AWS Outposts rack is delivered as an industry-standard 42U rack. The Outposts rack is 80 inches (203.2cm) tall, 24 inches (60.96cm) wide, and 48 inches (121.92cm) deep. Inside we have hosts, switches, a network patch panel, a power shelf, and blank panels. Outposts racks are designed for high availability with redundant network switches and power connections. Customers can also provision their Outposts rack with additional capacity for additional resiliency.
AWS delivers it to your preferred physical site fully assembled and ready to be rolled into final position. It is installed by AWS and the rack needs to be simply plugged into power and network.
Each Outposts rack comes pre-configured with a mix of EC2 instance capacity and EBS storage volumes that you choose from a pre-curated catalog of configurations.
The hosts populating the Outposts rack are typically 1U or 2U and 21 inches wide.
Supported EC2 instances include
General Purpose M5
Compute Intensive C5
Memory Intensive R5
Graphics Optimized G4
I/O Intensive i3en
AWS Outposts rack catalog includes options supporting the latest generation Intel powered EC2 instance types with or without local instance storage.
Seamlessly extend your existing Amazon VPC from an AWS Region to an Outpost in your on-premises location. Use the same VPC components that are accessible in the Region including internet gateways, virtual private gateways, Amazon VPC Transit Gateways, and VPC endpoints.
Uplink speed
Number of uplinks
1 Gbps
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
10 Gbps
1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 16
40 Gbps
1, 2, 3, 4
100 Gbps
1, 2, 3, 4
After installation, you can create a subnet in your regional VPC and associate it with an Outpost just as you associate subnets with an Availability Zone in an AWS Region. Instances in Outpost subnets communicate with other instances in the AWS Region using private IP addresses, all within the same VPC.
Network Switches
Every Outposts rack has two physical network devices that attach to your local network. To connect to your local network you will need a minimum of two physical links between these Outposts rack network devices and your local network devices. AWS provides the optics that are compatible with the fiber that you provide at the rack position.
Patch panels
AWS Outposts rack supports the following uplink speeds and quantities for each Outposts rack network device.
The uplink speed and quantity are symmetrical on each Outposts rack network device. If you use 100 Gbps as the uplink speed, you must configure the link with forward error correction (FEC CL91). Outpost racks can support single-mode fiber (SMF) with Lucent Connector (LC), multimode fiber (MMF), or MMF OM4 with LC.
An AWS Outposts rack uses a centralized redundant power conversion unit and a DC distribution system in the backplane. This is handled with line mate connectors so you need to just snap the host into place to provide power. This improves reliability, cost, serviceability, and energy efficiency.
AWS is responsible for protecting Outposts rack's infrastructure similar to how it secures infrastructure in the AWS Regions today. Customers are responsible for securing their applications running on Outposts rack as they do in the Region today.
Additionally, customers are responsible for the physical security of their Outpost racks, and for ensuring consistent networking to the Outpost.
Lockable door
AWS Outposts rack comes with built-in tamper detection. It is an enclosed rack with a lockable door.
Nitro Cards
Every host on an Outposts rack has a Nitro Chip. The Nitro System enables the most secure cloud platform that continuously monitors, protects, and verifies the instance hardware and firmware. Virtualization resources are offloaded to dedicated hardware and software minimizing the attack surface. Finally, Nitro System's security model is locked down and prohibits all administrative access, including those of Amazon employees, eliminating the possibility of human error and tampering.
Encryption key
AWS ensures that all your data is protected and remains in your control. All data is encrypted at rest in the Nitro System that is present in every host. The encryption key is wrapped to an external key stored in a removable device. This removable device is present in every host on the Outposts rack. Destroying the device is equivalent to destroying the data.
At the end of your Outposts rack term, when AWS removes the rack from the premises, you will also be required to destroy the device. This ensures your data won’t leave the premises.
AWS Outposts rack is delivered and installed by AWS technicians into a facility of your choice.
Casters and stands
Outposts racks come in casters to easily roll the racks into the desired space in your facility. Stands are installed in-place.
Facility requirements
Temperature and humidity – Airflow in an Outposts rack is front-to-back cold aisle, hot aisle. The ambient temperature must be between 41º F (5º C) and 95º F (35º C). The relative humidity must be between 8 percent and 80 percent with no condensation.
Airflow – The rack position must provide at least 145.8 times the kVA of cubic feet per minute (CFM) airflow.
Loading dock – Your loading dock must accommodate a rack crate that is 94 inches (239 cm) high by 54 inches (138 cm) wide by 51 inches (130 cm) deep.
Weight support – The location where the rack will be installed and the path to that location must support the weight specified in the order summary at the rack point loads. This includes freight and standard elevators.
Clearance – The equipment is 80 inches (203 cm) high by 24 inches (61 cm) wide by 48 inches (122 cm) deep. Any doorways, hallways, turns, ramps, and elevators must provide sufficient clearance. At the final resting position, there must be a 24 inch (61 cm) wide by 48 inch (122 cm) deep area for the Outposts rack, with an additional 48 inches (122 cm) of front clearance and 24 inches (61 cm) of rear clearance. The total minimum area required for the Outposts rack is 24 inch (61 cm) wide by 10 feet (305 cm) deep.
The following diagram shows the total minimum area required for the Outposts rack, including clearance.
Seismic bracing – To the extent required by regulation or code, you will install and maintain appropriate seismic anchorage and bracing for the rack while it is in your facility.
Bonding point – We recommend that you provide a bonding wire / point at the rack position so that the AWS-certified technician can bond the racks during installation.
You will not change the facility in a way that negatively affects the ability of AWS to access, service, or remove the Outposts rack.
Elevation – The elevation of the room where the rack is installed must be below 10,005 feet (3,050 meters).
.9c29992870cc49eaef4f2800c908f06afa047358.jpg "Outposts rack Casters")
