AWS Certified Solutions Architect – ProfessionalAccelerate Workload Migration and ModernizationEasy
A company is migrating a legacy application that relies heavily on shared file storage accessible via NFS. The application needs to be modernized to run on Amazon EC2 instances and potentially containerized in the future. The solution must provide high availability, scalability, and maintain the file-system interface. Which AWS service should be used for the shared file storage?
- AAmazon FSx for Windows File Server
- BAmazon S3 Standard
- CAmazon EFS Standard
- DAmazon EBS Provisioned IOPS SSD (io2 Block Express)
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Amazon EFS Standard
Amazon EFS provides a scalable, highly available, and highly durable shared file system for Linux-based workloads, accessible via NFS. This perfectly matches the requirement for a shared file system interface for EC2 instances and potential containerization.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Amazon FSx for Windows File Server is for Windows-based applications requiring SMB protocol, not NFS for Linux applications.
- B. Amazon S3 is object storage, not a file system, and does not provide an NFS interface directly.
- D. Amazon EBS provides block storage for a single EC2 instance and cannot be shared across multiple instances via NFS.
Amazon Elastic File System (EFS)
A scalable, elastic, cloud-native NFS file system for Linux-based workloads, designed to be used with AWS Cloud services and on-premises resources.
- Fully managed and highly available.
- Scales automatically from gigabytes to petabytes.
- Supports NFSv4 protocol, accessible from EC2, containers, and on-premises via AWS Direct Connect/VPN.
Memory trick: EBS for one, EFS for many, S3 for objects.