Snowflake cloud connection: KeyPair authentication

[ustas55]

Good Day Professionals,

We have a cloud connection to the Snowflake and successfully used it with "regular" authentication via user/password. The Snowflake user was configured as SYSTEM account with Programming Access Token.

Recently, as of last week, Microsoft released an option of utilizing KeyPair authentication (which is preferred method). Unfortunately, the same model which was successfully refreshing via PAT authentication is failing to refresh with KeyPair account. Both accounts have identical privileges in Snowflake: members of the same role.

The error message I'm receiving states that: “Data source error: Resource Governance: This operation was canceled because there wasn't enough memory to finish running it….”

Any ideas of what could be wrong and/or what could be an issue?

Is KeyPair authentication still in preview mode?

Best Regards,

Sam

[ustas55 · Accepted solution]

Hi to all,

Quick update on this issue (Key-Pair authentication between Snowflake and Power BI).

Finally got a “solution” from the support and was able refresh the model using Key-Pair authentication.

What I ended up doing is to enable “Use legacy Snowflake connector implementation” within Preview features.

According to Microsoft support: “Currently, Implementation 2.0 consumes more memory, which the engineering team is actively working to optimize. This issue has been documented in the reference document below, and the document will be updated once the fix is implemented and released”.

Thank you.

[v-saisrao-msft]

Hi @ustas55,

Thank you for the update as your issue got resolved.

[arinjayjain1013]

Hi @ustas55 

I felt a new challenge using the implementation 2.0 from couple of days, Now it says :

queries are blocked by the following error:

<View_NAME>

ADBC: [Snowflake] Post "<Snowflake_server_url>:443/session/v1/login-request?requestId=***********************&request_guid=**************&warehouse=<warehouse_name>": context deadline exceeded (Client.Timeout exceeded while awaiting headers)"

[v-saisrao-msft]

Hi @ustas55,

Could you please confirm if the issue has been resolved after raising the support ticket?

Thank you.

[ustas55]

Hi,

Unfortunatelly, not yet. Support is still woring on my ticket, and I was told that ".... we're still waiting an update from our team.".....

[diabb8899]

Hi @ustas55 , any update from MS support on the issue? they release the update in Feb , did it help resolve ? or you are still having memory issues.

[ustas55]

Hi @diabb8899, I wasn't aware of any updates with this connector, so for now we're using a user with PAT authentication. Actually, few days ago I did check documentation on Snowflake connector and didn't see any changes with known issues; same high memory utilization when using Implementation-2 option.

Best Regards,

Sam

[diabb8899]

Hi Sam (@ustas55),

Thanks for the update. I was informed by Microsoft Support that the issue was supposedly fixed in the February data gateway release (version 3000.302.6). However, after installing and testing this in my development environment, I’m still seeing high memory utilization when using Implementation 2.0 (ADBC). The same behaviour occurs even when using username/password authentication with Implementation 2.0.

I wanted to check whether you’re experiencing the same issue on your end. If you do test it, I’d recommend doing so in a separate environment where you can easily roll back to the previous version.

Microsoft Support also mentioned that Implementation 1.0 (ODBC) will no longer be supported and is expected to be deprecated around mid‑2026. This is a concern, as it may remove the last known working option (even when using Snowflake PAT).

Let me know your findings.

Thanks.

[ustas55]

Hi @diabb8899,

We are not using gateway to access Snowflake. We are utilizing Cloud connection(s) defined/created withing Power BI service, and using user/password with PAC (Programming Access Token) authentication. 

Also, I did perform another round of tests playing with Implementation 1/2 in Power BI. What I discovered is: models with either implementation (1 or 2) did not refresh under user with Keypair authentication. However, connection with a user under PAT authentication worked just fine with both implementation versions.

Microsoft announced GA for Snowflake Keypair authentication. Perhaps it's time for another support ticket?

https://blog.fabric.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/snowflake-key-pair-authentication-generally-available?f... 

Best Regards,

Sam

[arinjayjain1013]

Hi everyone, 

I noticed for snowflake connector in Power BI, I see a 3rd option for KeyPair authentication. Wanted to check if it in preview mode or open for all, as I do not see a official message from Power BI. Any updates regarding the same will be helpful.
If you have any official communication, please share the link.

[arinjayjain1013]

Hi everyone, 

I noticed for snowflake connector in Power BI, I see a 3rd option for KeyPair authentication. Wanted to check if it in preview mode or open for all, as I do not see a official message from Power BI. Any updates regarding the same will be helpful.
If you have any official communication, please share the link.

[diabb8899]

Hi @arinjayjain1013 ,

I supposed it has been quietly released in Sep but they have not updated the Roadmap tracker's status yet.

Fabric GPS - Microsoft Fabric Roadmap Tracker

I would caution that you test it in your non-prod env first before doing the transition to your prod env.

The keypair auth seems to consume more resources (CPU and memory) than the normal username / password auth method and if your job is complex , it will fail.

[diabb8899]

Hi ustas55 ,

I am also facing similar errors (resource related as well) with our dataflow (gen 1) using the key pair auth, but runs fine when we switched back to username / password auth.

Something we noticed is that with the key pair auth , there are additional "junk queries" in Snowflake , e.g. SHOW queries like SHOW PRIMARY KEYS, SHOW COLUMNS ,etc...) instead of just a SELECT statement.

Do check your SNOWFLAKE query history on the account , it might be why it is using more memory than usual.

[ustas55]

Thank you diabb8899,

Yes, that's exactly what I see in the Snowflake as well; junk queries with “Show Primary Keys”, “Show Columns”, and “Show Parameters like ODBC”. I guess it’s all part of the query building/validation activities passed from Power BI (model) to the Snowflake. But I would not expect those extra queries, which generate metadata, would increase memory size from 3 Gg to 20 Gb.

[diabb8899]

Hi @ustas55 , contact MS Support and it is apparently a known and on-going issue with the Snowflake connector.

Replies from MS Support:

Feedback from the Product Team regarding this issue. Key-pair authentication is supported only with implementation 2.0. If the user does not explicitly specify an implementation, the connector defaults to 1.0 with username/password and automatically switches to 2.0 when key-pair authentication is selected.

In general, the Snowflake connector using implementation 2.0 has the following characteristics:

The overall load time is typically faster using Implementation="2.0", but the memory consumption can also be higher.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-query/connectors/snowflake#known-issues-in-snowflake-connect... 

There still doesn't seem to have any resolution to the issue yet, I am still pending MS Suport on that.

[ustas55]

Hi @diabb8899,

Same story here, waiting on support. I have a ticket open, which has been escalated already.

Regarding connector, I did try both options mplementation options, but no success.

[diabb8899]

Hi @ustas55 , 

yeah... I guess we have no choice but wait for the support to provide a resolution on this.

I have suggested to them if they can downgrade to Implemention 1.0 for the keypair auth since that is the working implementation that runs with the username and password.

[anilgavhane]

@ustas55 

KeyPair authentication for Snowflake is supported in Power BI, but it may behave differently than PAT. The memory error likely stems from query execution context or resource settings under the KeyPair identity.

Quick Fixes:

• Compare session parameters between PAT and KeyPair logins.
• Check Snowflake warehouse size and scaling policies.
• Use logging to inspect query performance.
• Ensure private key format and JWT setup are correct.

Let me know if you want help testing with smaller queries or reviewing session settings.

[ustas55]

Hi Anil,

Both account (PAT and KeyPair) have identical security profiles, assigned to the same withing the Snowflake, so the Warehouse size and/or session/query parameters (in my opinion) should be the same.

[tayloramy]

Hi @ustas55, 

Can you raise this as a microsoft ticket so that the support team can have it logged as a defect? Bugs don't get fixed unless they are reported. 

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