A financial institution needs to ingest vast amounts of historical market data, approximately 500 TB, from on-premises network-attached storage (NAS) devices into Amazon S3 for long-term archival and future analytics. The data transfer needs to be highly secure, reliable, and minimize network bandwidth consumption. The institution has a 1 Gbps internet connection. Which AWS service is the MOST appropriate for this ingestion task?
- AAWS Direct Connect
- BAWS Storage Gateway (File Gateway)
- CAWS Snowball Edge
- DAWS DataSync
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. AWS Snowball Edge
For ingesting 500 TB of data with a 1 Gbps connection, AWS Snowball Edge is the most efficient and cost-effective option. Direct Connect provides a dedicated network but doesn't solve the initial bulk data transfer problem as efficiently. DataSync is suitable for ongoing synchronization but less optimal for a single large migration of this scale over a limited internet connection. Storage Gateway is for hybrid cloud storage access, not primarily for large-scale migrations to S3.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. AWS Direct Connect provides a dedicated network connection to AWS, which improves bandwidth and reduces latency, but it's an infrastructure service and doesn't directly facilitate the physical transfer of 500 TB from on-premises storage; Snowball Edge is still needed for the initial bulk transfer.
- B. AWS Storage Gateway (File Gateway) provides file-based access to S3, but it's not designed for a one-time bulk migration of this magnitude; it's more for hybrid cloud storage access.
- D. AWS DataSync is good for ongoing transfers and migrations, but for 500 TB over a 1 Gbps internet connection, it would take an impractical amount of time (500 TB * 8 bits/byte / 1 Gbps = 4,000,000 seconds = ~46 days), making Snowball Edge more efficient.
AWS Snowball Edge
A rugged, portable data migration and edge computing device that securely transfers large amounts of data into and out of AWS, designed for environments with limited or no internet connectivity.
- Physical device for petabyte-scale data transfer.
- Offers compute capabilities at the edge.
- Ideal for remote locations or limited network bandwidth.
Memory trick: Snowball rolls large data, especially when the network's small.