Amazon Elastic File System (EFS)

Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) - is a scalable and fully managed file storage service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). Designed for use with AWS Cloud services and on-premises resources, EFS offers a simple and cost-effective way to create and configure file systems for multiple use cases. It provides a standard file system interface and file system semantics, making it easy to migrate existing applications to AWS.

Key definitions for Amazon Elastic File System (EFS):

  • File System

    A hierarchical storage structure that organizes and stores files and directories. In AWS EFS, a file system can be created and accessed by multiple instances simultaneously.

  • Mount Targets

    These are network endpoints that you use to connect your Amazon EC2 instances to your EFS file system. Each mount target is associated with a subnet in your VPC.

  • Performance Modes

    AWS EFS provides two performance modes: general purpose (suitable for latency-sensitive use cases like web serving environments and content management systems) and max I/O (designed for applications that require high levels of throughput and can tolerate higher latencies).

  • Throughput Modes

    AWS EFS offers two throughput modes: bursting throughput (automatically scales throughput performance with the size of the file system) and provisioned throughput (allows you to specify the desired throughput independent of the file system’s size).

  • Lifecycle Management

    This feature helps you manage costs by moving infrequently accessed files to the Infrequent Access (IA) storage class, which is less expensive.

Service integrates with:

Usage use cases

  • Web Serving and Content Management.

    EFS is ideal for hosting websites and managing content due to its scalability and compatibility with web serving applications.

  • Big Data and Analytics.

    EFS can handle large datasets and provide the necessary throughput for big data analytics applications.

  • Media Processing and Transcoding.

    EFS supports high-throughput media processing, making it suitable for video and audio file storage and transcoding tasks.

  • DevOps and Continuous Integration.

    EFS supports multiple EC2 instances, making it perfect for DevOps environments where developers need to share and store build artifacts.

  • Backup and Restore.

    EFS integrates with AWS Backup, providing reliable backup and restore capabilities for critical data.

FAQ for Amazon Elastic File System (EFS)

  • What is AWS EFS designed for?

    AWS EFS is designed for scalable and fully managed file storage, providing a standard file system interface and semantics for use with AWS Cloud services and on-premises resources.
  • What is a Mount Target in AWS EFS?

    A Mount Target is a network endpoint that you use to connect your Amazon EC2 instances to your EFS file system, associated with a subnet in your VPC.
  • What are the two performance modes available in AWS EFS?

    The two performance modes in AWS EFS are General Purpose (default) for latency-sensitive use cases and Max I/O for applications requiring high throughput and can tolerate higher latencies.