AWS - Storage services

 AWS (Amazon Web Services) offers a wide range of storage services, each designed for different use cases like object storage, file storage, block storage, archival, and hybrid cloud storage. Here's a breakdown of the key AWS storage services:

🔸 1. Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service)

• Type: Object Storage

• Use Case: Backup, data lakes, static website hosting, big data analytics

• Features: Scalable, highly durable (99.999999999%), lifecycle policies, versioning, encryption

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🔸 2. Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store)

• Type: Block Storage

• Use Case: Storage for EC2 instances (like a hard drive), databases, transactional workloads

• Features: High performance, persistent storage, snapshots, encrypted volumes

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🔸 3. Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

• Type: File Storage (NFS-based)

• Use Case: Shared storage for Linux EC2 instances, content management, home directories

• Features: Scalable, elastic, pay-as-you-go, supports multiple EC2 instances

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🔸 4. Amazon FSx

• Type: File Storage (Windows or Lustre)

• Variants:

  • FSx for Windows File Server – SMB protocol, AD integration

  • FSx for Lustre – High-performance workloads like ML, HPC

• Use Case: Enterprise apps, data-heavy workloads, Windows environments

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🔸 5. Amazon Glacier / S3 Glacier & Glacier Deep Archive

• Type: Archival Storage

• Use Case: Long-term backups, compliance archives

• Features: Very low cost, retrieval times from minutes to hours

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🔸 6. AWS Storage Gateway

• Type: Hybrid Cloud Storage

• Use Case: Extend on-premise storage to AWS, backup and recovery

• Types: File Gateway, Volume Gateway, Tape Gateway

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🔸 7. AWS Backup

• Type: Centralized backup service

• Use Case: Automate backup for AWS services like EBS, RDS, DynamoDB, EFS

• Features: Policy-based management, compliance support

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🔸 8. AWS Snow Family (Snowcone, Snowball, Snowmobile)

• Type: Edge and Migration Storage

• Use Case: Offline data transfer to AWS, edge computing

• Features: Secure, rugged devices for petabyte-scale migration

✅ AWS Storage Services Cheat Sheet

Service	Type	Use Case	Key Features
Amazon S3	Object	Data lakes, backup, websites host	11 9s durability, versioning, lifecycle policies
Amazon EBS	Block	EC2 root volumes, DBs, low-latency apps	Persistent, high IOPS, snapshot support
Amazon EFS	File (Linux)	Shared file systems for EC2 (Linux)	Elastic, NFS, multi-AZ access
Amazon FSx	File (Windows/Lustre)	Windows file shares, HPC workloads	SMB (Windows) or Lustre (high speed)
S3 Glacier	Object (Archive)	Cold storage, compliance archives	Low-cost, retrieval from minutes to hours
AWS Backup	Centralized Backup	Manage backups for AWS services	Policy-driven, cross-region backup
Storage Gateway	Hybrid	On-prem to cloud backup or access	File, Volume, and Tape gateway modes
AWS Snow Family	Edge/Migration	Data transfer when network is slow	Snowcone/Snowball (TBs), Snowmobile (PBs)

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🧠 Tips for Interview

• S3 vs EBS vs EFS:

  • S3 = Object storage

  • EBS = Block storage for EC2

  • EFS = Shared file system for Linux instances

• When to use Glacier: For data you rarely access but need to retain for years.

• Use FSx if you need Windows file system or high-performance Lustre-based workloads.

• Snow Family is ideal when transferring large data sets physically to AWS.