Offline Bulk Transfer with Data Box Heavy

What Azure Data Box Heavy Is

Azure Data Box Heavy is a purpose-built, high-capacity physical storage appliance provided by Microsoft designed specifically for offline bulk data migration to Azure. It allows organizations to move hundreds of terabytes to petabytes of data when transferring over wide area networks (WAN) is impractical due to slow connection speeds, bandwidth costs, or security constraints.

How It Meets the Requirements

• Massive Storage Capacity: Azure Data Box Heavy provides approximately 800 TB of usable capacity (with a raw capacity of 1 PB), making it capable of handling the entire 500 TB workload within a single physical device.
• Offline Data Transfer: The device is delivered directly to the customer datacenter, loaded locally over high-speed interfaces, and shipped back to an Azure datacenter, completely bypassing the public internet and constrained WAN bandwidth.
• Enterprise-Grade Security: Data stored on the appliance is protected with AES 256-bit encryption at all times and housed within a rugged, tamper-evident chassis.

Key Advantages and Capabilities

• High-Throughput Connectivity: Features high-speed 40-Gbps network interfaces (QSFP+) to accelerate the local data copying process.
• Microsoft-Managed Logistics: Microsoft manages shipping logistics, end-to-end tracking via the Azure portal, and carrier pickups.
• Sanitization Standards: Disks are sanitized according to NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 1 media sanitization guidelines after data ingestion into Azure Storage.
• Standard Protocol Support: Supports common datacenter protocols such as SMB and NFS for direct data ingestion from existing servers.

Why This Is Optimal

Azure Data Box Heavy is the only single-appliance offline solution capable of transferring 500 TB of data in a single shipment without relying on network bandwidth.