Step 1: Plan Your Job
Step 1: Plan Your Job
The first step in creating a job is to determine the type of job that you need and to start planning it using the AWS Snow Family Management Console.
To plan your job
1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console, and open the AWS Snow Family Management Console.
If this is your first time creating a job in this AWS Region, you will see the AWS Snow Family page.
Otherwise you will see the list of pre-existing jobs.
2. If this is your first job, choose Order an AWS Snow family device otherwise choose Create Job located in the left navigation bar. Choose Next step to open the Plan your job page.
3. Depending on your use case, choose one of the following job types:
• Import into Amazon S3 – Choose this option to have AWS ship an empty Snowcone device to you.
You connect the device to your local network and configure the device using OpsHub. You copy data onto the device using NFS share, ship it back to AWS, and your data is uploaded to AWS.
• Local compute and storage only – Choose this option to perform compute and storage workloads on the device without transferring any data.
4. Choose Next to continue.
Step 2: Choose Your Shipping Preferences
Receiving and returning a Snow Family device involves shipping the device back and forth, so it's important that you provide accurate shipping information.
To provide shipping details
1. On the AWS Snow Family Management Console, in the Shipping Address section, choose an existing address or add a new address.
• If you choose Use recent address, the addresses on file are displayed. Carefully choose the address that you want from the list.
• If you choose Add a new address, provide the requested address information. The AWS Snow Family Management Console saves your new shipping information.
NoteThe country that you provide in the address must match the destination country for the device and must be valid for that country.
2. In the Shipping speed section, choose a shipping speed for the job. This speed shows how quickly the device ships between destinations and doesn't reflect how soon it will arrive after today's date.
The shipping speeds you can choose are:
• One-Day Shipping (1 business day)
• Two-Day Shipping (2 business days)
• See this list of all other shipping speeds 3. Choose Next.
Step 3: Choose Your Job Details
In this step, you provide details for your AWS Snow Family device job, including the job name, AWS Region, device type, Amazon S3 bucket name, and Amazon Machine Image (AMI).
Step 4: Choose Your Security Preferences
To add job details
1. On the AWS Snow Family Management Console, in the Name your job section, provide a name for your job in the Job name box.
2. In the Choose your Snow device section, choose the AWS Snowcone device type that you want to use.
AWS Snowcone device options
• Snowcone – 8 TB storage (HDD), 4 GB memory, 2 vCPUs
• Snowcone SSD – 14 TB storage (SSD), 4 GB memory, 2 vCPUs
3. In the Snowcone power supply section, choose I will provide my own power supply and Ethernet cable. For information about power supplies, see AWS Snowcone Power Supply and Accessories.
4. In the Choose your S3 storage section, choose to create a new Amazon S3 bucket, or choose the S3 bucket that you want to use in the Bucket name list. You can include additional S3 buckets. These buckets appear on your device as local S3 buckets.
5. In the Compute using EC2 instances - optional section, choose EC2 AMI name. This option enables you to use compute Amazon EC2 instances in a cluster. It loads your Snowball Edge device with Amazon EC2 AMIs, and enables your device to function as a mobile data center.
For more information, see Using Amazon EC2 Compute Instances.
This feature incurs additional charges. For more information, see AWS Snowball Edge Pricing.
6. Choose an AMI in the Source AMI name list. Or, search for an AMI in the Source AMI name box and choose Next.
Step 4: Choose Your Security Preferences
Setting security adds the permissions and encryption settings for your AWS Snow Family devices job to help protect your data while in transit.
To set security for your job
1. In the Encryption section, choose the KMS key that you want to use.
• If you want to use the default AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) key, choose aws/
importexport (default). This is the default key that protects your import and export jobs when no other key is defined.
• If you want to provide your own AWS KMS key, choose Enter a key ARN, provide the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) in the key ARN box, and choose Use this KMS key. The key ARN will be added to the list.
Step 4: Choose Your Security Preferences
2. In the Service access section, do one of the following:
• Choose Create service role to grant AWS Snow Family permissions to use Amazon S3 and Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) on your behalf. The role grants AWS Security Token Service (AWS STS) AssumeRole trust to the Snow service
• Choose Add an existing role to use, to specify the IAM role that you want, or you can use the default role.
For Policy name, choose the import policy that you want to use.
Example Example policies for Snowcone devices Import-only role policy example
The following is an example of an S3 import-only role policy.
{ "Version": "2012-10-17",
"Service": "importexport.amazonaws.com"
},
"Action": "sts:AssumeRole"
} ]}
Using server-side encryption to encrypt the Amazon S3 bucket
If you use server-side encryption with AWS KMS–managed keys (SSE-KMS) to encrypt the Amazon S3 buckets associated with your import job, you also must add the following statement to your IAM role.
Step 4: Choose Your Security Preferences
{ "Effect": "Allow", "Action": [
"kms:GenerateDataKey","kms:Decrypt"
],
"Resource": "arn:aws:kms:us-west-2:123456789012:key/abc123a1-abcd-1234-efgh-111111111111"
}
Note
You can modify the trust relationship and restrict access to this role based on the customer account number and source arn. See Restricting Access to the Snow Role Policy (p. 25) on how to modify the trust relationship to restrict access.
3. Choose Next. If the selected IAM role has defined a restricted access, the Create Job procedure will fail if the access criteria is not met.
4. Choose Allow.
5. Choose Next.
Restricting Access to the Snow Role Policy
You can restrict access to the selected role based on the customer account number and source arn.
1. In the navigation pane of the IAM console, choose Roles. The console displays the roles for your account.
2. Choose the name of the role that you want to modify, and select the Trust relationships tab on the details page.
3. Choose Edit trust relationships. Update the trust policy to one of the following:
To restrict access by customer account number:
{ "Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow", "Principal": {
"Service": "importexport.amazonaws.com"
},
"Action": "sts:AssumeRole", "Condition":{
"StringEquals":{
"aws:SourceAccount":"<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>"
} } } ]}
To restrict access by source arn:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [{
Step 5: Choose Your Notification Preferences
To restrict access by both customer account number and source arn:
{ "Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [{
Step 5: Choose Your Notification Preferences
Notifications update you on the latest status of your AWS Snow Family devices jobs. You create an SNS topic and receive emails from Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) as your job status changes.
To set up notifications
1. In the Set notifications section, do one of the following:
• If you want to use an existing SNS topic, choose Use an existing SNS topic, and choose the topic Amazon Resource Name (ARN) from the list.
• If you want to create a new SNS topic, choose Create a new SNS topic. Enter a name for your topic and provide an email address.
2. Choose Next.
The notification will be about one of the following states of your job:
• Job created
• Preparing device
• Preparing shipment
Step 6: Download AWS OpsHub
• In transit to you
• Delivered to you
• In transit to AWS
• At sorting facility
• At AWS
• Importing
• Completed
• Canceled
Step 6: Download AWS OpsHub
The AWS Snow Family devices offer a user-friendly tool, AWS OpsHub for Snow Family, that you can use to manage your devices and local AWS services.
With AWS OpsHub installed on your client computer, you can perform tasks such as the following:
• Unlocking and configuring single or clustered devices
• Transferring files
• Launching and managing instances running on Snow Family devices.
For more information, see Using AWS OpsHub for Snow Family to Manage Devices (p. 28).
To download and install AWS OpsHub for Snow Family
1. On the AWS Snow Family Management Console, in the Download AWS OpsHub section, choose Get AWS OpsHub. You are redirected to the AWS Snowball resources website.
2. In the AWS OpsHub section, choose Download for your operating system, and follow the installation steps. When you are finished, choose Next.
Step 7: Review and Create Your Job
After you provide all the necessary job details for your AWS Snow Family devices job, review the job and create it.
1. On the AWS Snow Family Management Console, in the Review job order page, review all the sections before you create the job. If you want to make changes, choose Edit for the appropriate section, and edit the information.
2. When you are done reviewing and editing, choose Create job. After you create a job, you can cancel it within an hour without incurring any charges.
Jobs are subject to export control laws in specific countries and might require an export license. US export and re-export laws also apply. Diversion from the country and US laws and regulations is prohibited.
NoteSnow Family devices jobs are not fulfilled with a power supply, and one must be provided separately.
After your job is created, you can see the status of the job in the Job status section. For detailed information about job statuses, see Job Statuses.
Unlocking a device
Using AWS OpsHub for Snow Family to Manage Devices
The Snow Family devices now offer a user-friendly tool, AWS OpsHub for Snow Family, that you can use to manage your devices and local AWS services. You use AWS OpsHub on a client computer to perform tasks such as unlocking and configuring single or clustered devices, transferring files, and launching and managing instances running on Snow Family devices. You can use AWS OpsHub to manage both the Storage Optimized and Compute Optimized Snow device types. The AWS OpsHub application is available at no additional cost to you.
AWS OpsHub takes all the existing operations available in the Snowball API and presents them as a graphical user interface. This interface helps you quickly migrate data to the AWS Cloud and deploy edge computing applications on Snow Family devices.
AWS OpsHub provides a unified view of the AWS services that are running on Snow Family devices and automates operational tasks through AWS Systems Manager. With AWS OpsHub, users with different levels of technical expertise can manage a large number of Snow Family devices. With a few clicks, you can unlock devices, transfer files, manage Amazon EC2 instances, and monitor device metrics.
When your Snow device arrives at your site, you download, install, and launch the AWS OpsHub application on a client machine, such as a laptop. After installation, you can unlock the device and start managing it and using supported AWS services locally. AWS OpsHub provides a dashboard that summarizes key metrics such as storage capacity and active instances on your device. It also provides a selection of AWS services that are supported on the Snow Family devices. Within minutes, you can begin transferring files to the device.
After you download the AWS OpsHub application and install it on a client machine, AWS OpsHub can connect to the AWS Snowcone device on the same network, whether the device is connected via Wi-Fi or a physical cable. Then you open AWS OpsHub and unlock the device. You are then presented with a dashboard that shows your device and its system metrics. You can then begin deploying your edge applications or migrating your data to the device. AWS OpsHub makes data transfers to your Snowcone device simple by allowing you to drag-and-drop files or folders onto the device. With AWS OpsHub, you can also easily see what is stored on the device.
Topics
• Unlocking a device (p. 28)
• Verifying the signature of AWS OpsHub (optional) (p. 30)
• Managing AWS services on your device (p. 32)
• Using DataSync to transfer files to AWS (p. 38)
• Using AWS IoT Greengrass to run pre-installed software on Amazon EC2 instances (p. 40)
• Managing Your Devices (p. 41)
• Setting the NTP time servers for your device (p. 43)
Unlocking a device
When your device arrives at your site, the first step is to connect and unlock it. AWS OpsHub lets you sign in, unlock, and manage devices using the following methods:
• Locally – To sign in to a device locally, you must power on the device and connect it to your local network. Then provide an unlock code and a manifest file.
Unlocking a device locally
• Remotely – To sign in to a device remotely, you must power on the device and make sure that it can connect to device-order-region.amazonaws.com through your network. Then provide the AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) credentials (access key and secret key) for the AWS account that is linked to your device.
For information on enabling remote management and creating an associated account, see Enabling Snow Device Management on Snowcone.
Topics
• Unlocking a device locally (p. 29)
• Unlocking a device remotely (p. 29)
Unlocking a device locally
To connect and unlock your device locally
1. Open the flap on your device, locate the power cord, and connect it to a power source.
2. Connect the device to your network using an Ethernet cable (typically an RJ45 cable), then open the front panel and power on the device.
3. Open the AWS OpsHub application. If you are a first-time user, you are prompted to choose a language. Then choose Next.
4. On the Get started with OpsHub page, choose Sign in to local devices, and then choose Sign in.
5. On the Sign in to local devices page, choose Snowcone, and then choose Sign in.
If you don't have a device, you can order one. For information about how to order a device, see Getting Started (p. 21).
6. On the Sign in to your Snowcone page, enter the Device IP address and Unlock code. To select the device manifest, choose Choose file, and then choose Sign in.
7. (Optional) Save your device's credentials as a profile. Name the profile and choose Save profile name. For more information about profiles, see Managing Profiles (p. 43).
8. On the Local devices tab, choose a device to see its details, such as the network interfaces and AWS services that are running on the device. You can also see details for clusters from this tab, or manage your devices just as you do with the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI). For more information, see Managing AWS services on your device (p. 32).
For devices that have AWS Snow Device Management installed, you can choose Enable remote management to turn on the feature. For more information, see Using AWS Snow Device Management to Manage Devices (p. 63).
Unlocking a device remotely
To connect and unlock your device remotely
1. Open the flap on your device, locate the power cord, and connect it to a power source.
2. Connect the device to your network using an Ethernet cable (typically an RJ45 cable), then open the front panel and power on the device.
NoteTo be unlocked remotely, your device must be able to connect to device-order-region.amazonaws.com.
3. Open the AWS OpsHub application. If you are a first-time user, you are prompted to choose a language. Then choose Next.
Verifying the signature of AWS OpsHub (optional)
4. On the Get started with OpsHub page, choose Sign in to remote devices, and then choose Sign in.
5. On the Sign in to remote devices page, enter the AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) credentials (access key and secret key) for the AWS account that is linked to your device, and then choose Sign in.
6. On the Remote devices tab, choose your device to see its details, such as its state and network interfaces. Then choose Unlock to unlock the device.
From the remote device's details page, you can also reboot your devices and manage them just as you do with the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI). To view remote devices in different AWS Regions, choose the current Region on the navigation bar, and then choose the Region that you want to view. For more information, see Managing AWS services on your device (p. 32).
Verifying the signature of AWS OpsHub (optional)
You can install the AWS OpsHub for Snow Family application on a Linux client machine. The AWS OpsHub application installer packages for Linux are cryptographically signed. You can use a public key to verify that the installer package is original and unmodified. If the files are damaged or altered, the verification fails. You can verify the signature of the installer package using GNU Privacy Guard (GPG).
This verification is optional. If you choose to verify the signature of the application, you can do it at any time.
You can download the SIGNATURE file for the Linux installer from AWS Snowcone Resources or Snowball Edge Resources.
To verify the AWS OpsHub package on a Linux client machine
1. Copy the following public key, save it to a file, and name the file—for example, opshub-public-key.pgp.
---BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY
BLOCK---xsFNBF/hGf8BEAC9HCDV8uljDX02Jxspi6kmPu4xqf4ZZLQsSqJcHU61oL/c
Verifying the signature of AWS OpsHub (optional)
---END PGP PUBLIC KEY
BLOCK---2. Import the public key into your keyring, and note the returned key value.
GPG
gpg --import opshub-public-key.pgp
Example output
gpg: key 1655BBDE2B770256: public key "AWS OpsHub for Snow Family <[email protected]>" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1 gpg: imported: 1
3. Verify the fingerprint. Be sure to replace key-value with the value from the preceding step. We recommend that you use GPG to verify the fingerprint.
gpg --fingerprint key-value
This command returns output similar to the following.
pub rsa4096 2020-12-21 [SC]
372F A5E9 4869 8F77 D1B3 AFAA 2181 CF5A 74F3 45F1
uid [ unknown] AWS OpsHub for Snow Family <[email protected]>
sub rsa4096 2020-12-21 [E]
Managing AWS services
The fingerprint should match the following:
372F A5E9 4869 8F77 D1B3 AFAA 2181 CF5A 74F3 45F1
If the fingerprint doesn't match, don't install the AWS OpsHub application. Contact AWS Support.
4. Verify the installer package, and download the SIGNATURE file according to your instance's architecture and operating system if you haven't already done so.
5. Verify the installer package signature. Be sure to replace signature-filename and OpsHub-download-filename with the values that you specified when downloading the SIGNATURE file and AWS OpsHub application.
GPG
gpg --verify signature-filename OpsHub-download-filename
This command returns output similar to the following.
GPG
gpg: Signature made Mon Dec 21 13:44:47 2020 PST gpg: using RSA key 1655BBDE2B770256
gpg: Good signature from "AWS OpsHub for Snow Family <[email protected]>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg: There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
gpg: There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.