Amazon Snowball Edge device differences - Amazon Snowball Edge Developer Guide
Snowball Edge device optionsUse Case DifferencesTool Differences
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Amazon Snowball Edge device differences

This guide contains documentation for Snowball Edge devices. You can use these devices to move terabytes of data into and out of Amazon S3. You can order them using the job management API or the Amazon Snow Family console. For frequently asked questions and pricing information, see Amazon Snowball.

Snowball Edge device options

Snowball Edge devices have the following options for device configurations:

  • Snowball Edge storage-optimized (for data transfer) – This Snowball Edge device option has 80 TB of usable storage capacity.

  • Snowball Edge storage-optimized 210 TB – This Snowball Edge device option has 210 TB of usable storage capacity.

  • Snowball Edge storage-optimized (with EC2-compatible compute functionality) – This Snowball Edge device option has up to 80 TB of usable storage capacity, 40 vCPUs, and 80 GB of memory for compute functionality. It also comes with 1 TB of additional SSD storage capacity for block volumes attached to Amazon EC2-compatible AMIs.

  • Snowball Edge compute-optimized – This Snowball Edge device (with AMD EPYC Gen2) has the most compute functionality, with up to 104 vCPUs, 416 GB of memory, and 28 TB of dedicated NVMe SSD for compute instances.

    Snowball Edge compute-optimized (with AMD EPYC Gen1) has up to 52 vCPUs, 208 GB of memory, 39.5 TB of usable storage capacity, and 7.68 TB of dedicated NVMe SSD for compute instances.

  • Snowball Edge compute-optimized with GPU – This Snowball Edge device option is identical to the compute-optimized (with AMD EPYC Gen1) option and includes an installed graphics processing unit (GPU). The GPU is equivalent to the one available in the P3 Amazon EC2-compatible instance type.

Note

When using Amazon S3 compatible storage on Snow Family devices on these devices, usable storage will vary. See Using Amazon S3 compatible storage on Snow Family devices on Snow Family devices for storage capacity with Amazon S3 compatible storage on Snow Family devices.

For more information about the compute functionality of these three options, see Using Amazon EC2-compatible compute instances. Job creation and disk capacity differences in terabytes are described here.

Note

When we refer to Snowball Edge devices, this includes all optional variants of the device. When information applies to one or more specific optional configurations (such as how the Snowball Edge compute-optimized with GPU option has an on-board GPU peripheral), we mention this explicitly.

The following table summarizes the differences between the various device options. For hardware specification information, see Amazon Snowball Edge Device Specifications.

Snowball Edge storage-optimized (for data transfer) Snowball Edge storage-optimized 210 TB Snowball Edge storage-optimized (with EC2 compute functionality) Snowball Edge compute-optimized with AMD EPYC Gen2 and NVME Snowball Edge compute-optimized with AMD EPYC Gen1, HDD, and optional GPU
CPU AMD Naples, 32 cores, 3.4Ghz AMD Rome, 64 cores, 2 GHz AMD Naples, 32 cores, 3.4Ghz AMD Rome, 64 cores, 2 GHz AMD Naples, 32 cores, 3.4Ghz
vCPUs 40 104 40 104 52
Usable memory 80 GB 416 GB 80 GB 416 GB 208 GB
Security card Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
GPU (optional) None None None None NVidia V100
SSD 1 TB SATA 210 TB NVMe 1 TB SATA 28 TB NVMe 7.68 TB NVMe
Usable HDD 80 TB Not applicable 80 TB Not applicable 39.5 TB usable
Network interfaces

  • 2x 10 Gbit – RJ45 (one usable)

  • 1x 25 Gbit – SFP28

  • 1x 100 Gbit – QSFP28

  • 2x 10 Gbit – RJ45 (one usable)

  • 1x 25 Gbit – SFP28

  • 1x 100 Gbit – QSFP28

  • 2x 10 Gbit – RJ45 (one usable)

  • 1x 25 Gbit – SFP28

  • 1x 100 Gbit – QSFP28

  • 2x 10 Gbit – RJ45 (one usable)

  • 1x 25 Gbit – SFP28

  • 1x 100 Gbit – QSFP28

  • 2x 10 Gbit – RJ45 (one usable)

  • 1x 25 Gbit – SFP28

  • 1x 100 Gbit – QSFP28
Physical security features

  • Hidden magnetic screws

  • Intrusion switches

  • NFC tags

  • Anti-tamper inserts

  • Android app for tamper detection

  • GPS and cellular

  • Conformal coating

  • Hidden magnetic screws

  • Intrusion switches

  • NFC tags

  • Anti-tamper inserts

  • Android app for tamper detection

  • Conformal coating

  • Hidden magnetic screws

  • Intrusion switches

  • NFC tags

  • Anti-tamper inserts

  • Android app for tamper detection

  • GPS and cellular

  • Conformal coating

  • Hidden magnetic screws

  • Intrusion switches

  • NFC tags

  • Anti-tamper inserts

  • Android app for tamper detection

  • Conformal coating

  • Hidden magnetic screws

  • Intrusion switches

  • NFC tags

  • Anti-tamper inserts

  • Android app for tamper detection

  • Conformal coating

Amazon Snow Family use case differences

The following table shows the use cases for the different Amazon Snow Family devices.

Use case Snowball Edge Amazon Snowcone
Import data into Amazon S3 ✓ ✓
Export from Amazon S3 ✓
Durable local storage ✓
Local compute with Amazon Lambda ✓ ✓
Local compute instances ✓ ✓
Durable Amazon S3 storage in a cluster of devices ✓
Use with Amazon IoT Greengrass (IoT) ✓ ✓
Transfer files through NFS with a GUI ✓ ✓
GPU workloads ✓
Note

Workloads that need GPU support require the Snowball Edge compute-optimized with GPU option.

Snowball Edge storage-optimized 210TB supports data transfer via NFS, S3 adapter, and Amazon S3 compatible storage on Snow Family devices.

Amazon Snow Family Tool Differences

The following outlines the different tools used with the Snow Family devices, and how they are used.

Snowball Edge Tools

Amazon OpsHub for Snow Family

  • Snow Family devices now offer a user-friendly tool called Amazon OpsHub for Snow Family, which you can use to manage your devices and local Amazon services. You can use Amazon OpsHub on a client computer to perform tasks such as unlocking and configuring single or clustered devices, transferring files, and launching and managing instances running on Snow Family devices. For more information, see Using Amazon OpsHub for Snow Family to Manage Snowball Devices.

Snowball Edge client with Snowball Edge

  • Download the Snowball Edge client from the Amazon Snowball Edge Resources page and install it on your own computer.

  • Use the Snowball Edge client to unlock the Snowball Edge or the cluster of Snowball Edge devices. For more information, see Using the Snowball Edge Client.

  • You can't use the Snowball Edge client to transfer data to or from Snow Family devices.

Amazon S3 adapter with Snowball Edge

  • Use the Amazon S3 adapter for data transfer to or from Amazon.

  • Is already installed on the Snowball Edge by default for export or import jobs. It does not need to be downloaded or installed.

  • Can transfer data to or from the Snowball Edge. For more information, see Transferring files using the Amazon S3 adapter for data migration.

  • Encrypts data on the Snowball Edge while the data is transferred to the device.

Amazon S3 compatible storage on Snow Family devices

  • Use Amazon S3 compatible storage on Snow Family devices for edge compute and storage operations.

  • The Amazon S3 compatible storage on Snow Family devices service is installed on a Snowball Edge device when chosen during job creation. To configure, start, and use the service, see Amazon S3 compatible storage on Snow Family devices in this guide.

Amazon IoT Greengrass console with Snowball Edge

  • With a Snowball Edge, you can use the Amazon IoT Greengrass console to update your Amazon IoT Greengrass group and the core running on the Snowball Edge.

Items Provided for Snowball Edge

The following outlines the network adapters, cables used, and cables provided for the Snowball Edge device.

Network interface Snowball Edge support Cables provided with device
RJ45 ✓ Not provided.
SFP28 ✓ Not provided.
SFP28 (with optic connector) ✓ No cables provided. No optic connector provided for Snowball Edge devices.
QSFP ✓ No cables or optics provided.

For more information about the network interfaces, cables, and connectors, see Supported Network Hardware.