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Compute |
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VMware Cloud Foundation bundles vSphere which includes the ESXi virtualization platform for creating and running virtual machines and virtual appliances
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Cloud-Foundation/3.0/rn/VMware-Cloud-Foundation-30-Release-Notes.html
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Virtual servers are called cloud instances (equivalent to EC2 instances in AWS)
https://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#user-guide/understanding_instances.html
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Virtual servers are called EC2 instances
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/using-ec2.html
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VM Type - General Purpose
Details
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You can configure the virtual machine hardware to take advantage of the underlying hosts hardware
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.vm_admin.doc/GUID-4AB8C63C-61EA-4202-8158-D9903E04A0ED.html
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Virtual machine hardware can be configured to take full advantage of the underlying hosts hardware. A collection of instance types can be customized in terms of vCPUs, memory, and disk.
https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html
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The SBE1 EC2 instance is the general purpose offering
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/using-ec2.html
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VM Type - Compute Optimized
Details
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You can configure the virtual machine hardware to take advantage of the underlying hosts hardware. For compute optimized instances, you would increase the CPU resources
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.vm_admin.doc/GUID-4AB8C63C-61EA-4202-8158-D9903E04A0ED.html
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Compute-optimized instance types can be customized by modifying the instance type
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#euca2ools-guide/euca-modify-instance-type.html
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The SBE-C EC2 instance is the compute optimized offering
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/using-ec2.html
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VM Type - Memory Optimized
Details
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You can configure the virtual machine hardware to take advantage of the underlying hosts hardware. For memory optimized instances, you would increase the memory resources
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.vm_admin.doc/GUID-4AB8C63C-61EA-4202-8158-D9903E04A0ED.html
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Memory-optimized instance types can be customized by modifying the instance type
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#euca2ools-guide/euca-modify-instance-type.html
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There is no memory optimized offering
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/using-ec2.html
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VM Type - Accelerated (GPU)
Details
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You can configure the virtual machine hardware to take advantage of the underlying hosts GPU hardware
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.resmgmt.doc/GUID-74A657D9-52F7-4F92-AB86-9039A90A028D.html
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GPU instance types can be customized through advanced configuration only. No official documentation.
https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html
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The SBE-G EC2 instance is the accelerated GPU offering
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/using-ec2.html
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There is no built-in way to access this functionality. (see details)
There is no built-in way to access this functionality. You may be able to get it using the vSphere SDK for Perl within the VM to access the vSphere API but this requires the customer to build the functionality
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Metadata URL, featuring EC2-compatible information and thus compatible with cloud-init, is reachable from instances.
https://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/image-guide/ig_task_prepare_image.html
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You get access to a subset of metadata typically available to EC2 instances through an internal URL
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/edge-compute-instance-metadata.html
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Rapid Provisioning
Details
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You can easily deploy VMs using a wizard, template, or cloning another VM
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.vm_admin.doc/GUID-39D19B2B-A11C-42AE-AC80-DDA8682AB42C.html
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System components enable fast provisioning, particularly of EBS-backed instances.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#euca2ools-guide/euca-run-instances.html
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You can specify the job and resources and Amazon will configure the device for you and ship it out to you
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/how-it-works.html
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Resize existing VM
Details
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You can easily resize an existing VM by changing its virtual hardware after creation such as CPU and memory
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.vm_admin.doc/GUID-4AB8C63C-61EA-4202-8158-D9903E04A0ED.html
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EBS-backed instances can be resized after stopping by modifying InstanceType attribute via ModifyInstanceAttribute request (in CLI or Console).
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Typically resize an instance using CLI modify-instance-attribute on instanceType attribute but Snowball Edge only allows you to modify userdata
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/using-ec2-endpoint.html#cli-support-ec2-edge
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Resource Management
Details
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Resources can be managed from either the vSphere Web Client or the vSphere Client
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.vm_admin.doc/GUID-588861BB-3A62-4A01-82FD-F9FB42763242.html
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Resources can be managed from either the Console or CLI/API
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#admin-guide/manage_resources.html
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Resources such as EC2 instances cannot be managed through the console after the device is created and must instead be managed through the CLI/API adding a level of complexity
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/using-ec2.html
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There is no vSphere functionality to easily scale up or down VMs from the console
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AWS AutoScaling APIs are supported, with performance-based triggers for up- and down-scaling.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#admin-guide/manage_resources_as.html
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A cluster of 5-10 Snowball Edges can be created to offer increased durability and locally scale up or down storage on demand
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/UsingCluster.html
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You can clone a virtual machine to a template which can then be used to deploy other virtual machines later
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.vm_admin.doc/GUID-FE6DE4DF-FAD0-4BB0-A1FD-AFE9A40F4BFE_copy.html
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Images (akin to AMIs and AKIs) can be created and shared with other cloud users. Existing instances can be saved into an image.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#shared/image_section.html
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No mention in the developer guide
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/
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You can import and export virtual machines in the OVF and OVA formats
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.vm_admin.doc/GUID-AFEDC48B-C96F-4088-9C1F-4F0A30E965DE.html
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Instances can be imported using raw disk or VHD formats. Exports done manually at hypervisor level. No API support for the operation exists.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#euca2ools-guide/euca-import-instance.html
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No mention in the developer guide
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/
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VM live migration
Details
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You can perform a live migration of a virtual machine without affecting availability, called a hot migration, using vMotion
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.vcenterhost.doc/GUID-FE2B516E-7366-4978-B75C-64BF0AC676EB.html
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VMs can be live-migrated using CLI / API. In the event of a host failure instances to not automatically restart.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#euca2ools-guide/euserv-migrate-instances.html
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AWS does not support live VM migration and as such we shouldnt expect Snowball Edge to do this
AWS does not support live VM migration and as such we shouldnt expect Snowball Edge to do this
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VM to host affinity
Details
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You can create VM to host affinity rules within a DRS cluster
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.resmgmt.doc/GUID-2FB90EF5-7733-4095-8B66-F10D6C57B820.html
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Not supported. Can only be achieved by backend administration using instance migration.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#admin-guide/manage_nodes.html
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When deploying a cluster, you can select which nodes an instance runs on
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/using-ec2.html
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VM to host anti-affinity
Details
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You can create VM to host anti-affinity rules within a DRS cluster
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.resmgmt.doc/GUID-2FB90EF5-7733-4095-8B66-F10D6C57B820.html
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Not supported. Can only be achieved by backend administration using instance migration.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#admin-guide/manage_nodes.html
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When deploying a cluster, you can select which nodes an instance runs on thus also choosing which nodes it does not run on
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/using-ec2.html
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Networking |
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Cloud virtual networking
Details
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VMware Cloud Foundation bundles NSX Data Center for vSphere which provides a platform programmatically managing software-defined virtual networks
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-Data-Center-for-vSphere/6.4/com.vmware.nsx.admin.doc/GUID-10944155-28FF-46AA-AF56-7357E2F20AF4.html
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Overlays a virtual network on top of your existing network. Supports EDGE (EC2 Classic) and VPCMIDO (AWS VPC) modes.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#install-guide/configure_network_modes.html
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The EC2 instances can have virtual network interfaces attached to them which allows them to communicate with each other and outside devices
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/network-config-ec2-edge.html
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Cross-premises connectivity
Details
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The VCF platform is integrated into the customer datacenter and provides cross-premises connectivity to other customer networks
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-Data-Center-for-vSphere/6.3/com.vmware.nsx.install.doc/GUID-2482B032-F420-432F-A6D0-6CD91506BFCC.html
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Support for AWS VPN Gateway is available but only when using VPCMIDO network mode.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#euca2ools-guide/vpc_euca2ools_intro.html
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The Snowball Edge connects into the datacenter and allows for transfer of data between the datacenter and AWS albeit in a slow snail-mail fashion
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/whatisedge.html
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DNS hostname resolution
Details
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You can install NSX Edge as an Edge Services Gateway (ESG) between networks which will then allow you to configure external DNS servers. (see details)
You can install NSX Edge as an Edge Services Gateway (ESG) between networks which will then allow you to configure external DNS servers. The ESG ill forward requests from internal clients to the DNS servers for name resolution and will cache lookups DNS Configuration
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DNS names for VM instances is supported automatically
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#shared/setting_up_dns.html
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No mention in the developer guide
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/
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DNS zone management
Details
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No mention in documentation. Functionality would need to be built up by the end-user and then VMware components can take advantage of it
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No mention in the documentation
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No mention in the developer guide
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/
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You can statically set an VMs IP address from vSphere as well as specify a network protocol which is a pool of IPv4 and IPv6 addresses that vCenter will assign to virtual machines
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.networking.doc/GUID-D24DBAA0-68BD-49B9-9744-C06AE754972A.html
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Elastic IP and Elastic Network Interface functionality enables flexible IP address assignment.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#shared/console_manage_eips.html
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You can delete the virtual network interface attached to an EC2 instance and then create a new virtual network interface for that EC2 instance with a new static IP address
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/using-ec2-edge-client.html
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You can install NSX Edge as an Edge Services Gateway (ESG) and take advantage of the logical load balancer
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-Data-Center-for-vSphere/6.4/com.vmware.nsx.admin.doc/GUID-152982CF-108F-47A6-B86A-0F0F6A56D628.html
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Elastic Load Balancer is an included service.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#troubleshooting-guide/ts_elb.html
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No mention in the developer guide
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/
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Network Interfaces
Details
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Virtual machines can have a variety of different network adapters added and configured
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.vm_admin.doc/GUID-AF9E24A8-2CFA-447B-AC83-35D563119667.html
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Elastic Network Interface functionality allows attaching and detaching of virtual NICs to instances
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#user-guide/vpc_concepts_elastic_net_interfaces_eni.html
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The device has a set of external network interfaces for connectivity into the customer datacenter (see details)
The device has a set of external network interfaces for connectivity into the customer datacenter link to getting started as well as the ability to create limited virtual network interfaces for EC2 instances link to network configuration
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Outbound Network Connectivity
Details
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You can connect virtual machines to the physical network
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.networking.doc/GUID-F3F5E069-9A75-467A-93FC-800F37104A7E.html
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Can be configured to connect to external networks with both EDGE (EC2 Classic) and VPCMIDO (Amazon VPC) networking modes.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#ops-guide/ops_networking.html
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The device has a set of external network interfaces for connectivity into the customer datacenter (see details)
The device has a set of external network interfaces for connectivity into the customer datacenter link to getting started as well as the ability to create limited virtual network interfaces for EC2 instances link to network config. Once connected into the datacenter, the customer can further expose the device to either his/her own network as well as larger networks like the Internet
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Public IP Address
Details
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You can connect virtual machines to the physical network
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.networking.doc/GUID-F3F5E069-9A75-467A-93FC-800F37104A7E.html
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Public IP addresses can be assigned to instances either automatically or from a pool of Elastic IP addresses.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#ops-guide/ops_networking.html
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Can attach a virtual network interface to your EC2 instance and specify a public IP address for use
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/network-config-ec2-edge.html
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There is a specific network adapter type (SR-IOV passthrough) designed to enable and support SR-IOV networking
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.vm_admin.doc/GUID-AF9E24A8-2CFA-447B-AC83-35D563119667.html
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Can be customized to use SR-IOV for instance networking by advanced configuration only. No official documentation.
https://wiki.libvirt.org/page/Networking
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No mention in the developer guide
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/
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VM Security Groups
Details
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Virtual Machines can be added to a security group which has a specific network security policy applied to it
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-Data-Center-for-vSphere/6.4/com.vmware.nsx.admin.doc/GUID-16B3134E-DDF1-445A-8646-BB0E98C3C9B5.html
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Instances can be added to a security group which has a specific network security policy applied to it.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#user-guide/networking_security.html
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Security groups exist and can be configured for EC2 instances similar to the way they work in AWS with limitations
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/edge-security-groups.html
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Virtual Network Peering
Details
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You can set up cross-vCenter deployments as well as implement VPNs to access corporate and other cloud networks securely
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-Data-Center-for-vSphere/6.4/com.vmware.nsx.admin.doc/GUID-FB4BEB23-6A87-4291-A90B-826F69C1F7B6.html
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Ability to create a peering connection between two VPCs is supported.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#euca2ools-guide/euca-create-vpc-peering-connection.html
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Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) are not supported in Snowball Edge and thus you cannot make virtual networks to peer
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/edge-security-groups.html
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Storage |
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No mention in the documentation
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Supports S3-compatible object storage using its Object Storage Gateway (OSG)
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#install-guide/config_object_storage.html
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The Snowball Edge supports S3 (object storage) as its primary purpose is downloading customer data from a remote datacenter which can then later be transferred to S3 in AWS
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/whatisedge.html
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vSphere provides a variety of different storage options and functionalities
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc/GUID-F602EB17-8D24-400A-9B05-196CEA66464F.html
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Elastic Block Storage (EBS) provides block-level storage volumes that you can attach to instances.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#shared/using_block_storage.html
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Block storage must exist as the Snowball Edge is capable of hosting EC2 instances but end-users have no access to block storage and cannot attach volumes themselves to EC2 instances
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/using-ec2-endpoint.html#unsupported-features-ec2-adapter
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Shared file storage
Details
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VMWare provides NFS but not SMB storage solutions
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc/GUID-E3B77DE4-7525-47D3-B2D7-BC71CCD7992D.html
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Shared file storage is not supported.
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Once connected to the datacenter, the S3 Adapter for Snowball or NFS mount point can be used to upload data from the datacenter into the Snowball Edge
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/how-it-works.html
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VCF provides backup and restore capability of components
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Cloud-Foundation/2.3/com.vmware.vcf.admin.doc_23/GUID-FD14EA32-3FCC-48B8-A42A-FD276DE43925.html
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Procedures for backing up and restoring everything except root disks of instance-store (ephemeral) instances are documented.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#ops-guide/ops_recovery.html
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By its nature, the device offers data backup for data stored within a datacenter albeit in a slower process
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/whatisedge.html
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Local Data Protection
Details
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Virtual Volumes support replication capabilities for disaster recovery
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc/GUID-6346A936-5084-4F38-ACB5-B5EC70AB8269.html
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Relies on replication features of underlying software and hardware (RAID and Ceph) for local data protection from hardware failures.
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The Snowball Edge employs defense-in-depth for data protection including a ruggedized tamper-reistant enclosure, 256-bit encrpytion, and a TPM
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/security-considerations.html
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Remote Replication
Details
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Virtual Volumes support replication capabilities for disaster recovery
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc/GUID-6346A936-5084-4F38-ACB5-B5EC70AB8269.html
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No special functionality for automatic remote replication are provided, but backup process can include transfer of backed up data offsite for disaster recovery.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#admin-guide/backup_euca.html
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By its nature, the device offers remote replication for data stored within a datacenter albeit in a slower process
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/whatisedge.html
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Virtual volumes provide snapshot capability to preserve the state and data of a virtual machine at a given point in time
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc/GUID-B3A59A35-8CDF-4DD6-A069-29927E65684C.html
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EBS snapshots are supported in both Web console and via CLI/API.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#shared/console_manage_snapshots.html
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No mention in the developer guide
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/
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Storage Architecture
Details
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VMware provides for a very flexible storage architechture
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc/GUID-F602EB17-8D24-400A-9B05-196CEA66464F.html
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Deployed as customer configurable two-level storage system. Support for HCI not documented.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#install-guide/config_storage.html
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Each Snowball Edge node provides betwee 42TB and 80TB (see details)
Each Snowball Edge node provides betwee 42TB and 80TB (depending on type) of usable space with an additional 7.68TB of dedicated SSD storage for instances (compute). Snowball Edges can be clustered for additional storage space and durability Link to cluster info Link to specifications
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You can configure the vSAN cluster (shared storage pool) to be either hybrid or all-flash (see details)
You can configure the vSAN cluster (shared storage pool) to be either hybrid where magnetic disks are used for capacity or all-flash where flash disks are used for capacity and then specify clusters from which hosts can use storage Link to vSAN documentation
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Supports only a single storage class for both block and object storage.
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No mention in the developer guide
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/
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Storage Scalability
Details
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You can expand an existing vSAN cluster by adding hosts or devices to existing hosts without disrupting ongoing operations
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.virtualsan.doc/GUID-51AEE927-91A9-4B04-BF3F-DD7956D841A8.html
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The Storage Controller (SC) and Object Storage Gateway (OSG) are molular and enable storage capacity to be dynamically allocated independent of the system.
http://docs.eucalyptus.cloud/eucalyptus/4.4.5/index.html#install-guide/config_storage.html
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Multiple Snowball Edges can be clustered to increase data durability as well as locally grow and shrink storage on demand
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/whatisedge.html
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