[Storage and Databases] Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS)

File storage

In file storage, multiple clients (such as users, applications, servers, and so on) can access data that is stored in shared file folders. In this approach, a storage server uses block storage with a local file system to organize files. Clients access data through file paths.

Compared to block storage and object storage, file storage is ideal for use cases in which a large number of services and resources need to access the same data at the same time.

 

Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) is a scalable file system used with AWS Cloud services and on-premises resources. As you add and remove files, Amazon EFS grows and shrinks automatically. It can scale on demand to petabytes without disrupting applications. 

 

- Multiple instances can access the data in EFS at the same time

 

Comparing Amazon EBS and Amazon EFS

 

Amazon EBS

An Amazon EBS volume stores data in a single Availability Zone. 

 

To attach an Amazon EC2 instance to an EBS volume, both the Amazon EC2 instance and the EBS volume must reside within the same Availability Zone.

- Volumes do not automatically scale

Amazon EFS

Amazon EFS is a regional service. It stores data in and across multiple Availability Zones. 

 

The duplicate storage enables you to access data concurrently from all the Availability Zones in the Region where a file system is located. Additionally, on-premises servers can access Amazon EFS using AWS Direct Connect.

 

• Multiple instances reading and writing simultaneously
• Linux File System
• Regional resource
• Automatically scales