AWS Certified Solutions Architect – ProfessionalAccelerate Workload Migration and ModernizationMedium
A large pharmaceutical company is planning to migrate its on-premises data lake (petabytes of data) to AWS. The data lake stores sensitive research data that requires strict compliance and security. The company wants to minimize the time taken for the initial bulk data transfer while maintaining data integrity and security. Which AWS service provides the most efficient and secure solution for the initial transfer?
- AAWS Snowmobile to transfer data to Amazon S3.
- BAWS DataSync to transfer data to Amazon S3.
- CAWS Direct Connect with S3 Transfer Acceleration.
- DVPN connection to upload data to Amazon S3 via S3 Multipart Upload.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. AWS Snowmobile to transfer data to Amazon S3.
AWS Snowmobile is designed for transferring extremely large amounts of data (exabytes or petabytes) to AWS securely and efficiently. For petabytes of data, it offers the fastest and most cost-effective method for initial bulk transfer compared to network-based options.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. AWS DataSync is excellent for online data transfer over network (VPN, Direct Connect, or internet), but for petabytes, Snowmobile offers a significantly faster initial transfer speed.
- C. Direct Connect provides dedicated network connectivity but would still take a very long time to transfer petabytes of data, even with S3 Transfer Acceleration, and might not be the most cost-effective for a single bulk transfer.
- D. A VPN connection would be too slow and unreliable for petabytes of data, leading to excessive transfer times and potential failures, even with multipart uploads.
AWS Snow Family
A collection of physical devices that help customers migrate large amounts of data to and from AWS, or perform computing in disconnected environments.
- Includes Snowcone, Snowball Edge, and Snowmobile.
- Designed for offline data transfer where network transfer is impractical or too slow.
- Provides physical security and encryption for data in transit.
Memory trick: Small to Big Snow: Cone, Ball, Mobile.