Cost-Effective Data Migration for 150TB Over Limited Bandwidth

SAA-C03 By islever Editorial Last updated

Determine high-performing and/or scalable storage solutions.

Short answer

B Order multiple AWS Snowball devices to ship the 150TB data to AWS, bypassing bandwidth limits and reducing cost compared to network transfer.

Question

A company has 150 TB of archived image data stored on-premises that needs to be moved to the AWS Cloud within the next month. The company’s current network connection allows up to 100 Mbps uploads for this purpose during the night only. What is the MOST cost-effective mechanism to move this data and meet the migration deadline?
  1. Use AWS Snowmobile to ship the data to AWS.
  2. Order multiple AWS Snowball devices to ship the data to AWS. Correct Answer
  3. Enable Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration and securely upload the data.
  4. Create an Amazon S3 VPC endpoint and establish a VPN to upload the data.

Key Takeaways

Tests knowledge of AWS data transfer services by contrasting high-cost network options with physical transport; the trap is underestimating the time required for 150TB over 100 Mbps.

Determines the most cost-effective mechanism to migrate 150TB of on-premises data to AWS within a month using limited 100 Mbps bandwidth, identifying AWS Snowball as the superior choice.

Common mistake: Candidates often select Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration (C) or VPN (D), failing to calculate that transferring 150TB over 100 Mbps would take approximately 17 days of continuous night-time upload, leaving little margin and incurring high egress costs.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

The correct answer is B: Order multiple AWS Snowball devices. The total volume is 150 TB. A single AWS Snowball Edge Storage Optimized device holds up to 80 TB. Therefore, two devices are required (2 x 80 TB = 160 TB capacity). Shipping these devices physically bypasses the network bottleneck and fits easily within the one-month deadline. Cost-wise, Snowball is significantly cheaper than paying for massive internet data transfer.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Option A (Snowmobile) is designed for exabyte-scale migrations (up to 100 PB) and is prohibitively expensive for just 150 TB. Option C (S3 Transfer Acceleration) uses CloudFront edge locations but still relies on your upstream bandwidth; uploading 150 TB over a 100 Mbps link takes roughly 17 days of non-stop transmission, which is risky and costly. Option D (VPN + VPC Endpoint) suffers from the same bandwidth limitation as C, and establishing a stable site-to-site VPN for such a large bulk transfer is operationally complex and slow.

Community Comment Notes

Community consensus strongly favors B. User sandordini noted the price disparity, stating "Snowmobile base fee from 4100USD" versus Snowball's lower entry point. User Mikado211 highlighted that "Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration must be very expensive Correct in such case: B Snowball." User Naveena_Devanga correctly identified the capacity math: "Option B: 1 Snow Ball Max Allowed capacity is 80 TB. Hence, you need to order multiple snowballs."

Exam Strategy

Always calculate the time required for network transfers when bandwidth is explicitly limited. If the time exceeds the project window or seems impractical, consider physical transfer devices like Snowball or Snowmobile.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why not use Snowmobile for 150TB?

Snowmobile is optimized for exabyte-scale (up to 100PB) moves. It is far too expensive and unnecessary for only 150TB.

How long does 150TB take over 100Mbps?

It takes approximately 17 days of continuous 100% utilization. Since uploads are only allowed at night, this becomes even more constrained and risky.

More SAA-C03 FAQ →

Community Votes

B
100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer B. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 8 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 8

  1. sandordini 👍 4 Answered B
    Snowball base free from 200USD, Snowmobile base fee from 4100USD (According to AWS)
  2. Scheldon 👍 3 Answered B
    AnwerB SnowBall Storage will give us 80TB. To transfer data we will need 2 devices. Taking into consideration that 1 device = ~300$ we will spend 600$. Option B is most Cost effective and will allow us to end operation in lest then month.
  3. Naveena_Devanga 👍 3
    Option B: 1 Snow Ball Max Allowed capacity is 80 TB. Hence, you need to order multiple snowballs to achieve the requirement.
  4. Mikado211 👍 3 Answered B
    Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration must be very expensive Correct in such case : B Snowball
  5. TruthWS 👍 2
    Option B - Snowmobile have higher cost
Show 3 more comments
  1. Andy_09 👍 13
    Option B
  2. stephensimudemy 👍 2 Answered B
    B. Its only 150TB
  3. asdfcdsxdfc 👍 2 Answered B
    B is correct

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