AWS Outposts Servers features

Why AWS Outposts Servers?

AWS Outposts servers provide fully managed AWS infrastructure, native AWS services, APIs, and tools to virtually any on-premises or edge location. It enables you to run applications that have low latency and local data processing needs on premises, while removing the undifferentiated heavy lifting required to procure, manage, and upgrade on-premises infrastructure.

AWS Outposts servers have two form factors: The 1U server comes with Amazon EC2 C6gd compute optimized instances that are powered by Arm-based AWS Graviton2 processors, and the 2U server comes with Amazon EC2 C6id compute optimized instances that are powered by 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors for a wide variety of workloads.

AWS Outposts servers fit inside 19" width EIA-310 cabinets, and the 1U high server is 24” deep, and uses AWS Graviton2 processors. The 2U high server is 30” deep and uses 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors.

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Compute and storage Networking AWS services on Outposts servers Security and compliance

Compute and storage

AWS Outposts servers includes a 1U server that supports Arm-based AWS Graviton2 powered EC2 instances, and a 2U server that supports 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable powered EC2 instances.

Amazon EC2 C6gd compute optimized instances are ideal for running advanced compute-intensive workloads. This includes workloads such as batch processing, ad serving, video encoding, gaming, scientific modelling, distributed analytics, and CPU-based machine learning inference.

Amazon EC2 C6id compute optimized instances are powered by 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors. C6i instances feature a 2:1 ratio of memory to vCPU and support up to 128 vCPUs per instance. These instances are an ideal fit for compute-intensive workloads such as batch processing, distributed analytics, ad serving, highly scalable multiplayer gaming, and video encoding.

Instance storage: Outposts servers have up to 4x 1.9 TB raw NVMe SSD instance storage, supporting local storage used for data access and processing on premises, and for launching EBS-backed AMIs. When launching new instances on an Outposts server, storage is allocated as boot volumes, reducing the remaining storage available for data volumes.

You can use AWS instance storage to associate disk volumes to instances. For containers, you can use persistent volume interfaces to use instance storage. You can implement software-based storage durability design for data volumes across disks or across 2 or more servers.

Third-party storage integration: Outposts servers enable seamless integration of Amazon EC2 instances with data residing on third-party storage systems. You can attach block data volumes backed by NetApp® on-premises enterprise storage arrays and Pure Storage® FlashArray™ to EC2 instances on Outposts directly from the Amazon EC2 Launch Instance Wizard (LIW) in the AWS Management Console. This provides applications running on Outposts servers with persistent storage that can retain data even after the EC2 instances are terminated. It also maximizes the value from your existing on-premises storage investment and enables advanced data storage and management features provided by these storage systems. To address your on-premises object storage requirements, Cloudian HyperStore provides S3-compatible storage that are tested to run with Outposts servers. You can connect your Outposts servers with all these storage systems over the local network interface.

Networking

You can seamlessly extend your existing Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) to your Outposts server in your on-premises location. After installation, you can create a subnet in your regional VPC and associate it with an Outpost just as you associate subnets with an Availability Zone in an AWS Region. Instances in Outpost subnets communicate with other instances in the AWS Region using private IP addresses, all within the same VPC.

Outposts servers have an LNI that provides a Layer 2 presence on your local network for AWS service endpoints. 

AWS services on Outposts servers

You can run ECS, IoT Greengrass, or Sagemaker Edge Manager locally on Outposts servers, and connect to the AWS Region for a broad range of services available in the AWS Region.

Support for Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) is coming soon. 

AWS Outposts servers are an extension of the AWS Region. You can seamlessly extend your Amazon VPC on premises and connect to a broad range of services available in the AWS Region. You can access all regional AWS services in your private VPC environment — for example, through interface endpoints, gateway endpoints, or their regional public endpoints.

You can access AWS tools running in the Region—for example, AWS CloudFormation, Amazon CloudWatch, AWS CloudTrail, Amazon Elastic Beanstalk, and AWS Cloud9—to run and manage applications on Outposts servers the same way as you do in the cloud today.

Security and compliance

AWS Outposts servers are built on the Nitro System, which enables AWS to provide enhanced security that continuously monitors, protects, and verifies your Outpost’s instance hardware and firmware. With AWS Nitro, virtualization resources are offloaded to dedicated hardware and software, minimizing the attack surface. The Nitro System's security model is locked down and prohibits administrative access, reducing the possibility of human error and tampering.

AWS Outposts servers have an updated shared responsibility model underlying security. AWS is responsible for protecting infrastructure for Outposts servers similar to how it secures infrastructure in the cloud today. You’re responsible for securing your applications running on Outposts servers as you do in the Region today. You’re also responsible for the physical security of your Outpost servers and ensuring consistent networking to them.

Data-at-rest: Data is encrypted by default on instance store and for AMIs used for instance launch. 

Data-in-transit: Data is encrypted in transit between Outposts servers and the AWS Region through the Service Link.

Deleting data: All data is deleted when instances are terminated in the same way as in the AWS Region.