Getting Started
This section walks through how to activate Data Lens, connect to your Snowflake account, and verify access by running your first query.
Prerequisites
Before activating Data Lens, you need the following:
- An active PayPal merchant account
- Access to Snowflake account
- Permission to create databases and assign roles in Snowflake
- Network access to
*.snowflakecomputing.comon ports 443 and 80
Request access
To begin onboarding, contact your Enterprise Service Manager (ESM) or Account Manager (AM) and provide:
- Snowflake account identifier
- Cloud provider and region, such as AWS us-west-2
- Business contact email
- Technical contact email
PayPal uses this information to configure a Snowflake data share for your account, including access to transfers, transactions, fees, and disputes data. You will receive an activation email with instructions to access Data Lens.
Authentication methods
Snowflake supports multiple authentication methods. PayPal recommends the highest security method possible between merchants and Snowflake.
| Method | Use Case | Security Level |
|---|---|---|
| SSO (SAML/OAuth) | Interactive users, BI tools | Highest |
| Username + MFA | Service accounts with 2FA | High |
| Key Pair (RSA) | Automated pipelines, CI/CD | High |
| Username + Password | Development/testing only | Standard |
For production environments, use SSO or Key Pair authentication. Never store passwords in code. For more details on Snowflake authentication methods, see Planning for the deprecation of single-factor password sign-ins.
Connection parameters
| Parameter | Description | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Snowflake account identifier | |
| Database | Primary database | PAYPAL_DATA_HUB |
| Schema | Schema containing all tables | AWS_US_WEST_2 |
| Warehouse | Compute warehouse | |
| Role | Default read-only role |