AWS storage services (for example, Amazon Elastic Block Store [Amazon EBS], Amazon Elastic File System [Amazon EFS], Amazon FSx, Amazon S3, Volume Gateway)

What is the difference between Amazon EBS and Amazon EFS?

Amazon EBS provides block-level storage volumes for use with EC2 instances, whereas Amazon EFS offers a scalable file storage solution. EBS is optimized for persistent storage for an individual EC2 instance, is low latency, and can support highly-intensive I/O workloads. EFS, on the other hand, is designed to be accessed by multiple EC2 instances simultaneously, making it suitable for applications that require shared access to file-based storage.

When would you recommend using Amazon FSx over Amazon EFS?

Amazon FSx provides fully managed third-party file systems with native compatibility and features. Use Amazon FSx if you need Windows-native file storage (FSx for Windows File Server) or high-performance computing workloads (FSx for Lustre). In contrast, Amazon EFS is recommended for simple, scalable, elastic NFS file storage for use with AWS Cloud services and on-premises resources.

How does Amazon S3 differ from Amazon EBS in terms of durability and availability?

Amazon S3 is designed for 999999999% (11 9’s) of durability over a given year and provides high availability through data replication across multiple geographically dispersed Availability Zones (AZs). Amazon EBS volumes are designed for 99% availability and are stored redundantly in a single AZ. For multi-AZ durability, snapshots can be taken and stored in S

In what scenario would you implement S3 Intelligent-Tiering?

S3 Intelligent-Tiering is designed for data with unknown or changing access patterns. It automatically moves objects between two access tiers — frequent and infrequent access — when access patterns change, without performance impact or operational overhead. It’s suitable for long-lived data that might be accessed unpredictably.

Can you explain the concept of Amazon S3 object immutability and when it’s typically used?

S3 object immutability refers to the write-once-read-many (WORM) model provided by S3 Object Lock. This feature prevents object deletion or modification for a fixed amount of time or indefinitely, which is crucial for compliance requirements or to protect data from accidental deletion or modification. It’s typically used for regulatory archived data or to preserve critical records.

What are the key differences between AWS Storage Gateway’s Volume Gateway and File Gateway?

Volume Gateway provides block storage – iSCSI-based volumes – backed by Amazon S3, enabling on-premises applications to use cloud-backed storage. It can be run in cached or stored modes. File Gateway, however, offers a seamless way to connect on-premises applications with S3 through a file-based interface, using standard file system protocols.

When would you consider using Amazon Glacier instead of standard Amazon S3 storage?

Amazon S3 Glacier and S3 Glacier Deep Archive are designed for the archival of data that is infrequently accessed and for which retrieval times of several minutes to hours are suitable. If cost-saving is a priority and immediate access to archived data is not necessary, Amazon Glacier is the more suitable option over standard S3 which offers immediate access but at a higher cost.

Describe one scenario where Amazon EBS’s Provisioned IOPS SSD (io2) would be the preferred choice.

Provisioned IOPS SSD (io2) is designed for I/O-intensive, latency-sensitive workloads such as large relational or NoSQL databases. Use io2 when consistent and high-performance IOPS are required, along with low storage latency. It’s particularly beneficial for critical business applications that demand consistent throughput and high durability.

How does AWS Backup integrate with AWS storage services?

AWS Backup is a fully managed service that provides centralized backup management across AWS services. It integrates with Amazon EBS, Amazon EFS, Amazon FSx, Amazon RDS, and Amazon DynamoDB, allowing users to configure and audit the AWS resources that are backed up, automate backup scheduling, set retention policies, and monitor all recent backup and restore activity.

Can you explain how data is protected in transit and at rest in Amazon S3?

In Amazon S3, data is protected in transit using SSL/TLS encryption, and at rest by default using server-side encryption with Amazon S3-Managed Encryption Keys (SSE-S3), Customer-Provided Keys (SSE-C), or AWS Key Management Service (KMS) Keys (SSE-KMS). This ensures that your data is encrypted and secure both during transfer and while stored on S3 services.

How can lifecycle policies be used with Amazon S3 to reduce storage costs?

Lifecycle policies in S3 enable automatic transitioning of objects to less expensive storage classes at defined intervals, and/or automatically archive or delete objects following a specified retention period. By moving objects to S3 Standard-IA, S3 One Zone-IA, S3 Intelligent-Tiering, Glacier, or Glacier Deep Archive, users can reduce storage costs based on their access frequency and retention requirements.

What factors should you consider when choosing between Amazon EBS volume types for a particular application?

When choosing EBS volume types, consider factors such as expected throughput, IOPS performance, latency requirements, storage capacity needed, and cost constraints. Specific applications might require the high performance of Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1/io2), the cost-effectiveness and burstable performance of General Purpose SSD (gp2/gp3), or the low-cost storage for infrequently accessed data provided by Throughput Optimized HDD (st1) or Cold HDD (sc1).