Notifications for Snow Family devices - Amazon Snowball Edge Developer Guide
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Notifications for Snow Family devices

How Snow uses Amazon SNS

The Snow service is designed to take advantage of the robust notifications delivered by Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS). While creating a job to order a Snow device, you can provide email addresses to receive notifications for your job status changes. When you do this, you choose an existing SNS topic or create a new one. If the SNS topic is encrypted, you need to enable customer-managed KMS encryption for the topic and set up customer-managed KMS key policy. See Choose your notification preferences.

After you create your job, every email address that you specified to get Amazon SNS notifications receives an email message from Amazon notifications asking for confirmation to the topic subscription. A user of the email account must confirm the subscription by choosing Confirm subscription. The Amazon SNS notification emails are tailored for each job status, and include a link to the Amazon Snow Family Management Console.

You can also configure Amazon SNS to send text messages for status change notifications from the Amazon SNS console. For more information, see Mobile text messaging (SMS) in the Amazon Simple Notification Service Developer Guide.

Encrypting SNS topics for Snow job status changes

Enable customer-managed KMS encryption for the SNS topic for Snow job status change notifications. SNS topics encrypted with Amazon-managed encryption cannot receive Snow job status changes because the Snow import IAM role does not have access to the Amazon-managed KMS key to perform Decrypt and GenerateDataKey actions. Additionally, policies of Amazon-managed KMS keys cannot be edited.

To enable server-side encryption for an SNS topic using the Amazon SNS management console
  1. Sign in to the Amazon Web Services Management Console and open the Amazon SNS console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/sns/v3/home.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Topics.

  3. In the Topics page, choose the topic used for job status change notifications, then choose Edit.

  4. Expand the Encryption section and do the following:

    1. Choose Enable encryption.

    2. Specify the Amazon KMS key. See

    3. For each KMS type, the description, account, and KMS ARN are displayed.

  5. To use a custom key from your Amazon account, choose the Amazon KMS key field and then choose the custom KMS kms from the list. For instructions on creating custom KMS, see Creating keys in the Amazon Key Management Service Developer Guide.

    To use a custom KMS ARN from your Amazon account or from another Amazon account, enter the KMS key ARN in the Amazon KMS key field.

  6. Choose Save changes. Server side encryption is enabled for your topic and the topic page is displayed.

Setting up a customer-managed KMS key policy

After enabling encryption for SNS topics that will receive notifications for Snow job status changes, update the KMS policy for the SNS topic encryption and allow the Snow service principal "importexport.amazonaws.com" for "mks:Decrypt" and "mks:GenerateDataKey*" actions.

To allow the import export service role in the KMS key policy
  1. Sign in to the Amazon Web Services Management Console and open the Amazon Key Management Service (Amazon KMS) console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/kms.

  2. To change the Amazon Web Services Region, use the Region selector in the upper-right corner of the page.

  3. At the top-right corner of the console, change the Amazon Web Services Region of the console to the same region as the Snow device was ordered from.

  4. In the navigation pane, choose Customer managed keys.

  5. IN the list of KMS keys, choose the alias or key ID of the KMS key to update.

  6. Choose the Key policy tab, in the key policy statements, you can see the principals that have been given access to the KMS key by the key policy, and you can see the actions they can perform.

  7. For the Snow service principal "importexport.amazonaws.com", add the following policy statement for "kms:Decrypt" and "kms:GenerateDataKey*" actions:

    { "Effect": "Allow", "Principal": { "Service": "service.amazonaws.com" }, "Action": [ "kms:Decrypt", "kms:GenerateDataKey" ], "Resource": "*", "Condition": { "ArnLike": { "aws:SourceArn": "arn:aws:service:region:customer-account-id:resource-type/customer-resource-id" }, "StringEquals": { "kms:EncryptionContext:aws:sns:topicArn": "arn:aws:sns:your_region:customer-account-id:your_sns_topic_name" } } }
  8. Choose Save Changes to apply the changes and exit the policy editor.

SNS notification examples

Amazon SNS notifications produce the following email messages when your job status changes. These messages are examples of the Email-JSON SNS topic protocol.

Job status SNS notification JSON
Job created
{ "Type" : "Notification", "MessageId" : "dc1e94d9-56c5-5e96-808d-cc7f68faa162", "TopicArn" : "arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1", "Message" : "Your job Job-name (JID8bca334a-6c2f-4cd0-97e2-3f5a4dc9bd6d) has been created. More info - https://console.aws.amazon.com/importexport", "Timestamp" : "2023-02-23T00:27:58.831Z", "SignatureVersion" : "1", "Signature" : "FMG5tlZhJNHLHUXvZgtZzlk24FzVa7oX0T4P03neeXw8ZEXZx6z35j2FOTuNYShn2h0bKNC/zLTnMyIxEzmi2X1shOBWsJHkrW2xkR58ABZF+4uWHEE73yDVR4SyYAikP9jstZzDRm+bcVs8+T0yaLiEGLrIIIL4esi1llhIkgErCuy5btPcWXBdio2fpCRD5x9oR6gmE/rd5O7lX1c1uvnv4r1Lkk4pqP2/iUfxFZva1xLSRvgyfm6D9hNklVyPfy+7TalMD0lzmJuOrExtnSIbZew3foxgx8GT+lbZkLd0ZdtdRJlIyPRP44eyq78sU0Eo/LsDr0Iak4ZDpg8dXg==", "SigningCertURL" : "https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/SimpleNotificationService-010a507c1833636cd94bdb98bd93083a.pem", "UnsubscribeURL" : "https://sns.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/?Action=Unsubscribe&SubscriptionArn=arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1:e1039402-24e7-40a3-a0d4-797da162b297" }
Preparing appliance
{ "Type" : "Notification", "MessageId" : "dc1e94d9-56c5-5e96-808d-cc7f68faa162", "TopicArn" : "arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1", "Message" : "Your job Job-name (JID8bca334a-6c2f-4cd0-97e2-3f5a4dc9bd6d) is being prepared. More info - https://console.aws.amazon.com/importexport", "Timestamp" : "2023-02-23T00:27:58.831Z", "SignatureVersion" : "1", "Signature" : "FMG5tlZhJNHLHUXvZgtZzlk24FzVa7oX0T4P03neeXw8ZEXZx6z35j2FOTuNYShn2h0bKNC/zLTnMyIxEzmi2X1shOBWsJHkrW2xkR58ABZF+4uWHEE73yDVR4SyYAikP9jstZzDRm+bcVs8+T0yaLiEGLrIIIL4esi1llhIkgErCuy5btPcWXBdio2fpCRD5x9oR6gmE/rd5O7lX1c1uvnv4r1Lkk4pqP2/iUfxFZva1xLSRvgyfm6D9hNklVyPfy+7TalMD0lzmJuOrExtnSIbZew3foxgx8GT+lbZkLd0ZdtdRJlIyPRP44eyq78sU0Eo/LsDr0Iak4ZDpg8dXg==", "SigningCertURL" : "https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/SimpleNotificationService-010a507c1833636cd94bdb98bd93083a.pem", "UnsubscribeURL" : "https://sns.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/?Action=Unsubscribe&SubscriptionArn=arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1:e1039402-24e7-40a3-a0d4-797da162b297" }
Exporting
{ "Type" : "Notification", "MessageId" : "dc1e94d9-56c5-5e96-808d-cc7f68faa162", "TopicArn" : "arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1", "Message" : "Your job Job-name (JID8bca334a-6c2f-4cd0-97e2-3f5a4dc9bd6d) is being Exported. More info - https://console.aws.amazon.com/importexport", "Timestamp" : "2023-02-23T00:27:58.831Z", "SignatureVersion" : "1", "Signature" : "FMG5tlZhJNHLHUXvZgtZzlk24FzVa7oX0T4P03neeXw8ZEXZx6z35j2FOTuNYShn2h0bKNC/zLTnMyIxEzmi2X1shOBWsJHkrW2xkR58ABZF+4uWHEE73yDVR4SyYAikP9jstZzDRm+bcVs8+T0yaLiEGLrIIIL4esi1llhIkgErCuy5btPcWXBdio2fpCRD5x9oR6gmE/rd5O7lX1c1uvnv4r1Lkk4pqP2/iUfxFZva1xLSRvgyfm6D9hNklVyPfy+7TalMD0lzmJuOrExtnSIbZew3foxgx8GT+lbZkLd0ZdtdRJlIyPRP44eyq78sU0Eo/LsDr0Iak4ZDpg8dXg==", "SigningCertURL" : "https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/SimpleNotificationService-010a507c1833636cd94bdb98bd93083a.pem", "UnsubscribeURL" : "https://sns.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/?Action=Unsubscribe&SubscriptionArn=arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1:e1039402-24e7-40a3-a0d4-797da162b297" }
In transit to you
{ "Type" : "Notification", "MessageId" : "dc1e94d9-56c5-5e96-808d-cc7f68faa162", "TopicArn" : "arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1", "Message" : "Your job Job-name (JID8bca334a-6c2f-4cd0-97e2-3f5a4dc9bd6d) is in transit to you. More info - https://console.aws.amazon.com/importexport", "Timestamp" : "2023-02-23T00:27:58.831Z", "SignatureVersion" : "1", "Signature" : "FMG5tlZhJNHLHUXvZgtZzlk24FzVa7oX0T4P03neeXw8ZEXZx6z35j2FOTuNYShn2h0bKNC/zLTnMyIxEzmi2X1shOBWsJHkrW2xkR58ABZF+4uWHEE73yDVR4SyYAikP9jstZzDRm+bcVs8+T0yaLiEGLrIIIL4esi1llhIkgErCuy5btPcWXBdio2fpCRD5x9oR6gmE/rd5O7lX1c1uvnv4r1Lkk4pqP2/iUfxFZva1xLSRvgyfm6D9hNklVyPfy+7TalMD0lzmJuOrExtnSIbZew3foxgx8GT+lbZkLd0ZdtdRJlIyPRP44eyq78sU0Eo/LsDr0Iak4ZDpg8dXg==", "SigningCertURL" : "https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/SimpleNotificationService-010a507c1833636cd94bdb98bd93083a.pem", "UnsubscribeURL" : "https://sns.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/?Action=Unsubscribe&SubscriptionArn=arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1:e1039402-24e7-40a3-a0d4-797da162b297" }
Delivered to you
{ "Type" : "Notification", "MessageId" : "dc1e94d9-56c5-5e96-808d-cc7f68faa162", "TopicArn" : "arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1", "Message" : "Your job Job-name (JID8bca334a-6c2f-4cd0-97e2-3f5a4dc9bd6d) was delivered to you. More info - https://console.aws.amazon.com/importexport", "Timestamp" : "2023-02-23T00:27:58.831Z", "SignatureVersion" : "1", "Signature" : "FMG5tlZhJNHLHUXvZgtZzlk24FzVa7oX0T4P03neeXw8ZEXZx6z35j2FOTuNYShn2h0bKNC/zLTnMyIxEzmi2X1shOBWsJHkrW2xkR58ABZF+4uWHEE73yDVR4SyYAikP9jstZzDRm+bcVs8+T0yaLiEGLrIIIL4esi1llhIkgErCuy5btPcWXBdio2fpCRD5x9oR6gmE/rd5O7lX1c1uvnv4r1Lkk4pqP2/iUfxFZva1xLSRvgyfm6D9hNklVyPfy+7TalMD0lzmJuOrExtnSIbZew3foxgx8GT+lbZkLd0ZdtdRJlIyPRP44eyq78sU0Eo/LsDr0Iak4ZDpg8dXg==", "SigningCertURL" : "https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/SimpleNotificationService-010a507c1833636cd94bdb98bd93083a.pem", "UnsubscribeURL" : "https://sns.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/?Action=Unsubscribe&SubscriptionArn=arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1:e1039402-24e7-40a3-a0d4-797da162b297" }
In transit to Amazon
{ "Type" : "Notification", "MessageId" : "dc1e94d9-56c5-5e96-808d-cc7f68faa162", "TopicArn" : "arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1", "Message" : "Your job Job-name (JID8bca334a-6c2f-4cd0-97e2-3f5a4dc9bd6d) is in transit to AWS. More info - https://console.aws.amazon.com/importexport", "Timestamp" : "2023-02-23T00:27:58.831Z", "SignatureVersion" : "1", "Signature" : "FMG5tlZhJNHLHUXvZgtZzlk24FzVa7oX0T4P03neeXw8ZEXZx6z35j2FOTuNYShn2h0bKNC/zLTnMyIxEzmi2X1shOBWsJHkrW2xkR58ABZF+4uWHEE73yDVR4SyYAikP9jstZzDRm+bcVs8+T0yaLiEGLrIIIL4esi1llhIkgErCuy5btPcWXBdio2fpCRD5x9oR6gmE/rd5O7lX1c1uvnv4r1Lkk4pqP2/iUfxFZva1xLSRvgyfm6D9hNklVyPfy+7TalMD0lzmJuOrExtnSIbZew3foxgx8GT+lbZkLd0ZdtdRJlIyPRP44eyq78sU0Eo/LsDr0Iak4ZDpg8dXg==", "SigningCertURL" : "https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/SimpleNotificationService-010a507c1833636cd94bdb98bd93083a.pem", "UnsubscribeURL" : "https://sns.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/?Action=Unsubscribe&SubscriptionArn=arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1:e1039402-24e7-40a3-a0d4-797da162b297" }
At sorting facility
{ "Type" : "Notification", "MessageId" : "dc1e94d9-56c5-5e96-808d-cc7f68faa162", "TopicArn" : "arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1", "Message" : "Your job Job-name (JID8bca334a-6c2f-4cd0-97e2-3f5a4dc9bd6d) is at AWS sorting facility. More info - https://console.aws.amazon.com/importexport", "Timestamp" : "2023-02-23T00:27:58.831Z", "SignatureVersion" : "1", "Signature" : "FMG5tlZhJNHLHUXvZgtZzlk24FzVa7oX0T4P03neeXw8ZEXZx6z35j2FOTuNYShn2h0bKNC/zLTnMyIxEzmi2X1shOBWsJHkrW2xkR58ABZF+4uWHEE73yDVR4SyYAikP9jstZzDRm+bcVs8+T0yaLiEGLrIIIL4esi1llhIkgErCuy5btPcWXBdio2fpCRD5x9oR6gmE/rd5O7lX1c1uvnv4r1Lkk4pqP2/iUfxFZva1xLSRvgyfm6D9hNklVyPfy+7TalMD0lzmJuOrExtnSIbZew3foxgx8GT+lbZkLd0ZdtdRJlIyPRP44eyq78sU0Eo/LsDr0Iak4ZDpg8dXg==", "SigningCertURL" : "https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/SimpleNotificationService-010a507c1833636cd94bdb98bd93083a.pem", "UnsubscribeURL" : "https://sns.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/?Action=Unsubscribe&SubscriptionArn=arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1:e1039402-24e7-40a3-a0d4-797da162b297" }
At Amazon
{ "Type" : "Notification", "MessageId" : "dc1e94d9-56c5-5e96-808d-cc7f68faa162", "TopicArn" : "arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1", "Message" : "Your job Job-name (JID8bca334a-6c2f-4cd0-97e2-3f5a4dc9bd6d) is at AWS. More info - https://console.aws.amazon.com/importexport", "Timestamp" : "2023-02-23T00:27:58.831Z", "SignatureVersion" : "1", "Signature" : "FMG5tlZhJNHLHUXvZgtZzlk24FzVa7oX0T4P03neeXw8ZEXZx6z35j2FOTuNYShn2h0bKNC/zLTnMyIxEzmi2X1shOBWsJHkrW2xkR58ABZF+4uWHEE73yDVR4SyYAikP9jstZzDRm+bcVs8+T0yaLiEGLrIIIL4esi1llhIkgErCuy5btPcWXBdio2fpCRD5x9oR6gmE/rd5O7lX1c1uvnv4r1Lkk4pqP2/iUfxFZva1xLSRvgyfm6D9hNklVyPfy+7TalMD0lzmJuOrExtnSIbZew3foxgx8GT+lbZkLd0ZdtdRJlIyPRP44eyq78sU0Eo/LsDr0Iak4ZDpg8dXg==", "SigningCertURL" : "https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/SimpleNotificationService-010a507c1833636cd94bdb98bd93083a.pem", "UnsubscribeURL" : "https://sns.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/?Action=Unsubscribe&SubscriptionArn=arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1:e1039402-24e7-40a3-a0d4-797da162b297" }
Importing
{ "Type" : "Notification", "MessageId" : "dc1e94d9-56c5-5e96-808d-cc7f68faa162", "TopicArn" : "arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1", "Message" : "Your job Job-name (JID8bca334a-6c2f-4cd0-97e2-3f5a4dc9bd6d) is being imported. More info - https://console.aws.amazon.com/importexport", "Timestamp" : "2023-02-23T00:27:58.831Z", "SignatureVersion" : "1", "Signature" : "FMG5tlZhJNHLHUXvZgtZzlk24FzVa7oX0T4P03neeXw8ZEXZx6z35j2FOTuNYShn2h0bKNC/zLTnMyIxEzmi2X1shOBWsJHkrW2xkR58ABZF+4uWHEE73yDVR4SyYAikP9jstZzDRm+bcVs8+T0yaLiEGLrIIIL4esi1llhIkgErCuy5btPcWXBdio2fpCRD5x9oR6gmE/rd5O7lX1c1uvnv4r1Lkk4pqP2/iUfxFZva1xLSRvgyfm6D9hNklVyPfy+7TalMD0lzmJuOrExtnSIbZew3foxgx8GT+lbZkLd0ZdtdRJlIyPRP44eyq78sU0Eo/LsDr0Iak4ZDpg8dXg==", "SigningCertURL" : "https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/SimpleNotificationService-010a507c1833636cd94bdb98bd93083a.pem", "UnsubscribeURL" : "https://sns.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/?Action=Unsubscribe&SubscriptionArn=arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1:e1039402-24e7-40a3-a0d4-797da162b297" }
Completed
{ "Type" : "Notification", "MessageId" : "dc1e94d9-56c5-5e96-808d-cc7f68faa162", "TopicArn" : "arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1", "Message" : "Your job Job-name (JID8bca334a-6c2f-4cd0-97e2-3f5a4dc9bd6d) complete.\nThanks for using AWS Snow Family.\nCan you take a quick survey on your experience? Survey here: http://bit.ly/1pLQJMY. More info - https://console.aws.amazon.com/importexport", "Timestamp" : "2023-02-23T00:27:58.831Z", "SignatureVersion" : "1", "Signature" : "FMG5tlZhJNHLHUXvZgtZzlk24FzVa7oX0T4P03neeXw8ZEXZx6z35j2FOTuNYShn2h0bKNC/zLTnMyIxEzmi2X1shOBWsJHkrW2xkR58ABZF+4uWHEE73yDVR4SyYAikP9jstZzDRm+bcVs8+T0yaLiEGLrIIIL4esi1llhIkgErCuy5btPcWXBdio2fpCRD5x9oR6gmE/rd5O7lX1c1uvnv4r1Lkk4pqP2/iUfxFZva1xLSRvgyfm6D9hNklVyPfy+7TalMD0lzmJuOrExtnSIbZew3foxgx8GT+lbZkLd0ZdtdRJlIyPRP44eyq78sU0Eo/LsDr0Iak4ZDpg8dXg==", "SigningCertURL" : "https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/SimpleNotificationService-010a507c1833636cd94bdb98bd93083a.pem", "UnsubscribeURL" : "https://sns.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/?Action=Unsubscribe&SubscriptionArn=arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1:e1039402-24e7-40a3-a0d4-797da162b297" }
Cancelled
{ "Type" : "Notification", "MessageId" : "dc1e94d9-56c5-5e96-808d-cc7f68faa162", "TopicArn" : "arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1", "Message" : "Your job Job-name (JID8bca334a-6c2f-4cd0-97e2-3f5a4dc9bd6d) was canceled. More info - https://console.aws.amazon.com/importexport", "Timestamp" : "2023-02-23T00:27:58.831Z", "SignatureVersion" : "1", "Signature" : "FMG5tlZhJNHLHUXvZgtZzlk24FzVa7oX0T4P03neeXw8ZEXZx6z35j2FOTuNYShn2h0bKNC/zLTnMyIxEzmi2X1shOBWsJHkrW2xkR58ABZF+4uWHEE73yDVR4SyYAikP9jstZzDRm+bcVs8+T0yaLiEGLrIIIL4esi1llhIkgErCuy5btPcWXBdio2fpCRD5x9oR6gmE/rd5O7lX1c1uvnv4r1Lkk4pqP2/iUfxFZva1xLSRvgyfm6D9hNklVyPfy+7TalMD0lzmJuOrExtnSIbZew3foxgx8GT+lbZkLd0ZdtdRJlIyPRP44eyq78sU0Eo/LsDr0Iak4ZDpg8dXg==", "SigningCertURL" : "https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/SimpleNotificationService-010a507c1833636cd94bdb98bd93083a.pem", "UnsubscribeURL" : "https://sns.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/?Action=Unsubscribe&SubscriptionArn=arn:aws:sns:us-east-2:111122223333:ExampleTopic1:e1039402-24e7-40a3-a0d4-797da162b297" }