Q: What is Amazon Snowball?
Amazon Snowball is a service that provides secure, rugged devices, so you can bring Amazon Web Services computing and storage capabilities to your edge environments, and transfer data into and out of Amazon Web Services. Those rugged devices are commonly referred to as Amazon Snowball Edge devices. Previously, Amazon Snowball referred specifically to an early hardware version of these devices, however that model has been replaced by updated hardware. Now the Amazon Snowball service operates with Snowball Edge devices, which include on-board computing capabilities as well as storage.
Q: What is Snowball Edge?
Snowball Edge is an edge computing and data transfer device provided by the Amazon Snowball service. It has on-board storage and compute power that provides select Amazon Web Services for use in edge locations. Snowball Edge comes in two options, Storage Optimized, to support local data processing and collection in disconnected environments such as ships, windmills, and remote factories. Learn more about itsfeatures here.
Q: What happened with the original 50 TB and 80 TB Amazon Snowball devices?
The original Snowball devices were transitioned out of service and Snowball Edge Storage Optimized are now the primary devices used for data transfer.
Q: Can I still order the original Snowball 50 TB and 80 TB devices?
No. For data transfer needs now, please select the Snowball Edge Storage Optimized devices.
Q: What is the Snowball Client?
The Snowball Client is software that you install on a local host computer and use to efficiently identify, compress, encrypt, and transfer data from the directories you specify to a Snowball.
Q: How does Snowball Edge work?
You start by requesting one or more Snowball Edge Storage Optimized devices in the Amazon Web Services Management Console based on how much data you need to transfer and the compute needed for local processing. The buckets, data, Amazon EC2 AMIs, you select are automatically configured, encrypted, and preinstalled on your devices before they are shipped to you. Once a device arrives, you connect it to your local network and set the IP address either manually or automatically with DHCP. Then use the Snowball Edge client software, job manifest, and unlock code to verify the integrity of the Snowball Edge device or cluster, and unlock it for use. The manifest and unlock code are uniquely generated and crypto-logically bound to your account and the Snowball Edge shipped to you, and cannot be used with any other devices. Data copied to Snowball Edge is automatically encrypted and stored in the buckets you specify.
All logistics and shipping is done by us, so when copying is complete and the device is ready to be returned, the E Ink shipping label will automatically update the return address, ensuring that the Snowball Edge device is delivered to the correct Amazon Web Services facility. Once the device ships, you can receive tracking status via email messages sent by Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) or directly from the console. All of the management for your Snowball Edge resources can be performed in the Amazon Web Services management console and these operations require system engineers.
Q: What is the difference between Snowball Edge and Snowball?
Amazon Snowball now refers to the service overall, and Snowball Edge are the current types of devices that the service uses – sometimes referred to generically as Amazon Snowball devices. Originally, early Snowball hardware designs were for data transport only. Snowball Edge has the additional capability to run computing locally, even when there is no network connection available.
Q: Who should use Snowball Edge?
Consider Snowball Edge if you need to run computing in rugged, austere, mobile, or disconnected (or intermittently connected) environments. Also consider it for large-scale data transfers and migrations when bandwidth is not available for use of a high-speed online transfer service, such as Amazon DataSync.
Snowball Edge Storage Optimized is the optimal data transfer choice if you need to securely and quickly transfer terabytes to petabytes of data to Amazon Web Services. You can use Snowball Edge Storage Optimized if you have a large backlog of data to transfer or if you frequently collect data that needs to be transferred to Amazon Web Services and your storage is in an area where high-bandwidth internet connections are not available or cost-prohibitive.
You can also use Snowball Edge to run edge computing workloads, such as performing local analysis of data on a Snowball Edge cluster and writing it to the S3-compatible endpoint. You can streamline it into existing workflows leveraging built-in capabilities such as the NFS file interface and migrate files to the device while maintaining file metadata.Snowball Edge can operate in remote locations or harsh operating environments, such as factory floors, oil and gas rigs, mining sites, hospitals, and on moving vehicles. Snowball Edge is pre-configured and does not have to be connected to the internet, so processing and data collection can take place within isolated operating environments. Snowball Edge allows you to run the same software at the edge and access select Amazon Web Services capabilities as you would with full connectivity to Amazon Web Services.
Q. Can I use Snowball Edge to migrate data from one Amazon Web Services Region to another Amazon Web Services Region?
No. Snowball Edge is intended to serve as a data transport solution for moving high volumes of data into and out of a designated Amazon Web Services Region. For use cases that require data transfer between Amazon Web Services China Regions, we recommend using S3 Cross-Region Replication as an alternative.
Q: How much data can I transfer using Snowball Edge?
You can transfer virtually any amount of data with Snowball Edge, from a few terabytes to many petabytes. You can transfer up to approximately 80 TB with a single Snowball Edge Storage Optimized device and can transfer even larger data sets with multiple devices, either in parallel, or sequentially.
Q: How long does it take to transfer my data?
Data transfer speed is affected by a number of factors including local network speed, file size, and the speed at which data can be read from your local servers. The end-to-end time to transfer up to 80 TB of data into Amazon Web Services with Snowball Edge is approximately one week, including the usual shipping and handling time in Amazon Web Services data centers.
Q: How long can I have a Snowball Edge for a specific job?
For security purposes, jobs using an Amazon Snowball Edge device must be completed within 360 days of being prepared. If you need to keep one or more devices for longer than 360 days, contact Amazon Web Services Support. Otherwise, after 360 days, the device becomes locked, can no longer be accessed, and must be returned. If the Amazon Snowball Edge device becomes locked during an import job, we can still transfer the existing data on the device into Amazon S3.
Q: What are the specifications of the Snowball Edge devices?
Please see theSnowball Edge documentation page for a complete list of hardware specs, including network connections, thermal and power requirements, decibel output, and dimensions.
Q: What network interfaces does Snowball Edge support?
Snowball Edge Storage Optimized for data transfer devices have two 10G RJ45 ports, one 10/25G SFP28 port, and one 40G/100G QSFP28 port.
Snowball Edge Storage Optimized for edge compute devices have one 10G RJ45 port, one 10/25G SFP28 port, and one 40G QSFP+ port.
Q: What is the Snowball Edge default shipping option?
Can I choose expedited shipping?As a default, Snowball Edge uses two-day shipping by UPS. You can choose expedited shipping if your jobs are time-sensitive.
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