AWS Snowball FAQs

AWS Snowball is a service that provides secure, rugged devices, so you can bring AWS computing and storage capabilities to your edge environments, and transfer data into and out of AWS. Those rugged devices are commonly referred to as AWS Snowball or AWS Snowball Edge devices. The AWS Snowball service operates on-board computing capabilities as well as storage.

AWS Snowball Edge is an edge computing and data transfer device provided by the AWS Snowball service. It has on-board storage and compute power that provides select AWS services for use in edge locations. Snowball Edge comes in two options, Storage Optimized and Compute Optimized, to support local data processing and collection in disconnected environments such as ships, windmills, and remote factories. Learn more about its features here.

No. For data transfer needs now, please select the Snowball Edge Storage Optimized 210TB devices.

You start by requesting one or more Snowball Edge Compute Optimized or Snowball Edge Storage Optimized devices in the AWS Management Console based on how much data you need to transfer and the compute needed for local processing. The buckets, data, Amazon EC2 AMIs, and Lambda functions you select are automatically configured, encrypted, and preinstalled on your devices before they are shipped to you. Once a device arrives, you connect it to your local network and set the IP address either manually or automatically with DHCP. Then use the Snowball Edge client software, job manifest, and unlock code to verify the integrity of the Snowball Edge device or cluster, and unlock it for use. The manifest and unlock code are uniquely generated and crypto-logically bound to your account and the Snowball Edge shipped to you, and cannot be used with any other devices. Data copied to Snowball Edge is automatically encrypted and stored in the buckets you specify.

All logistics and shipping is done by Amazon, so when copying is complete and the device is ready to be returned, the E Ink shipping label will automatically update the return address, ensuring that the Snowball Edge device is delivered to the correct AWS facility. Once the device ships, you can receive tracking status via messages sent by Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS), generated texts and emails, or directly from the console.

All of the management for your Snowball Edge resources can be performed in the AWS management console and these operations require system engineers.

AWS Snowball Edge Storage Optimized is the optimal choice if you need to securely and quickly transfer dozens of terabytes to petabytes of data to AWS. We recommend using Snowball Edge Compute Optimized for use cases that require access to powerful compute and high-speed storage for data processing before transferring it into AWS. It is a good fit for high-resolution video processing, advanced IoT data analytics, and real-time optimization of machine learning models in environments with limited connectivity. For more details, see the documentation.

Consider Snowball Edge if you need to run computing in rugged, austere, mobile, or disconnected (or intermittently connected) environments. Also consider it for large-scale data transfers and migrations when bandwidth is not available for use of a high-speed online transfer service, such as AWS DataSync.

AWS Snowball Edge Storage Optimized is the optimal data transfer choice if you need to securely and quickly transfer terabytes to petabytes of data to AWS. You can use Snowball Edge Storage Optimized if you have a large backlog of data to transfer or if you frequently collect data that needs to be transferred to AWS and your storage is in an area where high-bandwidth internet connections are not available or cost-prohibitive.

You can also use Snowball Edge to run edge computing workloads, such as performing local analysis of data on a Snowball Edge cluster and writing it to the Amazon S3 compatible endpoint. You can streamline it into existing workflows leveraging built-in capabilities such as the NFS file interface and migrate files to the device while maintaining file metadata.

AWS Snowball Edge can operate in remote locations or harsh operating environments, such as factory floors, oil and gas rigs, mining sites, hospitals, and on moving vehicles. Snowball Edge is pre-configured and does not have to be connected to the internet, so processing and data collection can take place within isolated operating environments. Snowball Edge allows you to run the same software at the edge and access select AWS capabilities as you would with full connectivity to AWS.

No. Snowball Edge is intended to serve as a data transport solution for moving high volumes of data into and out of a designated AWS Region. For use cases that require data transfer between AWS Regions, we recommend using S3 Cross-Region Replication as an alternative.

You can transfer virtually any amount of data with Snowball Edge, from a few terabytes to many petabytes. You can transfer up to approximately 210 TB with a single Snowball Edge Storage Optimized device and can transfer even larger data sets with multiple devices, either in parallel, or sequentially.

Data transfer speed is affected by a number of factors including local network speed, file size, and the speed at which data can be read from your local servers. The total time to transfer 210 TB data includes the time taken to load and unload data from the device, the time involved in shipping the devices to and from your location. This timeline does not include the up to 4 weeks of time we may take to provision and prepare a Snowball device for your job.

For security purposes, jobs using an AWS Snowball Edge device must be completed within 360 days of being prepared. If you need to keep one or more devices for longer than 360 days, contact AWS Support. Otherwise, after 360 days, the device becomes locked, can no longer be accessed, and must be returned. If the AWS Snowball Edge device becomes locked during an import job, we can still transfer the existing data on the device into Amazon S3.

Please see the AWS Snowball Features page for feature details and the Snowball Edge documentation page for a complete list of hardware specs, including network connections, thermal and power requirements, decibel output, and dimensions.

As a default, Snowball Edge uses two-day shipping by UPS. You can choose expedited shipping if your jobs are time-sensitive. This timeline does not include the up to 4 weeks of time we may take to provision and prepare a Snowball device for your job.

Once you place a job order for a Snowball device, we will provision, prepare, and ship the device. This provisioning process may take up to 4 weeks from the time of order placement. This timeline should be factored into your project plan to ensure a seamless transition.

Check the Regional Service Availability pages for the latest information. 

No. AWS Snowball Edge devices are designed to be requested and used within the same AWS Region where your S3 bucket is located. The device may not be requested from one Region and returned to another. Snowball Edge devices used for imports or exports from an AWS Region in the EU may be used with any of the other EU countries. Check the Regional Service Availability pages for the latest information.

AWS Snowball Edge encrypts all data with 256-bit encryption. You manage your encryption keys by using the AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS). Your keys are never stored on the device and all memory is erased when it is disconnected and returned to AWS.

In addition to using a tamper-resistant enclosure, Snowball Edge uses industry-standard Trusted Platform Modules (TPM) designed to detect any unauthorized modifications to the hardware, firmware, or software. AWS visually and cryptographically inspects every device for any signs of tampering and to verify that no changes were detected by the TPM.

AWS Snowball Edge is designed with security in mind for the most sensitive data. All data is encrypted by keys provided by you through AWS Key Management Service (KMS). The keys are not permanently stored on the device and are erased after loss of power. Applications and Lambda functions run in a physically isolated environment and do not have access to storage. Lastly, after your data has been transferred to AWS, your data is erased from the device using standards defined by National Institute of Standards and Technology. Snowball Edge devices are hardened against attack and all configuration files are encrypted and signed with keys that are never present on the device.

AWS Snowball Edge uses an innovative, E Ink shipping label designed to ensure the device is automatically sent to the correct AWS facility. When you have completed your data transfer job, you can track it by using Amazon SNS generated text messages or emails, and the console.

Yes. To receive a history of Snowball API calls made on your account, you simply turn on CloudTrail in the AWS Management Console; The following API calls in Snowball are not recorded and delivered: DescribeAddress (in response), CreateAddress (in request), DescribeAddresses (in response).

After you have connected and activated the Snowball Edge, you can transfer data from local sources to the device through the S3-compatible endpoint or the NFS file interface, both available on the device. You can also use the Snowball client to copy data. To learn more, please refer to the Snowball Edge documentation.

Wait to confirm that the Snowball Edge has been received by AWS and your data has successfully been transferred into appropriate S3 buckets prior to you deleting any data on your disk(s). While AWS verifies the integrity of files copied to Snowball Edge during the S3 transfer, it is your responsibility to verify the integrity of data before deleting it from your disk(s). AWS is not liable for any lost or corrupted data during copy or transit.

When the data transfer job is complete, the E Ink display on the Snowball Edge automatically updates the return shipping label to indicate the correct AWS facility to ship to. Just drop off the Snowball Edge at the nearest UPS and you're all set. You can track the status of your transfer job through Amazon SNS generated text messages or emails, or directly in the AWS Management Console.

Yes. You can stop the data ingestion to an Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) bucket by cancelling the job in the AWS Snowball Management Console or by contacting AWS support.

No. AWS uses an automated workflow process to securely delete the data ingest and clean the returned device with a complete erasure of the Snowball device according to NIST 800-88 standards. Additionally, it is not possible to return the same device back to you after the data import is complete.

In addition to the Export job fees detailed on our pricing page, you will also be charged all fees incurred to retrieve your data from Amazon S3.

We typically start exporting your data within 24 hours of receiving your request, and exporting data can take as long as a week. Once the job is complete and the device is ready, we ship it to you using the shipping options you selected when you created the job.

Yes. AWS saves an import log report to your bucket. This report contains per file information including the date and time of the upload, the Amazon S3 key, MD5 checksum, and number of bytes. For more details, see the documentation.

The Snowball export job from Amazon S3 workflow does not have access to the objects stored in the Amazon S3 Glacier or Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive storage classes. You must first restore these objects from the Glacier or Glacier Deep archive for a minimum of 10 days or until the Snowball export job completes to ensure that these restored objects are successfully copied to the Snowball device.

Large Data Migration Manager helps you plan, and monitor your large data migration from 500TB minimum to petabytes of data. First, Large Data Migration Manager enables you to create a plan for your migration projects that use multiple AWS Snowball devices to complete your petabyte scale data migration or data movement from the rugged, mobile edge. Creating a plan helps you and your partners onboard to Snowball and align on project goals such as data size to be migrated and project duration. Once a plan is in place, Large Data Migration Manager provides a central location in AWS Snowball management console for you to stay updated with the progress of all your Snowball jobs (number of outstanding jobs, current data ingested etc.), and view estimated schedules for placing the next job orders. Finally, you can control the project plan as you monitor the migration and can extend or end the migration when you deem appropriate.  

Prior to the Large Data Migration Manager launch, you had to track all of this information yourself and spend time coordinating with your partners and AWS for tracking data ingestion progress and placing job orders. Large Data Migration Manager saves you time and effort by keeping track of all project details and allows you to focus on your overall goal of data migration. 

You start by creating a data migration or data movement project plan in the AWS Management Console. To create a plan, you are prompted for your import job type specifics that includes plan name, service access roles and notification preference. Once a plan is created, you need to create a site where the Snowball devices will be shipped. Site information details include name and shipping address for each site, data size amount, number of concurrent Snowball jobs, Snowball job type, Snowball device, fill rate (as per the last monitored data), project start and end dates. After you create your site, you can review your automatically created Snowball job ordering schedule, which helps you know when to order your Snowball jobs. You can either clone from prior existing jobs or add a job that was already created to the site.  

You can update your project plan in one of two ways: (1) you modify your plan information by updating data size amount, number of concurrent Snowball jobs, or (2) Snowball’s Data Migration Manager calculates the average Snowball job duration (from order creation to completion) and average fill rate on a per site basis to automatically adjust your plan. Data Migration Manager then uses these plan updates to adjust your ordering schedule to inform you of your project status and if additional Snowball jobs are required. 

You monitor your Snowball jobs using the Data Migration Manager dashboard or viewing your project plan summary. Using the Data Migration Manager dashboard, you can quickly monitor project status and identify issues at a glance. With this new capability, you can track your overall migration or data movement transfer progress, time remaining, Snowball job status, site status, average Snowball job fill rate, average Snowball job duration, and upcoming order schedule across your plan and site. 

No. Large Data Migration Manager is available to customers using AWS Snowball. 

Large Data Migration Manager is available in all commercial regions where AWS Snowball Edge devices are available.

AWS OpsHub is an application that you can download from the Snowball resources page. It offers a graphical user interface for managing the AWS Snowball devices. AWS OpsHub makes it easy to setup and manage AWS Snowball devices enabling you to rapidly deploy edge computing workloads and simplify data migration to the cloud. With just a few clicks in AWS OpsHub, you can unlock and configure devices, drag-and-drop data to devices, launch and manage EC2 instances on devices, or monitor device metrics. AWS OpsHub is available globally at no extra charge.

AWS OpsHub is an application that you can download and install on any Windows or Mac client machine, such as a laptop. Once you have installed AWS OpsHub and have your AWS Snowball device on site, open AWS OpsHub and unlock the device. You will then be presented with a dashboard showing your device and its system metrics. You can then begin deploying your edge applications or migrating your data to the device with just a few clicks.

Yes. However, the task automation features are available for only Snowball devices ordered after AWS OpsHub launched on April 16, 2020. All other functionality will be available for all devices, including those ordered before AWS OpsHub launched.

You use AWS OpsHub to manage and operate your AWS Snowball devices and the AWS services that run on them. AWS OpsHub is an application that runs on a local client machine, such as a laptop, and can operate in disconnected or connected environments. In contrast, you use the AWS Management Console to manage and operate the AWS services running in the cloud. The AWS Management Console is a web-based application that operates when you have a connection to the internet.

AWS OpsHub will automatically check for AWS OpsHub software updates when the client machine that AWS OpsHub is running on is connected to the internet. When there is a software update, you will be notified on the application and will be given the option to download and update the latest software. Additionally, you can visit the Snowball resources page and check for the latest version of AWS OpsHub.

Yes. When you copy data to AWS Snowball devices using AWS OpsHub, checksums are used to ensure that the data you copy to the device is the same as the original. Also, all data written to AWS Snowball devices is encrypted by default.

Please see our AWS Snowball Edge pricing page for pricing details.

Snowball Edge transfers data on your behalf into AWS services such as Amazon S3. Standard AWS service charges apply. Data transferred IN to AWS does not incur any data transfer fees, and Standard Amazon S3 pricing fees apply for data stored in S3.

There is an additional charge for Amazon S3 compatible storage with increased resiliency, scale and expanded API feature-set. The pricing is based on S3 capacity provisioned at the time of placing order. Please see our pricing page for details.

No, there is no additional charge for this feature.

Devices are only available on a per-job pay-as-you-go basis, and are not available for purchase.

Yes. The Snowball Job Management API provides programmatic access to the job creation and management features of a Snowball or Snowball Edge. It is a simple, standards-based REST web service interface, designed to work with any Internet development environment.

The AWS Snowball Job Management API allows partners and customers to build custom integrations to manage the process of requesting Snowballs and communicating job status. The API provides a simple web service interface that you can use to create, list, update, and cancel jobs from anywhere on the web. Using this web service, developers can easily build applications that manage Snowball jobs. To learn more, please refer to AWS Snowball documentation.

The S3 SDK Adapter for Snowball provides an S3-compatible interface for reading and writing data on a Snowball or Snowball Edge for data migration use cases.

The S3 Adapter allows customers to help applications write data from file and non-file sources to S3 buckets on the Snowball or Snowball Edge device. It also includes interfaces to copy data with the same encryption as is available through the Snowball client. To learn more, please refer to the AWS Snowball documentation.

The Snowball Client is a turnkey tool that makes it easier to copy file-based data to Snowball. Customers who prefer a tighter integration can use the S3 Adapter to easily extend their existing applications and workflows to seamlessly integrate with Snowball for data migration use cases.

The S3 Adapter writes data using the same advanced encryption mechanism that the Snowball Client provides.

The S3 Adapter communicates over REST which is language-agnostic.

You use Amazon S3 compatible storage on AWS Snowball to run applications that require S3 object storage in rugged, mobile edge or disconnected environments for local data processing or residency use cases. For example, applications that leverage Amazon S3 in Region for machine learning inference or data analytics can now be deployed on Snowball devices at the edge to make real-time decisions proximal to end users, or to meet data residency requirements.

Amazon S3 compatible storage on AWS Snowball supports bucket and object APIs such as GetObject, PutObject, DeleteObject(s), multi part uploads, object tagging, CreateBuckets, DeleteBuckets, BucketLifecycle and List. Amazon S3 compatible storage on Snowball supports encryption using SSE-S3 or SSE-C, authentication and authorization using Snowball IAM, advanced features such as built-in resiliency, and flexible multi-node (3-16) deployment options. Amazon S3 compatible storage on Snowball is an enhancement to the current S3 Adapter implementation on Snowball, which has limited API support designed primarily for data transfer use cases

Amazon S3 compatible storage is available on AWS Snowball Edge Compute and Storage Optimized devices for local edge compute and storage use case.

Amazon S3 compatible storage on Snowball continuously monitors health status of device or cluster. Background processes respond to data inconsistencies and temporary failures to heal and recover data in order to ensure resiliency. In the case of non-recoverable hardware failures, Amazon S3 compatible storage on Snowball can continue operations, and provides proactive notifications through emails, prompting customers to work with AWS to replace failed devices. While devices are connected, AWS also receives these notifications when remote monitoring feature is turned on, for proactive customer engagement. Service and device health status are available to you locally on OpsHub at all times.

Yes. Data stored in Amazon S3 compatible storage on Snowball is encrypted using server-side encryption. Amazon S3 compatible storage on Snowball supports both SSE-S3 and SSE-C encryption option. Server-side encryption encrypts only the object data, not object metadata.

S3 capacity on Amazon S3 compatible storage on Snow depends on the quantity and type of Snow device. For single node deployments, you can provision granular S3 compatible capacity from 2.5TB on SBE-CO devices up to 190TB in SBE-SO devices. For cluster deployments, you can provision up to a maximum of 2.6 PB of usable S3 compatible capacity in a 16 node cluster of Snowball Edge Storage Optimized 210TB devices.