AWS TL;DR: AWS Snow Family (Edge & Migration)
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AWS Snow Family

/tldr: A collection of physical, rugged devices for collecting and processing data at the edge and migrating petabytes of data into AWS.

Edge Computing Massive Data Transfer Ruggedized Devices

1. Core Functionality and Workflow

The Snow Family addresses two main challenges:
1. **Data Migration:** Moving terabytes or petabytes of data to AWS faster than is possible over the internet (the "Sneakernet" model).
2. **Edge Computing:** Running AWS compute and storage services in environments with intermittent connectivity, such as remote sites, ships, or harsh industrial locations.

The Workflow (Migration)

  1. **Order:** Request a Snow device via the AWS Management Console, specifying capacity and compute requirements.
  2. **Receive:** AWS ships the device, pre-configured with the required services and security features.
  3. **Load:** Connect the device to your local network and use the Snow Family job management tool to encrypt and transfer your data onto the device.
  4. **Return:** Ship the device back to AWS.
  5. **Ingest:** AWS transfers the data from the device into the target S3 bucket or other AWS storage service.

2. The Three Members of the Snow Family

The three devices scale in size, capacity, and compute power to meet different needs, from small edge use cases to massive data center migrations.

🍦

Snowcone

The smallest and most portable member. It is designed for lightweight edge computing and data transfer where small size and low power consumption are critical. It can be shipped via standard postal carriers.

  • **Capacity:** 8TB or 14TB of usable storage.
  • **Compute:** 2-4 vCPUs and 4-8 GB of memory.
  • **Transfer:** Supports data transfer using the internet or physical shipping.
  • **Edge Use:** Sensor data processing, vehicle diagnostics.
❄️

Snowball Edge

A rugged, briefcase-sized appliance offering greater capacity and significant compute power for serious data migration and extended edge environments.

  • **Storage Optimized:** 80 TB of usable storage.
  • **Compute Optimized:** 42 vCPUs, 80 GB RAM, optional GPU.
  • **Functionality:** Can host EC2 instances, Lambda functions, and S3 API endpoints for storage.
  • **Edge Use:** Machine learning inference, industrial control systems.
🚛

Snowmobile

A 45-foot ruggedized shipping container pulled by a semi-trailer truck. Used for migrating data center or exabyte-scale data in the most efficient physical manner.

  • **Capacity:** Up to 100 PB (Petabytes) per truck.
  • **Networking:** Requires a high-speed, 1 Tb/s network connection in the data center.
  • **Security:** Includes climate control, GPS tracking, and security personnel.
  • **Use Case:** Full data center shutdown and migration.

3. Edge Computing vs. Migration

While all devices can be used for data transfer, Snowcone and Snowball Edge are specifically designed to serve as miniature, temporary AWS regions at the edge.

Snowball Edge Compute

  • **EC2 Support:** Run EC2 instances directly on the device using AMIs, enabling local processing and filtering of data before it moves to the cloud.
  • **EKS Anywhere:** Supports running containerized applications using Amazon EKS Anywhere, bringing cloud orchestration to remote sites.
  • **Disconnection Tolerance:** Ideal for environments where network connectivity is lost for days or weeks (e.g., ships, remote scientific research).

If it takes longer than a week to upload your data over the wire, the Snow Family is the answer.

AWS Fundamentals Series: AWS Snow Family (Snowcone, Snowball, Snowmobile)