The correct answer is D. When the system estimates that there is enough query load to keep the new cluster busy for at least 6 minutes .
In Snowflake, a multi-cluster warehouse can use either a Standard or Economy scaling policy. The Economy scaling policy is more conservative. It starts additional clusters only when Snowflake estimates that the extra cluster will have enough work to justify the additional compute cost.
Why D is correct:
With the Economy scaling policy, Snowflake starts another cluster only if the system estimates there is enough query load to keep the new cluster busy for approximately 6 minutes. This helps reduce credit consumption by avoiding unnecessary short-lived cluster starts.
Why the other options are incorrect:
A. The condition is not based on all active clusters running queries for more than 6 minutes.
B. A single queued query for more than 6 minutes is not the exact Economy scaling rule.
C. The rule is not specifically based on 3 or more queued queries.
D. This matches Snowflake’s documented behavior for the Economy scaling policy.
Official Snowflake documentation reference:
Snowflake documentation explains that the Economy scaling policy conserves credits by starting additional clusters only when Snowflake estimates enough query load exists to keep the cluster busy for at least 6 minutes.
[Reference: Snowflake Documentation — Multi-cluster warehouses; Snowflake Documentation — Scaling policy; SnowPro Core Study Guide — Virtual Warehouses and Resource Management., ==]
