AWS Snowcone is a small, rugged, and secure edge computing and data migration device. Snowcone is designed to the OSHA standard for a one-person liftable device, is rack-mountable and can be checked as luggage on an airline. Snowcone is designed for maximum portability. It fits inside a standard mailbox and is light enough to be carried and delivered by a drone. You can move data to AWS either offline by shipping the device, or online by using it with AWS DataSync, which is pre-installed in the device. Snowcone enables you to run edge workloads using Amazon EC2 computing, and local storage in harsh, disconnected field environments such as oil rigs, search and rescue vehicles, military sites, or factory floors, as well as remote offices, hospitals, and movie theaters.
AWS Snowcone is complete with all the key features listed for AWS Snow Family plus these additional features:
AWS Snowcone is available in both hard disk drive (HDD) and solid state drive (SSD) device types. Referred to simply as Snowcone, both device types are portable, rugged, and secure – small and light enough to fit in a backpack, and are able to withstand harsh environments.
AWS Snowcone weighs about 4.5 lbs. (2.1 kg) and is roughly the size of a tissue box, approximately 9 inches long, 6 inches wide, and 3 inches tall (8.94” x 5.85” x 3.25” / 227 mm x 148.6 mm x 82.65 mm). In comparison, AWS Snowball weighs about 49.7 lbs. (22.3 kg), is 28.3 inches long, 10.6 inches wide, and 15.5 inches tall.
Like any Snow Family device, AWS Snowcone can efficiently move data by physically shipping the device with your data to your specified AWS Region where data will be put into your specified Amazon S3 bucket. Offline data export from your S3 bucket feature is arriving soon on Snowcone. S3 buckets where data will be imported are setup before you order the device.
AWS DataSync comes pre-installed on AWS Snowcone to enable simple, fast, secure, and cost-effective online data import or export between storage on Snowcone devices at edge locations and Amazon S3, Amazon EFS, Amazon FSx for Windows File Server, or Amazon FSx for Lustre file systems. DataSync automatically handles moving data, scheduling migration jobs, monitoring, encryption, data verification, and network optimization.
AWS Snowcone HDD and AWS Snowcone SSD can work with applications as an NFS v4 mount point. You can easily use Snowcone with your existing on-premises servers and file-based applications to read and write data on the device.
You can connect AWS Snowcone to wired networks. Snowcone provides 2 ports that auto-negotiate for 1 Gb or 10 Gb Ethernet networks.
AWS Snowcone uses standard USB-C power, so you can use 60 W+ (20 V) USB-C power adapters that fit your local power outlets and meet AWS specifications. AWS has tested and qualified a number of USB-C power adapters, which you can purchase on amazon.com.
USB-C power adapter
USB-C battery
For mobile applications where power plugs are inaccessible, AWS Snowcone can run on specified battery power.. You can optionally order one or more battery packs that have been tested for use with Snowcone.
AWS Snowcone uses an innovative, E Ink shipping label designed to ensure the device is automatically sent to the correct AWS facility and also aids in tracking. Once you have completed your data transfer or edge computing job, it can be tracked via Amazon SNS, text messages, and the AWS Console.
Once the data transfer job has been processed and verified, AWS performs an erasure of the AWS Snowcone device that follows the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines for media sanitization.
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 Snowcone device is delivered to the correct AWS facility. Once the device ships, you can receive tracking status via messages sent by Amazon SNS, generated texts and emails, or directly from the Console.
AWS Snow Family devices have a ruggedized case designed for durability and portability. Snowcone is the smallest device weighing 4.5 pounds (2.1 kg) while the Snowball device weights less than 50 pounds (22.3 kg).
AWS OpsHub is an complimentary application for managing the AWS Snow Family devices. The OpsHub graphical user interface (GUI) makes it easy to setup and manage Snow devices so you can rapidly deploy edge computing workloads and migrate data to the cloud – even when you don’t have an internet connection. Download AWS OpsHub here and install it on Windows, Mac, or Linux client machines, such as a laptop. For more information, refer to the AWS OpsHub documentation.
Applications can work with Snow Family devices as an NFS mount point. NFS v3 and v4.1 are supported so you can easily use Snow devices with your existing on-premises servers and file-based applications. The file system metadata is preserved until the files are converted into objects once migrated into an S3 bucket.
Snow Family devices have computing resources to collect and process data with AWS services at the edge. Devices run specific Amazon EC2 instances with processing and storage available to support your applications and AWS IoT Greengrass functions. During the ordering process, you can select your EC2 AMIs that you want to install on the device, including AMIs running IoT Greengrass. AWS will load the AMIs onto the device and ship it to you.
All data moved to AWS Snow Family devices is automatically encrypted with 256-bit encryption keys that are managed by the AWS Key Management Service (KMS). The encryption keys are never stored on the device to help ensure your data stays secure during transit.
Snow Family devices can efficiently move data by physically shipping the hardware with your data to a specified AWS Region where data will be put into your specified Amazon S3 bucket. S3 buckets should be configured before you order your Snow device. For online data migrations, see AWS Snowcone.
AWS Snow 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 Snow device is ready to be used. AWS also uses additional tamper-indicating inspection processes after each device is received back to the AWS Region. This helps to ensure the integrity of the device, and with the AWS Snow service’s encryption features, it helps preserve the confidentiality of your data.
AWS Snow devices use an innovative, E-Ink shipping label for easy tracking and automatic label updates so devices are sent to the correct AWS facility. Once you have completed your data migration job, it can be tracked via Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS), text messages, and via the AWS Console.
Once the data migration job has been processed and verified, AWS performs a software erasure of the Snow device that follows the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines for media sanitization.