Amazon Snowball Features

Snowball Edge devices feature high-speed network connections, supporting 10 Gbps to 100 Gbps links with RJ45, SFP+ and QSFP+ copper, and optical interfaces. All encryption is performed on the device itself, helping enable a higher data throughput rate and shorter data transfer times. For device specific networking specifications, please see Snowball Edge documentation.

Amazon OpsHub is a graphical user interface that makes it easy to set up and manage Amazon Snowball devices enabling you to rapidly deploy edge computing workloads and simplify data migration to the cloud. You can download and install Amazon OpsHub on any Windows or Mac client machine, such as a laptop.

You can cluster multiple Snowball Edge devices when running edge computing jobs to create a local storage tier with increased durability for your on-premises applications. When creating a new job in the Console, select the option to make a cluster. In the event of a device failure, a replacement device can be ordered easily through the Console. This functionality is available for local storage and compute jobs and is not enabled for data transfer jobs.

Applications can work with Snowball Edge object storage through an S3-compatible endpoint accessed through the S3 SDK or CLI. For specific information, see the API documentation.

You can run block storage on Snowball Edge Snowball Edge Storage Optimized device. You attach block storage volumes to Amazon EC2 instances using a subset of the Amazon EBS API that enable you to configure and manage volumes for EC2 instances on Snowball Edge devices. This makes it easier to develop applications in EC2, and then run them in disconnected and remote locations. Snowball Edge supports both performance optimized and capacity optimized volume types.

Applications can work with Snowball Edge as a NFS mount point. NFS v3 and v4.1 are supported so you can easily use Snowball Edge with your existing on-premises servers and file-based applications. Using the NFS interface allows simple file transfer to a Snowball Edge device when the S3 adapter is not feasible. The file system metadata is preserved until the files are converted into objects when they are transferred into your S3 bucket.

All data transferred to Amazon Snowball is automatically encrypted with 256-bit encryption keys that are managed by the Amazon Key Management Service (KMS). The encryption keys are never stored on the device to help ensure your data stays secure during transit.

Amazon Snowball Edge devices have a ruggedized case designed for durability and portability. A device weighs less than 50 pounds and can be moved by a single person.

Snowball Edge devices feature a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) that provides a hardware root of trust. The TPM also provides interfaces to the trusted software stack during the measurements and verification of the boot environment integrity after the power is switched on, and before the Snowball Edge device is ready to be used. Amazon Web Services also uses additional tamper-indicating inspection processes after each device is received back to the Amazon Web Services Region. This helps to ensure the integrity of the Amazon Snowball Edge device, and with the Amazon Snowball service’s encryption features, it helps preserve the confidentiality of your data.

Amazon Snowball devices use an innovative, E Ink shipping label designed to ensure the device is automatically sent to the correct Amazon Web Services facility and also aids in tracking. Once you have completed your data transfer job, it can be tracked via Amazon SNS, email messages, and via the Amazon Web Services Console.

Once the data transfer job has been processed and verified, Amazon Web Services performs a software erasure of the Snowball Edge device that follows the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines for media sanitization.

Check this Snowball Edge documentation page for the complete list of hardware specs, including interfaces, thermal and power requirements, decibel output, and dimensions.