AWS Certified Solutions Architect – ProfessionalAccelerate Workload Migration and ModernizationMedium
A financial institution is migrating a legacy mainframe application that processes daily batch transactions. The application generates large reports (hundreds of GBs) that are stored on network-attached storage (NAS) and accessed by downstream systems for auditing and analytics. The institution wants to modernize this storage layer to be more scalable, cost-effective, and integrate seamlessly with AWS services for future analytics without re-architecting the mainframe application. Which AWS storage solution is MOST appropriate for this scenario?
- AAmazon S3 Standard-IA
- BAmazon EFS with Lifecycle Management
- CAWS Storage Gateway (File Gateway)
- DAmazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. AWS Storage Gateway (File Gateway)
AWS Storage Gateway (File Gateway) provides a file interface to S3, allowing on-premises applications to store and retrieve files using standard file protocols (NFS/SMB). This enables the mainframe to continue writing to what appears as a local NAS, while the data is durably stored in S3, making it scalable, cost-effective, and accessible for cloud-native analytics services without re-architecting the mainframe.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. S3 Standard-IA is object storage, requiring application changes to interact with its API, which goes against not re-architecting the mainframe.
- B. Amazon EFS is a managed NFS file system for EC2 instances, not primarily designed for on-premises applications to store data directly to AWS via standard file protocols without a gateway.
- D. Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP provides high-performance file storage but is generally more expensive and complex than needed if the primary goal is offloading to S3 while maintaining a file interface for a legacy system.
AWS Storage Gateway (File Gateway)
A hybrid cloud storage service that connects on-premises applications to cloud storage (Amazon S3) using standard file protocols (NFS/SMB) while caching frequently accessed data locally.
- Provides a file interface to S3.
- Enables seamless migration of on-premises file data to cloud.
- Offers local caching for low-latency access to recent files.
Memory trick: Storage Gateway is the 'gate' between your old files and the new cloud.