AWS Snowball, one of the tools within the AWS Snow Family, is known as an edge storage, edge computing, and a data migration device, that is available in two options:
You can use such devices for storage, machine learning, data processing, and data collection in environments with unsteady connectivity (industrial, transportation, and manufacturing) or remote places (such as maritime or military operations). You may also rackmount and cluster these devices together to accommodate larger data volumes.
A Snowball device can run EC2 instances and AWS Lambda functions. This lets you create applications, test them in the cloud, and then run them in remote locations with limited Internet connectivity.
This is part of our series of articles about AWS big data.
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AWS Snowball refers to the general service, and Snowball Edge are the types of devices that the service employs—often referred to as AWS Snowball devices. Initially, Snowball hardware designs were for information transport alone. Snowball Edge has the added ability to execute computing locally, even if there is no available network connection.
Snowball Edge Storage Optimized is the best choice if you need to speedily and securely transfer dozens of terabytes or petabytes of information to AWS. It is also a suitable choice for running general analysis, including IoT information aggregation and transformation.
Specifications:
Snowball Edge Compute Optimized is suitable for use cases that need access to high-speed storage, and powerful compute for information processing before moving the data into AWS. These use cases are, for example, IoT information analytics, high-resolution video processing, and real-time machine learning at the edge.
Specifications:
Learn more in our detailed guide to AWS Snowball Edge
Every import job utilizes one Snowball appliance. You initiate a job via the job management API or Snow Management Console, and Amazon ships you a Snowball device. It should arrive after a few days. You then connect the Snowball to your network and use the S3 Adapter or Snowball client to move your data.
Once you have finished transferring the information, you return the Snowball to AWS, and AWS will import your information into Amazon S3 Storage.
Every export job can utilize several Snowball appliances. Once you create a task in the job management API or AWS Snow Family Management Console, Amazon initiates a listing operation in S3. This listing operation divides your job into sections. Each job section may be up to approximately 80 TB in size and has one Snowball connected to it. The first job then starts the Preparing Snowball stage.
Following this, AWS begins exporting your information onto a Snowball. Exporting your data generally takes one business day but may take longer. After the export is complete, AWS ensures the Snowball device is ready, so the region’s carrier can pick it up. When Amazon brings the Snowball to the office or data center after a few days, you will connect the Snowball to your network and move the information you wish to export to the servers via the S3 Adapter for Snowball or via the Snowball client.
After you have finished transferring your information, you can ship the Snowball back to AWS. After AWS receives the Snowball device back, AWS carries out a thorough erasure of the Snowball. The erasure adheres to the National Institute of Standards and Technology 800-88 standards. If there are additional job sections, the process is repeated for each additional job section.
Related content: For very large data transfers, AWS provides the Snowmobile service. Read our guide to AWS Snowball vs Snowmobile
Here are a few best practices that can help you make more effective use of the AWS Snowball family of products:
NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP, the leading enterprise-grade storage management solution, delivers secure, proven storage management services on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. Cloud Volumes ONTAP capacity can scale into the petabytes, and it supports various use cases such as file services, databases, DevOps or any other enterprise workload, with a strong set of features including high availability, data protection, storage efficiencies, Kubernetes integration, and more.
In particular, Cloud Volumes ONTAP assists with lift and shift cloud migration. Download our free guide The 5 Phases for Enterprise Migration to AWS to learn more.
Cloud Volumes ONTAP also provides storage efficiency features, including thin provisioning, data compression, and deduplication, reducing the storage footprint and costs by up to 70%. Learn more about how Cloud Volumes ONTAP helps cost savings with these Cloud Volumes ONTAP Storage Efficiency Case Studies.