Domain 3 of 4 · Chapter 6 of 8

Storage Services

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Included in this chapter:

  • Object, block, and file: the three storage shapes
  • Choosing the right S3 storage class
  • Hybrid storage, backup, and disaster recovery
  • Exam-pattern recognition: matching storage to the stem

Object vs block vs file storage on AWS

AttributeObject (Amazon S3)Block (Amazon EBS)File (Amazon EFS / FSx)
Access modelHTTPS object APIRaw block volumeMounted file system (NFS/SMB)
Typical attachmentReached by any client over the networkOne EC2 instance at a timeMany instances mount it at once
Best forBackups, data lakes, static assets, archivesBoot volumes, databases, transactional I/OShared content, lift-and-shift file shares
Capacity modelVirtually unlimited, pay per useProvisioned volume sizeElastic, grows and shrinks automatically

Decision tree

How is the dataaccessed?Shared by manyinstances at once?Must data surviveinstance stop?Windows / SMBfile shares?Amazon S3(object)Amazon FSx(Windows/SMB)Amazon EFS(NFS/Linux)Amazon EBS(persistent disk)Instance store(temporary)AWS Storage Gateway(on-prem hybrid)file / blockobjectfile: yesblockyesno (Linux)yesnoon-prem
Cheat sheet

Cheat sheet

  • Three storage shapes: object, block, file
  • S3 is object storage, not a mounted drive
  • EBS attaches to one instance and persists
  • Instance store is temporary, not persistent
  • EFS is shared file storage for many instances
  • FSx provides managed Windows/SMB file shares
  • S3 Standard for frequently accessed data
  • S3 One Zone-IA stores data in a single AZ
  • S3 Intelligent-Tiering for unknown access patterns
  • S3 Glacier classes are for archives
  • S3 Lifecycle policies age data automatically
  • Storage Gateway bridges on-premises to AWS
  • Storage Gateway has file, volume, and tape modes
  • AWS Backup centralizes backups across services
  • Elastic Disaster Recovery recovers whole servers
  • EBS vs EFS vs S3 is the core distinction
  • S3 Standard-IA: infrequent access, instant retrieval, multi-AZ
  • S3 Glacier retrieval speed depends on the chosen tier

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References

  1. https://aws.amazon.com/s3/faqs/
  2. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ebs/latest/userguide/ebs-volumes.html
  3. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/InstanceStorage.html
  4. https://aws.amazon.com/efs/faqs/
  5. https://aws.amazon.com/fsx/
  6. https://aws.amazon.com/s3/storage-classes/
  7. https://aws.amazon.com/s3/storage-classes/intelligent-tiering/
  8. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/object-lifecycle-mgmt.html
  9. https://aws.amazon.com/storagegateway/faqs/
  10. https://aws.amazon.com/backup/faqs/
  11. https://aws.amazon.com/disaster-recovery/
  12. https://aws.amazon.com/products/storage/