EFS

Question 1

Describe EFS.

Answer 1

Elastic File System
Highly scalable shared storage using NFS.

• Supports the Network File System version 4 (NFSv4) protocol.
• Can support thousands of concurrent NFS connections.
• Only pay for the storage you use (no pre-provisioning required).
• Data is stored across multiple AZs within a region.
• Can scale up to petabytes.
• Read-after-write consistency.

Question 2

When to use EFS, FSx for Windows, or FSx for Lustre?

Answer 2

• EFS: When you need distributed, highly resilient storage for Linux instances and Linux-based applications.
• Amazon FSx for Windows: (SMB protocol)When you need centralized storage for Windows-based applications, such as SharePoint, Microsoft SQL Server, Workspaces, IIS Server, or any other native Microsoft application. In VPC single or multi AZs. Workspaces need FSx. Windows file-level versioning(VSS user-driven restores).
• Amazon FSx for Lustre: When you need high-speed, high-capacity distributed storage. This will be for applications that do high-performance computing(HPC), financial modeling, POSIX, etc. Remember that FSx for Lustre can store data directly on S3.

Question 3

AWS Backup

Answer 3

AWS Backup

• Consolidation:Use AWS Backup to back up AWS services, such as EC2, EBS, EFS, FSx for Lustre, FSx for Windows File Server, and AWS Storage Gateway.
• Organizations: You can use AWS Organizations in conjunction with AWS Backup to back up your different AWS services across multiple AWS accounts.
• Benefits: Backup gives you centralized control, letting you automate your backups and define lifecycle policies for your data. You get better compliance, as you can enforce your backup policies, ensure your backups are encrypted, and audit them once complete.

Question 4

What is a mount target in EFS?

Answer 4

A mount target in Amazon EFS is a virtual network endpoint represented by an ENI with a specific IP address. It provides access to your EFS file system from within a particular subnet in your VPC, allowing your EC2 instances or other AWS resources to connect and use the shared file system seamlessly.

Question 5

What are the two performance modes in Amazon EFS?

Answer 5

• General Purpose Mode is suitable for a wide range of use cases with balanced throughput and IOPS, using a burst credit system.
• Max I/O Mode is designed for high-I/O, low-latency workloads, offering consistent, high IOPS without burst credits. (For highly parallel applications, big data, scientific analysis, etc)

Question 6

What are the two storage classes in EFS?

Answer 6

• Standard Storage Class is designed for frequently accessed files, offering low latency and a balance of cost and performance.
• Infrequent Access Storage Class is cost-effective for less frequently accessed data with slightly higher access latencies, suitable for data archiving and backups.

Lifecycle policies can be used between classes.