azure data box

• Azure Data Box

The Microsoft Azure Data Box cloud solution lets you send terabytes of data into Azure in a quick, inexpensive, and reliable way. The secure data transfer is accelerated by shipping you a proprietary Data Box storage device. Each storage device has a maximum usable storage capacity of 80 TB and is transported to your datacenter through a regional carrier. The device has a rugged casing to

1. protect and secure data during the transit.
2. Provides simple, secure, SSD disk-based offering for offline data transfer to Azure
3. Transport as much as 40TB of data into Azure by connecting the disks to a computer via USB or SATA
4. Cost $80 + shipping both ways + Egress charges if exporting from Azure
5. 7-10 days processing time from device receipt date

Basic information
Three models are available

• Azure Data Box Disk

1. Provides simple, secure, SSD disk-based offering for offline data transfer to Azure
2. Transport as much as 40TB of data into Azure by connecting the disks to a computer via USB or SATA

• Data Box

1. Capacity: 100 TB
2. Secure, ruggedized, human transportable offline transport appliance
3. Partner friendly and easily integrates with existing customer networks
4. Specifications: 7 U when placed in the rack on its side (cannot be rack-mounted), Weight < 50 lbs.

• Data Box Heavy

1. Large form factor, ruggedized, and transportable device providing secure offline data transfer to Azure.
2. Capacity :1 PB
3. Slightly different ordering/logistical process to accommodate new form factor

• Data Box Edge

1.  Capacity: ~ 25TB
2. Customer resident hardware device providing intelligent data tiering/storage gateway functionality along with compute capability to run Azure Edge workloads
3. Support for Azure IOT Edge scenarios

Use Cases
Data Box is ideally suited to transfer data sizes larger than 40 TBs in scenarios with no to limited network connectivity. The data movement can be one-time, periodic, or an initial bulk data transfer followed by periodic transfers. Here are the various scenarios where Data Box can be used for data transfer.

1. One time migration - when large amount of on-premises data is moved to Azure. Moving a media library from offline tapes into Azure to create an online media library. Migrating your VM farm, SQL server, and applications to Azure. Moving historical data to Azure for in-depth analysis and reporting using HDInsight
2. Initial bulk transfer - when an initial bulk transfer is done using Data Box (seed) followed by incremental transfers over the network. For example, backup solutions partners such as Commvault and Data Box are used to move initial large historical backup to Azure. Once complete, the incremental data is transferred via network to Azure storage.
3. Periodic uploads - when large amount of data is generated periodically and needs to be moved to Azure. For example in energy exploration, where video content is generated on oil rigs and windmill farms

Benefits
Data Box is designed to move large amounts of data to Azure with little to no impact to network. The solution has the following benefits:

1. Speed - Data Box uses 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps network interfaces to move up to 80 TB of data into Azure.
   
   
2. Secure - Data Box has built-in security protections for the device, data, and the service.
   1. The device has a rugged casing secured by tamper-resistant screws and tamper-evident stickers.
   2. The data on the device is secured with an AES 256-bit encryption at all times.
   3. The device can only be unlocked with a password provided in the Azure portal.
   4. The service is protected by the Azure security features.
   5. Once your data is uploaded to Azure, the disks on the device are wiped clean, in accordance with NIST 800-88r1 standards
      
      

References
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/databox/data-box-overview