Data Box is a cloud storage solution from Microsoft Azure that lets customers send large amounts of data (in TBs) in and out of the Azure cloud. It offers a fast, reliable, and cost-effective way to transfer data through proprietary storage devices. Every Data Box device can store up to 80 TB of data, which is transferred to the customer’s data center via a regional data carrier. The device is hardy and secure to protect data in transit.
Azure offers several options for using Data Box, with pricing determined based on the number of units of each storage/transfer device type. Depending on the amount of data and use case, the cost of using Azure Data Box can vary significantly. Thus, it is important to consider the organization’s data ingestion, storage, and transfer needs and optimize pricing to prevent overspending.
This is part of a series of articles about Azure cost management
In this article:
Data Box makes migrating in-flight and stored data to a hybrid cloud easier by providing a secure and scalable way to move large volumes of data. With Data Box, customers can transfer data from on-premises to the cloud using a physical appliance, eliminating the need for costly and time-consuming network transfers.
Azure Data Box offers both offline and online transfer devices to help customers move large amounts of data to Azure cloud storage. The offline devices include Azure Data Box, Data Box Disk, and Data Box Heavy, which are physical appliances that can be shipped to customers to enable secure and efficient data transfer. The online transfer device is Data Box Gateway, a cloud-based storage gateway that connects to the customer's on-premises infrastructure and facilitates data transfer to Azure cloud storage.
Here is the pricing structure for each device type (in the US East region).
Pricing for Data Box
The pricing structure for the standard Azure Data Box device in the US East region includes a one-time device fee of $250, which covers the cost of renting the device for up to 10 days. In addition to the device fee, customers are charged for the amount of data transferred to Azure cloud storage. The data transfer pricing depends on the destination Azure service, the amount of data transferred, and the tier of the Azure storage account.
In addition, there is a $15 fee for each extra day of using the service, as well as a standard shipping fee of $95 per package.
Pricing for Data Box Disk
This service can ship up to five encrypted SSDs with 8 TB of data each. The pricing structure for the Azure Data Box Disk device in the US East region includes a one-time order processing fee of $50, which covers the cost of ordering the device. Customers are also charged a daily usage fee of $10 for each disk used in the device. In addition to these fees, there is a shipping fee of $30 per package that covers the cost of shipping the device to and from the customer's location.
Pricing for Data Box Heavy
The pricing structure for the Azure Data Box Heavy device in the US East region includes a one-time service fee of $4000, which covers the cost of renting the device for up to 20 days. Customers are charged an additional $100 per extra day if they need to use the device for longer than 20 days. In addition to these fees, there are shipping fees that vary depending on the location of the customer and the size of the freight unit used to transport the device. The shipping fees start at $1500 per freight unit for transport within the contiguous United States.
Pricing for Azure Data Box Gateway
The pricing structure for Azure Data Box Gateway in the US East region includes a monthly subscription fee of $125, which covers the cost of using the gateway to transfer data to Azure cloud storage. In addition to the subscription fee, customers are charged for the amount of data transferred to Azure cloud storage.
Customers can also choose to use their own gateway appliances or virtual machines to run Data Box Gateway software, which can help reduce costs. Microsoft provides free data migration tools to help customers prepare and transfer their data. The pricing structure for Azure Data Box Gateway is designed to be simple and predictable, allowing customers to easily manage the cost of their data migration project.
Here are some tips for optimizing Azure Data Box costs:
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. NetApp’s data replication tools SnapMirror® and Cloud Sync service will get your data to the cloud. Download our free Guide to Migrating Enterprise Workloads to Azure to learn more.
Cloud Volumes ONTAP also provides storage efficiency features, including thin provisioning, data compression, and deduplication, reducing the storage footprint and costs for your Azure deployments by up to 70%. Learn more about how Cloud Volumes ONTAP helps cost savings with these Cloud Volumes ONTAP Storage Efficiency Case Studies.