Other AWS Storage Options

AWS offers a variety of highly available, scalable, reliable, and secure storage services to address various organizational needs. It provides a rich web console for all of the services that is easy to access and navigate. Its easy-to-use UI complements efficient services for quickly performing day-to-day administrative tasks. AWS also provides a set of API and CLI interfaces. You can use APIs and CLIs to perform advanced operations or to automate various tasks using customized applications and scripts.

The following topics are covered in the chapter:

• Storage and backup services provided by AWS
• Amazon Elastic File System (EFS)
• AWS Storage Gateway
• AWS Snowball
• AWS Snowmobile

Storage and backup services provided by AWS

The following table describes a number of storage and backup services provided by AWS:

AWS services

Description

Amazon S3

S3 is a cloud-based object storage service that can be used over the internet. It is suggested for storing static content, such as graphics files, documents, log files, audio, video, and compressed files. Virtually any type of data in any file format can be stored on S3. Currently, the permissible object size in S3 is 0 bytes to 5 TB. Objects in S3 are stored in a bucket. A bucket is a logical unit in S3 that is just like a folder. Buckets are created at root level in S3 with a globally unique name. You can store objects and also folders inside a bucket. Any number of objects can be stored in each bucket. There is a soft limit of 100 buckets per account in S3. Common usage: S3 can be used for content storage...

Amazon EFS

AWS EFS is a simple-to-use and scalable file storage service that can be used with EC2 instances. It is a fully-managed storage service from AWS that can be used for storing GBs to TBs of data. EFS volumes can be mounted and accessed by multiple EC2 instances at the same time. It uses the NFSv4.1 protocol. When using any EFS volume for the first time, you simply need to mount and format it to the desired filesystem. Subsequently, you can mount this volume on other EC2 instances directly and start using it. EFS volumes can also be accessed from an on-premises environment using Direct Connect. You cannot access it from an on-premises environment over VPN connectivity. EFS is available in two modes—General Purpose mode and Max I/O mode.

In the industry, it is a common requirement to share filesystems across the network, which can be used as a common data source...

AWS Storage Gateway

AWS Storage Gateway is a hybrid storage service provided by Amazon. With Storage Gateway services, your on-premises applications can seamlessly use AWS cloud storage. The following are some of the important points of AWS Storage Gateway:

• AWS Storage Gateway connects on-premises software appliances with the AWS cloud storage to provide a seamless integration experience and data security between the on-premises data center and the AWS storage services.
• It is a scalable and cost-effective storage solution that also maintains data security.
• It provides an iSCSI interface, which can be used to mount a volume as a local drive to easily integrate it with the existing backup applications.
• AWS Storage Gateway uses incremental EBS snapshots for backing up data to AWS.
• AWS provides a VM image for running Storage Gateway on an on-premises data center; you can also run...

AWS Snowball

AWS Snowball comes in hardware form and can be used with the AWS dashboard or API. It is available in two different sizes: 50 TB and 80 TB. It can be used to transfer PBs of data into and from AWS S3. Dedicated Snowball software is made available by AWS to perform data transfers in a compressed, encrypted, and secure manner.

You can attach multiple AWS Snowball devices at the same time to an on-premises network backbone. Perform the following steps to obtain AWS Snowball:

1. Sign into your AWS account and create a job inside the AWS Snowball management console. While creating a job, you need to provide information, such as shipping details, to receive Snowball device(s), job details mentioning the region, the AWS S3 bucket name, and so on. You also need to provide security details such as the ARN of the AWS IAM role and the master key from AWS KMS.

2. Once the job is...

AWS Snowmobile

AWS Snowmobile is an exabyte data transfer service. This hardware comes in a high cube shipping container that is 45 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 9.6 feet tall. Each Snowmobile truck can store up to 100 PB of data, and multiple Snowmobile trucks can be connected to an on- premises infrastructure at the same time. It uses 256-bit encryption, and a master key for encryption can be managed with AWS KMS. It comes with GPS tracking, alarm monitoring, 24/7 video surveillance, and an optional escort security vehicle while in transit.

When you request a Snowmobile, AWS performs an assessment and subsequently transports the Snowmobile to your designated location. An AWS resource configures it so that you can access it as network storage. During the entire period that the Snowmobile is at your location, AWS personnel work with your team. The AWS personnel connect a network...

Summary

• S3 is a cloud-based object storage service that can be used over the internet.
• Glacier is a highly secure, durable, and very low-cost cloud storage service for archiving data and taking long-term backups and is very economical for storing long-term archival data, which is rarely accessed.
• Retrieval incurs charges and may take a minimum of three to four hours or more depending on the size of the data.
• Amazon charges early deletion fees if data is deleted within three months from the date of storing.
• AWS EFS is a simple-to-use and scalable file storage service.
• EFS volumes can be mounted and accessed by multiple EC2 instances at the same time.
• EFS uses the Network File System Version 4.1 (NFSv4.1) protocol.
• EFS is available in two modes—General Purpose mode and Max I/O mode.
• EBS is a persistent, block-level storage service from Amazon.
• Persistent storage is a type...