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AWS Snow Family

AWS Snow Family

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Jeevan Henry Dsouza
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Table of contents

Introduction

The AWS Snow Family is a set of physical devices designed to help organizations transfer large amounts of data between their on-premises environments and the AWS cloud. These devices are particularly useful when dealing with data sets that are too large or impractical to transfer over the internet. The AWS Snow Family includes several devices, each serving different use cases:

  1. AWS Snowcone:

    • Description: AWS Snowcone is a small, portable, and rugged device that can be used in edge computing scenarios and harsh environments. It has a capacity of 8 terabytes (TB) and is suitable for collecting, processing, and transporting data from edge locations.

  2. AWS Snowball:

    • Description: AWS Snowball is a larger, tamper-evident device designed for transferring large amounts of data. It comes in two versions: Snowball Edge and Snowball. Snowball Edge includes additional computing capabilities and local storage, making it suitable for edge computing use cases.

  3. AWS Snowmobile:

    • Description: AWS Snowmobile is a massive, secure data transfer solution for exabyte-scale data sets. It is a ruggedized shipping container with a storage capacity of up to 100 petabytes (PB). Snowmobile is used when organizations need to transfer extremely large data sets to AWS and the use of traditional network-based methods is impractical.

Key Features of the AWS Snow Family:

  • Security:

    • All devices in the AWS Snow Family are designed with security in mind. They support encryption of data in transit and at rest, and they include features such as tamper-evident enclosures.

  • Simplicity:

    • The devices are designed to be easy to use, and AWS Snow Family includes tools to help manage and monitor the data transfer process.

  • Integration with AWS Services:

    • Once data is transferred to AWS using a Snow Family device, it can be seamlessly integrated with various AWS services, such as Amazon S3, Amazon Glacier, and Amazon EC2.

  • Edge Computing Capabilities:

    • Snowball Edge devices have built-in computing capabilities, allowing them to perform edge computing tasks, process data locally, and run applications.

  • Hybrid Cloud Scenarios:

    • The AWS Snow Family facilitates hybrid cloud scenarios, allowing organizations to move data between on-premises environments and AWS.
aws snowfamily