← Understanding of Databricks Data Intelligence Platform
11% domain · module 3
SQL warehouses versus clusters (and warehouse privileges)
Starts at 14:10 in this video — SQL Warehouse full course — warehouse types (14:10)
Warehouse types you must contrast
- Serverless — Databricks manages capacity. Fast start, best default for BI, dashboards, and Genie.
- Pro — warehouse in your cloud account, Photon-enabled. Valid for Genie (with serverless).
- Classic — older. Not valid compute for Genie.
Genie / Genie Agent requires Pro or Serverless. Classic is the wrong answer on Genie questions.
What a warehouse actually does
The warehouse is the compute that executes SQL editor statements, dashboard datasets, alerts, and Genie-generated SQL. Sizing (T-shirt), auto-stop, and autoscaling control cost and queueing — not “more notebooks.”
Warehouse privileges (exam-relevant)
- Can use — run queries.
- Can monitor — query history and query profiles you do not own.
- Can manage — size, stop, settings.
- Owner — creator by default.
Seeing a query profile typically needs ownership or Can monitor.
Clusters
All-purpose / job clusters run notebooks and Spark. The associate analyst exam’s home turf is warehouse + SQL editor.