How to Resolve Snowflake Connection Timeout in PostgreSQL

Galaxy Glossary

How do I fix a Snowflake connection timeout?

A Snowflake connection timeout occurs when the client cannot establish or maintain a session within the allotted time; adjust driver parameters and network settings to prevent it.

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Description

What does a Snowflake connection timeout mean?

A timeout signals that the client failed to connect to Snowflake, or the session went idle longer than the driver allows. The fix is to increase timeout parameters or keep the session active.

Which parameters control timeout length?

Key options are login_timeout (initial handshake), network_timeout (query wait), and CLIENT_SESSION_KEEP_ALIVE (keeps idle sessions alive).Configure them in the connection string or driver-specific method.

How do I set a longer timeout in Python?

Pass login_timeout=<seconds> and network_timeout=<seconds> to snowflake.connector.connect(). Enable CLIENT_SESSION_KEEP_ALIVE=True to keep the session alive during long analysis.

Can I adjust timeout in JDBC/ODBC?

Add loginTimeout and networkTimeout in the JDBC URL, or set them in the ODBC DSN.Always align values with corporate firewall idle limits.

Why does my ETL job still fail?

Long-running jobs often timeout because no query executes for several minutes. Schedule periodic SELECT 1 heartbeats or enable keep-alive to keep the connection open.

Best practices for preventing timeouts?

Use generous but bounded timeout values (30–120 s for login, 300–900 s for network), enable keep-alive on idle jobs, and monitor network latency.Close connections after work to free resources.

Example heartbeat query

SELECT 1; every 5 minutes prevents idle disconnects during long transformations.

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Why How to Resolve Snowflake Connection Timeout in PostgreSQL is important

How to Resolve Snowflake Connection Timeout in PostgreSQL Example Usage


-- Node.js example using snowflake-sdk
const snowflake = require('snowflake-sdk');
const connection = snowflake.createConnection({
  account: 'acme',
  username: 'etl_user',
  password: process.env.SF_PASS,
  warehouse: 'LOAD_WH',
  database: 'ECOMMERCE',
  schema: 'PUBLIC',
  loginTimeout: 45,      // increase to avoid handshake failures
  clientSessionKeepAlive: true
});

connection.connect(err => {
  if (err) throw err;
  connection.execute({
    sqlText: `SELECT p.name, SUM(oi.quantity) AS units_sold
              FROM OrderItems oi
              JOIN Products p ON p.id = oi.product_id
              GROUP BY p.name
              ORDER BY units_sold DESC
              LIMIT 5`,
    complete: (err, stmt, rows) => {
      if (err) console.error(err);
      else console.table(rows);
      connection.destroy();
    }
  });
});

How to Resolve Snowflake Connection Timeout in PostgreSQL Syntax


-- Generic connection string
snowflake://<user>:<password>@<account>/<warehouse>/<database>/<schema>?login_timeout=<sec>&network_timeout=<sec>&client_session_keep_alive=true

-- Python (ecommerce example)
conn = snowflake.connector.connect(
    user='report_user',
    password='****',
    account='acme',
    warehouse='ANALYTICS_WH',
    database='ECOMMERCE',
    schema='PUBLIC',
    login_timeout=60,
    network_timeout=600,
    client_session_keep_alive=True
)

-- After connecting, run a query on Orders
cur = conn.cursor()
cur.execute("""
    SELECT customer_id,
           COUNT(*)   AS order_count,
           SUM(total_amount) AS lifetime_value
    FROM Orders
    GROUP BY customer_id
    ORDER BY lifetime_value DESC
    LIMIT 10;
""")

Common Mistakes

Setting an extremely high network_timeout (e.g., >3600 s) and forgetting to close connections. This starves the warehouse of sessions. Use reasonable limits and always disconnect.
Relying solely on CLIENT_SESSION_KEEP_ALIVE without running queries. Some drivers still drop idle TCP sockets. Schedule heartbeats or lower firewall idle timeouts.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Does CLIENT_SESSION_KEEP_ALIVE impact billing?

Keeping a session alive does not keep the virtual warehouse running, so compute costs stay unchanged. Only active queries consume credits.

What is the default login timeout?

Snowflake drivers usually default to 10 seconds. High-latency networks may need 30–60 seconds.

Can I change timeout at the account level?

No. Timeouts are client-side settings; modify them per connection string or driver configuration.

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