AWS Snowball for Large Scale Data Transfers
The AWS Snowball is a physical device of the AWS family which is used for storing and transporting the petabyte-scale of data from on-premises to cloud. You can use this device for data collection, machine learning, and processing the storage in cloud environments.
AWS Snowball, is a service for customers who want to transport terabytes or petabytes of data to and from AWS cloud. It is a member of the AWS Snow Family, a data migration device and edge computer that comes in two options, transfers large amounts of data between Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and your onsite data storage location at accelerated speeds. Snowball Edge Storage Optimized devices provide both block storage and Amazon S3-compatible object storage, and 40 vCPUs. they're compatible with local storage and enormous scale-data transfer. Snowball Edge Compute Optimized devices provide 52 vCPUs, block and object storage, and an optional GPU to be used in cases like advanced machine learning and full-motion video analysis in disconnected environments. You can use these devices for collecting data, machine learning, processing, and storage in environments or in extremely remote locations (like military or maritime operations) before shipping them back to AWS. These devices can also be rack-mounted and clustered together to create larger temporary installations.
Snowball supports specific Amazon EC2 instance types and AWS Lambda functions, so you'll develop and test within the AWS Cloud, then deploy applications on devices in remote locations to gather, pre-process, and ship the information to AWS. Some common use cases include data migration, data transport, image collation, and machine learning.
In the AWS Snowball console, select your preferred device, either Snowball Edge Compute Optimized or Snowball Edge Storage Optimized. Create a job with an Amazon S3 bucket, select Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) for tracking, and configure options like Amazon EC2 AMIs and a GPU. AWS prepares and ships the device to you, and you receive it in approximately 4-6 days. Once the device arrives, power it up, and use AWS OpsHub to unlock it, hook up with your LAN. Use AWS OpsHub to manage the device, transfer data, or launch EC2 instances. When done, pack up and return the device to AWS. The shipping label automatically appears on the E Ink screen. When the device arrives at the AWS Region, any data stored in your onboard bucket(s) is moved to your S3 bucket and verified in about an equivalent time it took you to load the device. All data is then securely erased from the device, and it's sanitized of any customer information.
