything (useful).

Answer 3

The difference between account_usage and information_schema is well-documented here:

https://docs.snowflake.com/en/sql-reference/account-usage.html#differences-between-account-usage-and-information-schema

The key being the amount of history, the latency, and the access control.

The difference between COPY_HISTORY and LOAD_HISTORY is that COPY_HISTORY include SNOWPIPE ingested data, while the LOAD_HISTORY only includes data loaded via a COPY INTO statement.

The last one is the LOAD_HISTORY of the SNOWFLAKE.INFORMATION_SCHEMA. This will most likely be empty as it would reflect the load history of data into that database/schema and since that is a shared database to customers from Snowflake, you won't see anything in there.