The VMC on AWS Outposts rack is a standard 42U rack provided by AWS Outposts. This rack measures 80 inches (203.20 cm) in height, 24 inches (60.96 cm) in width, and 48 inches (121.92 cm) in depth. It contains bare-metal hosts, network switches, a network patch panel, a power shelf, and blank panels. Outposts racks are designed with high availability in mind, featuring redundant network switches and power connections.
As part of the installation, AWS will deliver the fully assembled rack to your desired location and position it accordingly. Once the installation is complete, the rack will need to be connected to the power and network.
Figure 10.3 – VMC on AWS Outposts rack
Depending on the configuration selected, each Outposts rack will include pre-configured AWS bare-metal Nitro-based EC2 instance(s), with a single rack containing anywhere between 3 and 9 servers that can be used for compute:
| Instance Type | i3en.metal |
| CPU type | Intel Xeon Cascade Lake – 48 cores @ 2.5 GHz (96 HT cores) |
| RAM | 768 GiB |
| Storage | ~45.8 TiB (raw) |
| Network speed | 50 Gbps |
Table 10.1 – Hardware specifications of the bare-metal node
Additionally, each Outposts rack is equipped with two physical network devices known as Outposts Network Devices (ONDs) that connect to the organization’s local network. To establish connectivity with the local network, at least two physical links are required between the ONDs and the organization’s local network devices. AWS will provide optics that are compatible with the fiber provided at the rack’s location.
Figure 10.4 – Outposts Network Device (OND)
The AWS Outposts rack features a centralized and redundant power conversion unit coupled with a DC distribution system integrated into the rack’s backplane. The backbone of this power distribution is a central bus bar located at the rear of the rack, ensuring efficient and reliable power delivery to every server housed within. Additionally, the rack accommodates various power supply options, including 5 kVA, 10 kVA, and 15 kVA capacities, all equipped with redundant feeds to enhance reliability. For comprehensive details regarding the rack’s specifications, you can refer to the official documentation available at https://aws.amazon.com/outpost/rack/hardware-specs/.
Figure 10.5 – Rack bus bar
AWS is responsible for securing the AWS Outposts infrastructure, similar to how AWS secures the underlying infrastructure in an AWS Region. However, organizations are responsible for securing their applications running on the AWS Outposts rack, just as they are responsible for securing their applications and workloads running in the Region. Organizations are also responsible for maintaining the physical security of their Outposts racks and ensuring reliable network connectivity to the Outposts.
AWS ensures that all organization’s data is protected and remains in the their control. The Nitro system in each host encrypts all data at rest, and the encryption key is stored in an removable device called the nitro encryption key (NSK). An NSK is present on each bare metal instance on the Outposts rack; physically destroying the nitro encryption key would mean destroying the data residing on the corresponding bare-metal instance.
Figure 10.6 – Nitro encryption key