AWS Snow Family

Overview

The AWS Snow Family is a group of physical devices designed to help organizations transfer large amounts of data to and from AWS in environments where connectivity is limited, unreliable, or non-existent. It’s part of the AWS Data Migration services, allowing you to securely move data at petabyte scale or even deploy AWS capabilities to edge locations.

Components of AWS Snow Family

The Snow Family includes three main products:

1. AWS Snowcone:

Description: Smallest device in the Snow Family.
Storage: 8 TB of usable storage.
Use Case: Ideal for small-scale data transfer or edge computing in remote locations.

Features:

• Lightweight and portable.
• Can run compute instances using AWS IoT Greengrass for edge computing tasks.
• Data transfer is encrypted, and the device has tamper-evident seals.

2. AWS Snowball:

Description: More robust and versatile than Snowcone. It comes in two types; Snowball Edge Storage Optimized and Snowball Edge Compute Optimized.

• Storage Optimized: Up to 80 TB of usable storage.
• Compute Optimized: 42 TB of storage with powerful compute capabilities.

Use Case: Large-scale data migration (petabytes), edge computing for data processing, and temporary on-premises cloud deployment.

Features:

• Rugged and secure devices designed for harsh environments.
• Can run EC2 instances and Lambda functions for edge computing.
• Supports S3-compatible data storage, and all data transfers are encrypted.

3. AWS Snowmobile:

Description: A massive, truck-sized data migration solution.
Storage: Up to 100 PB (petabytes) of data.
Use Case: Designed for exabyte-scale data transfers, such as large-scale data center migrations.

Features:

• Physically transported in a shipping container.
• Secure, with military-grade security measures, including GPS tracking and 24/7 video surveillance.

Key Features of the AWS Snow Family

1. Edge Computing: Both Snowcone and Snowball Edge allow you to run compute workloads at the edge, enabling local data processing before transferring it to the cloud.

2. Data Transfer & Migration: Snow Family devices allow for secure, offline data transfers to AWS. Once filled with data, the devices are shipped back to AWS, where the data is loaded into S3 or other AWS services.

3. Security: All data is encrypted (AES-256 encryption) before it’s written to the device, ensuring secure transit. Devices are tamper-proof and come with tamper-evident seals.

4. Scalability: From small-scale (Snowcone) to massive (Snowmobile), the Snow Family offers solutions for different data transfer needs, from gigabytes to petabytes.

When to Use AWS Snow Family

1. Limited Bandwidth or Remote Locations: If your organization operates in a location with poor or no internet connectivity, Snow devices are ideal for moving large datasets to AWS.
2. Large-Scale Data Transfer: When transferring terabytes or petabytes of data over the internet is impractical due to costs or time constraints.
3. Edge Computing: Run compute-intensive workloads at the edge using Snowball Edge or Snowcone when you need to process and analyze data locally before sending it to the cloud.

Use Cases & Industry Applications

1. Disaster Recovery: Quickly transfer large amounts of data to AWS for safe storage and recovery.
2. Media and Entertainment: Move large video files, render workloads, or film footage from remote sites to the cloud.
3. Healthcare and Research: Transfer large datasets like genomic data or medical imagery securely and efficiently to AWS.
4. Data Center Migration: Migrate large amounts of on-premise data to AWS as part of a cloud adoption strategy.

Conclusion

The AWS Snow Family provides a secure, scalable solution for organizations needing to move large volumes of data to AWS or run edge computing workloads in remote locations. With its flexibility and strong security features, it's an excellent choice for situations where network connectivity is limited or non-existent.