Amazon Efs
Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS)
Section titled “Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS)”-
Amazon EFS Overview
- Provides “file storage in the AWS Cloud”
- Implements storage for EC2 instances that “multiple virtual machines can access at the same time”
- Uses Network File System (NFS) protocol
- “Simple, scalable, elastic file storage” for AWS services and on-premises resources
- Simple interface for quick file system creation and configuration
- Dynamically scales on demand without disrupting applications
- Grows and shrinks automatically as files are added/removed
- Applications get storage they need, when needed
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Key Features
- Fully managed service
- Ideal for:
- Big data and analytics
- Media processing workflows
- Content management
- Web serving
- Home directories
- Create file systems accessible to EC2 instances through file system interface
- Supports full file system access semantics:
- Strong consistency
- File locking
- Automatic scaling from gigabytes to petabytes
- No need to provision storage
- “Thousands of Amazon EC2 instances can access an Amazon EFS file system at the same time”
- Designed for consistent performance to each EC2 instance
- Designed to be highly durable and highly available
- No minimum fee or setup costs
- Pay only for storage used
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Architecture
- File system mounted in VPC through NFS v4.0 and v4.1
- Access concurrently from EC2 instances in VPC
- EC2 instances across multiple AZs within same Region can mount file system
- Many users can access and share common data source
- Components:
- VPC with multiple Availability Zones
- Private subnets
- Mount targets (one per AZ)
- Network interfaces
- Elastic File System
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Implementation Steps
- Create Amazon EC2 resources and launch EC2 instance
- Create Amazon EFS file system
- Create mount targets in appropriate subnets
- Connect EC2 instances to mount targets
- Verify resources and protection of AWS account
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EFS Resources
- File system (primary resource)
- Properties: ID, creation token, creation time, size, number of mount targets, state
- Mount target (subresource)
- Required to access file system
- Properties: ID, subnet ID, file system ID, IP address, state
- IP address or DNS name can be used in mount command
- Tags (subresource)
- Help organize file systems
- Key-value pairs
- File system (primary resource)
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Resource Guidelines
- One or more mount targets per file system
- Create in VPC subnet
- One mount target per Availability Zone
- Must be in same VPC
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Key Takeaways
- Provides file storage over network
- Perfect for big data analytics, media processing, content management, web serving, home directories
- Fully managed service eliminating storage administration tasks
- Accessible from console, API, or CLI
- Scales up/down as files added/removed
- Pay only for what you use
Amazon EFS is a fully-managed file storage service that enables sharing files across multiple EC2 instances simultaneously. It automatically scales with usage, provides consistent performance, and eliminates the need for storage administration tasks.