Forum Discussion

AnushikaAg's avatar
AnushikaAg
Regular Visitor
2 months ago

Is the Snowflake Connector supported for Fabric dbt Jobs when using a Data Gateway?

Goal:
I'm trying to configure a dbt job in Microsoft Fabric to connect to Snowflake. Per the current documentation, the only supported authentication type for Snowflake in dbt jobs is "Snowflake Authentication."

 

Issue:
Our Snowflake instance can only be reached via an On-Premises Data Gateway. Looking at the Gateway's supported capabilities for the Snowflake connector, I only see Dataflow Gen2, Pipeline, and Copy Job listed and there's no mention of dbt Jobs.

 

Question:
Can someone confirm whether Gateway connectivity is currently supported for Fabric dbt Jobs with the Snowflake connector? If not, what's the recommended alternative for connecting a dbt job to a Snowflake instance that requires a Gateway?

 

What I've tried so far:

TEST 1:

Snowflake Authentication (personal username/password) + Gateway
Result: Error referencing the Gateway/credentials.

 

TEST 2:
Snowflake Authentication (service account credentials) + Gateway
Result: Same Gateway/credentials error.

 

TEST 3:
Microsoft Account Authentication + Gateway
Result: This connects successfully 

 

 

My conclusion so far:
It looks like Gateway integration isn't working when the authentication type is set to "Snowflake," while "Microsoft Account" auth (which does work with the Gateway) isn't supported for dbt jobs. Would appreciate confirmation on whether this is a known limitation, and any guidance on a workaround.

 

data engineering

2 Replies

  • Prince0011's avatar
    Prince0011
    Icon for Solution Sage rankSolution Sage
    2 months ago

    Based on the current capabilities, On-premises Data Gateway connectivity is not supported for Microsoft Fabric dbt Jobs with the Snowflake connector.

    The key distinction is that the Snowflake connector may support Gateway connectivity for workloads such as:

    • Dataflow Gen2

    • Pipeline Copy activities

    • Other supported Fabric data movement scenarios

    However, Fabric dbt Jobs use their own execution environment and connection handling, and they currently support Snowflake Authentication rather than routing through an On-premises Data Gateway.

    Your testing results are consistent with this behavior:

    • ✅ Microsoft Account Authentication + Gateway works because that path supports Gateway-based connectivity.

    • ❌ Snowflake Authentication + Gateway fails because dbt Jobs do not currently use the Gateway connection path for Snowflake credentials.

    • ❌ Using service account credentials with Snowflake Authentication will not change this limitation.

    For a Snowflake environment that is only reachable through an On-premises Data Gateway, the recommended alternatives are:

    • Use a supported Fabric ingestion option (for example, Pipeline Copy activity or Dataflow Gen2 through the Gateway) to land the data into Fabric storage, then run dbt transformations on the Fabric-managed data.

    • If direct dbt execution against Snowflake is a requirement, ensure the Snowflake endpoint is reachable from the Fabric dbt execution environment without relying on the On-premises Data Gateway.

    • Review your network architecture with your security team to determine whether private connectivity or another supported integration pattern is possible.

    At this time, I am not aware of a supported workaround that enables Fabric dbt Jobs → Snowflake → On-premises Data Gateway connectivity.

    It would also be helpful to submit this as a Fabric feature request if Gateway support for dbt Jobs is an important requirement for your architecture.

    For more information:

    💡 Helpful? Give a Kudos 👍 — keep the community growing.

    ✅ Solved your issue? Mark this as the Accepted Solution ✔️

    Best regards, Prince Singh | Data Science & Microsoft Fabric Enthusiast