Troubleshoot Snowflake data source issues
This document provides solutions to common issues you may encounter when configuring or using the Snowflake data source. For configuration instructions, refer to Configure the Snowflake data source.
Authentication errors
These errors occur when credentials are invalid, missing, or don’t have the required permissions.
“Incorrect username or password”
Symptoms:
- Save & test fails with authentication errors
- Error message mentions incorrect credentials
Possible causes and solutions:
“Invalid private key”
Symptoms:
- Save & test fails when using Key Pair authentication
- Error message mentions private key issues
Solutions:
- Verify the private key is unencrypted. The plugin does not support encrypted private keys.
- Ensure the private key is in PEM format and includes the header and footer lines:
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- ... -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY----- - Verify the corresponding public key is correctly configured in Snowflake for your user.
- Regenerate the key pair if necessary. Refer to Snowflake Key Pair authentication.
“Role not granted to user”
Symptoms:
- Save & test fails with role-related errors
- Queries fail with permission errors
Solutions:
- Verify the role is granted to the user:
SHOW GRANTS TO USER <username>; - Grant the role if missing:
GRANT ROLE <role_name> TO USER <username>; - If the role field is left empty, the user’s default role is used. Verify the default role has the necessary permissions.
Connection errors
These errors occur when Grafana cannot reach Snowflake endpoints.
“Connection refused” or timeout errors
Symptoms:
- Data source test times out
- Queries fail with network errors
Solutions:
- Verify network connectivity from the Grafana server to Snowflake endpoints.
- Check firewall rules allow outbound HTTPS (port 443) to
*.snowflakecomputing.com. - Verify the Account field is correct, including region and platform if applicable.
- For Grafana Cloud, ensure your Snowflake account allows connections from Grafana Cloud IP ranges.
“Invalid account identifier”
Symptoms:
- Save & test fails with account-related errors
- Error message mentions invalid account
Solutions:
- Verify the account identifier format. The account name should be the entire string to the left of
snowflakecomputing.comin your Snowflake URL. - Include the region if not in
us-west-2. Example:xyz123.us-east-1 - Include the platform if not on AWS. Example:
xyz123.us-east-1.gcporxyz123.east-us-2.azure
Query errors
These errors occur when executing queries against the data source.
“No data” or empty results
Symptoms:
- Query executes without error but returns no data
- Charts show “No data” message
Possible causes and solutions:
Query timeout
Symptoms:
- Query runs for a long time then fails
- Error mentions timeout or query limits
Solutions:
- Narrow the time range to reduce data volume.
- Add
LIMITclauses to reduce the result set. - Optimize your query with appropriate
WHEREclauses. - Check if the Snowflake warehouse is suspended and needs to resume.
- Consider using a larger warehouse size for complex queries.
“Object does not exist”
Symptoms:
- Error message mentions table, schema, or database not found
Solutions:
- Verify the object name is spelled correctly.
- Check that the database and schema are specified in your query or in the data source configuration.
- Verify the user’s role has access to the object.
- Object names in Snowflake are case-sensitive when quoted. Ensure consistent casing.
Template variable errors
These errors occur when using template variables with the data source.
Variables return no values
Solutions:
- Verify the data source connection is working (test it in the data source settings).
- Check that the variable query returns results when run directly in Snowflake.
- Verify the user’s role has permissions to query the tables referenced in the variable query.
- For cascading variables, ensure parent variables have valid selections.
Variables are slow to load
Solutions:
- Set variable refresh to On dashboard load instead of On time range change.
- Add
LIMITclauses to variable queries to reduce the number of returned values. - Use more specific
WHEREclauses to filter variable results.
Enable debug logging
To capture detailed error information for troubleshooting:
Set the Grafana log level to
debugin the configuration file:[log] level = debugReview logs in
/var/log/grafana/grafana.log(or your configured log location).Look for Snowflake-specific entries that include request and response details.
Reset the log level to
infoafter troubleshooting to avoid excessive log volume.
Get additional help
If you’ve tried the solutions above and still encounter issues:
- Check the Grafana community forums for similar issues.
- Review the Snowflake plugin GitHub issues for known bugs.
- Consult the Snowflake documentation for service-specific guidance.
- Contact Grafana Support if you’re a Grafana Cloud Pro, Cloud Contracted, or Enterprise customer.
When reporting issues, include:
- Grafana version
- Snowflake plugin version
- Error messages (redact sensitive information)
- Steps to reproduce
- Relevant configuration (redact credentials)



