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In this lesson, we explore Amazon’s Elastic File System (EFS), a robust file storage service that supports the Network File System (NFS) protocol. With EFS, any application that uses NFS can seamlessly integrate with this service. EFS allows you to create a file system that can be remotely mounted by Amazon EC2 Linux instances and other compute services. Remember that EFS supports only Linux-based EC2 instances and is not compatible with Windows.
Amazon EFS supports mounting the same file system on multiple EC2 instances concurrently, making it ideal for sharing data across various instances.
To deploy an EFS file system, you must launch it within a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). Inside the VPC, the file system becomes accessible through mount targets. When you create an EFS file system, you designate specific subnets for these mount targets, and each one is assigned an IP address. EC2 instances connect to the EFS file system using the IP address of the chosen mount target. For high availability, it is advisable to create mount targets in multiple availability zones.
The image illustrates how an EFS (Elastic File System) works within a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), showing two availability zones with mount targets connected to an EFS filesystem.

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Storage Classes

EFS offers two main storage class families to cater to different needs:
  • Standard Storage Classes:
    This family includes EFS Standard and EFS Standard Infrequent Access, offering multi-AZ resilience, durability, and high availability.
  • One Zone Storage Classes:
    This family features EFS One Zone and EFS One Zone Infrequent Access, delivering cost savings by storing data in a single availability zone.
The image is a diagram comparing two types of Elastic File System (EFS) storage classes: Standard Storage Classes and One Zone Storage Classes, highlighting their features and benefits.

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Performance and Throughput Modes

In addition to varying storage classes, you can configure EFS to optimize performance for your workloads. Two primary configuration areas are available:
  1. File System Performance Modes:
    These modes affect metadata operations:
    • General Purpose: Optimized for latency-sensitive applications such as web applications, content management systems, home directories, and general file serving.
    • Max I/O: Supports higher aggregate throughput and operations per second, albeit with increased latencies for file system operations.
  2. Throughput Modes:
    These modes determine how data throughput is managed:
    • Bursting Throughput: The default mode that automatically scales with the size of your file system, offering performance bursts when required.
    • Provisioned Throughput: Allows you to set a fixed throughput independent of file system capacity, ensuring consistent performance.
The image describes three modes of Elastic File System (EFS): Max I/O Performance Mode, Provisioned Throughput Mode, and Bursting Throughput Mode, each with different throughput characteristics.

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Setting Up EFS on an Amazon EC2 Linux Instance

To set up EFS, begin by installing the Amazon EFS utilities on your EC2 instance. Depending on your package manager, you might use one of the following commands. The example below demonstrates installation using the dnf package manager: 
$ sudo dnf -y install amazon-efs-utils
Dependencies resolved.
==================================================================================================================================
 Package                     Architecture     Version                      Repository                Size
==================================================================================================================================
Installing:
 amazon-efs-utils           noarch           1.35.0-1.amzn2023           amazonlinux               56 k
Installing dependencies:
 stunnel                   x86_64           5.58-1.amzn2023.0.2         amazonlinux              156 k

Transaction Summary
==================================================================================================================================
Install  2 Packages

Total download size: 212 k
Installed size: 556 k
Downloading Packages:
(1/2): amazon-efs-utils-1.35.0-1.amzn2023.noarch.rpm                550 kB/s |  56 kB     00:00
(2/2): stunnel-5.58-1.amzn2023.0.2.x86_64.rpm                        1.0 MB/s | 156 kB     00:00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                                              866 kB/s | 212 kB     00:00
Running transaction check
After installing the utilities, mount the EFS file system to your desired directory. Replace “efs:id” with the actual file system ID from the AWS Console and specify the mount point: 
$ sudo mount.efs efs:id /directory

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Summary of Amazon EFS

Amazon EFS is a powerful file system storage service that:
  • Uses the NFS protocol to seamlessly integrate with supporting applications.
  • Is compatible with Linux-based EC2 instances and permits simultaneous mounts on multiple instances.
  • Is deployed within a VPC using mount targets, with each mount target providing an essential IP address for connectivity.
  • Offers two primary storage class families (Standard and One Zone) along with configurable performance and throughput modes.
  • Functions similarly to a traditional file system mounting process, but unlike block storage (e.g., EBS volumes), it cannot be booted.
The image is a summary slide about EFS (Elastic File System), highlighting its availability in a VPC, storage classes, and performance modes. It includes three points numbered 05 to 07.

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