Storage - Which Snow Device Do I Need?

Question 1

What are the snow devices discussed in the lecture?

Answer 1

• AWS Snowcone
• AWS Snowball
• AWS Snowmobile

Question 2

What are the key features of AWS Snowcone?

Answer 2

• Smallest device in the snow family
• Lightweight and easily portable
• Rugged casing for use in any conditions
• Can run on battery power
• 8TB of storage and an EC2 instance
• Suitable for capturing, processing, and analyzing data in remote locations

Question 3

What is AWS DataSync and how is it used with Snowcone?

Answer 3

• Service for secure data transfer to AWS storage services
• Used to transfer data from Snowcone or on-premise data centers
• Can manage data transfer between different AWS storage services

Question 4

What are the use cases for AWS Snowball?

Answer 4

• Large-scale data transfer operations (up to 80TB)
• Rack mountable in data centers
• Compute optimized, storage optimized, and compute optimized with GPU options available
• Compatible with S3 object storage and EBS volumes

Question 5

When would you use AWS Snowcone?

Answer 5

• Need a portable device for difficult-to-reach locations
• Maximum storage requirement of 8TB
• Need for on-line data transfer using AWS DataSync
• Inconsistent power support requiring a battery pack

Question 6

When would you use AWS Snowball?

Answer 6

• No mobility requirement, can remain in one location
• Need to transfer data up to 80TB
• Require enhanced graphics processing with GPU option
• Transfer data using S3 API
• Need usable SSD storage
• Require network ports with speeds up to 100Gbit
• Want to cluster multiple Snowball devices for larger storage capacity

Question 7

What are some common use cases for Snowcone and Snowball?

Answer 7

• Portable edge computing in industrial warehouses or manufacturing plants
• Collecting and transferring data from wireless sensors or networked resources
• Storing and transferring large amounts of data securely in remote locations
• Aggregating data in the media and entertainment industry for further processing and editing

Question 8

What is the primary use case for AWS Snowmobile?

Answer 8

• Transferring massive amounts of data (up to 100PB)
• Used for migrating entire data centers or storage libraries
• Arrives on a truck as a ruggedized shipping container
• Can run multiple Snowmobiles in parallel for Exabyte-scale data transfers
• Typically used for transfers larger than 10PB