37. FSX for Windows & FSX for Lustre

i. FSx for windows file server provides a fully managed native windows file system so we can easily move windows-based application that require file storage to AWS. Amazon FSx for Windows File Server provides fully managed, highly reliable file storage that is accessible over the industry-standard Service Message Block (SMB) protocol. It is built on Windows Server, delivering a wide range of administrative features such as user quotas, end-user file restore, and Microsoft Active Directory (AD) integration. FSx for Windows does not allow you to present S3 objects as files and does not allow you to write changed data back to S3. Therefore you cannot reference the “cold data” with quick access for reads and updates at low cost.
ii. FSx is built on windows server.
iii. Difference between windows FSx and EFS

Windows FSx EFS
A managed windows server that runs windows ‘Server Message Block’ (SMB) – based file services A managed NAS file for EC2 instances based on NFSv4
Designed for windows and windows applications One of the first network file sharing protocols native to unix & linux
Supports AD users, ACLs, groups & security policies, DFS namespaces & replication
iv. FSx for lustre is a fully managed file system that is optimized for compute intensive workloads, such as high performance computing, machine learning, media data processing workflows & electronic design automation (EDA)
v. With FSx, we can launch and run a lustre file system that can process massive data sets upto 100s of GBs/ sec of throughput, millions of IOPs and sub milli second latencies.
vi. Difference between Lustre FSx and EFS

Lustre FSx EFS
Designed specifically for fast processing of workloads such as ML, HPC, video processing, financial modelling, EDA A managed NAS file for EC2 instances based on NFSv4
Lets us launch & run file system that provides sub-millisecond access to our data and allows to read and write data at speeds of upto hundereds of GBs/ sec of throughput & millions of 10 Ps One of the first network file sharing protocols native to unix & linux
vii. EFS: When we need distributed, highly resilient storage for linux instances and linux based applications
viii. FSx for Windows: When we need centralized storage for windows based applications such as sharepoint, Microsoft SQL Server, workspaces, IIS web server or any other native Microsoft application, when we need SMB (server message block) storage.
ix. FSx for Lustre: When we need high speed, high capacity distributed storage. For high speed application like big data, HPC, ML. FSx for Lustre can store data directly on S3.

Question 1:
What is required for remote management access to your Linux-based instance?
A. ACL
B. Telnet
C. SSH
D. RDP
Answer (C)

Question 2:
How does Amazon AWS isolate metrics from different applications for monitoring, store and reporting purposes?
A. EC2 instances
B. Beanstalk
C. CloudTrail
D. namespaces
E. Docker
Answer (D)

Question 3:
An Electronic Design Automation (EDA) application produces massive volumes of data that can be divided into two categories. The ‘hot data’ needs to be both processed and stored quickly in a parallel and distributed fashion. The ‘cold data’ needs to be kept for reference with quick access for reads and updates at a low cost. Which of the following AWS services is BEST suited to accelerate the aforementioned chip design process?
Answer: Amazon FSx for Lustre
Explanation: Amazon FSx for Lustre makes it easy and cost-effective to launch and run the world’s most popular high-performance file system. It is used for workloads such as machine learning, high-performance computing (HPC), video processing, and financial modeling. The open-source Lustre file system is designed for applications that require fast storage – where you want your storage to keep up with your compute. FSx for Lustre integrates with Amazon S3, making it easy to process data sets with the Lustre file system. When linked to an S3 bucket, an FSx for Lustre file system transparently presents S3 objects as files and allows you to write changed data back to S3. FSx for Lustre provides the ability to both process the ‘hot data’ in a parallel and distributed fashion as well as easily store the ‘cold data’ on Amazon S3

Question 4:
A large financial institution operates an on-premises data center with hundreds of PB of data managed on Microsoft’s Distributed File System (DFS). The CTO wants the organization to transition into a hybrid cloud environment and run data-intensive analytics workloads that support DFS. Which of the following AWS services can facilitate the migration of these workloads?
Answer: Amazon FSx for Windows File Server
Explanation: Amazon FSx supports the use of Microsoft’s Distributed File System (DFS) to organize shares into a single folder structure up to hundreds of PB in size.

Question 5:
You are considering storage that allows you to share data between multiple EC2 instances. This storage requires the Windows File Server mechanism.
Choose a storage service that can meet this requirement.
Options:
A. Amazon FSx for windows
B. EFS
C. Amazon S3
D. EBS
Explanation
Option 1 is the correct answer. The service that can use the mechanism of Windows File Server is Amazon FSx for Windows. This is an AWS service that provides a fully managed native Microsoft Windows file system. Building on Windows Server, Amazon FSx provides compatibility and functionality that Microsoft applications depend on. Amazon FSx uses the SMB protocol to provide an NTFS file system accessible to up to thousands of compute instances.
Option 2 is incorrect. EFS is a NAS-type file storage dedicated to AWS. EFS provides a file system interface and file system access semantics (such as strong integrity and file locking) that allow simultaneous access from up to thousands of Amazon EC2 instances. It is not compatible with Windows File Server.
Option 3 is incorrect. Amazon S3 is an object storage, not a file storage.
Option 4 is incorrect. EBS is a block storage, not a file storage.

Question 6:
A company is migrating from an on-premises infrastructure to the AWS Cloud. One of the company’s applications stores files on a Windows file server farm that uses Distributed File System Replication (DFSR) to keep data in sync. A solutions architect needs to replace the file server farm.
Which service should the solutions architect use?
Options:
A. AWS Storage Gateway
B. Amazon FSx
C. Amazon S3
D. Amazon EFS
Answer: B
Explanation
Amazon FSx for Windows File Server provides fully managed, highly reliable file storage that is accessible over the industry-standard Server Message Block (SMB) protocol.
Amazon FSx is built on Windows Server and provides a rich set of administrative features that include end-user file restore, user quotas, and Access Control Lists (ACLs).
Additionally, Amazon FSX for Windows File Server supports Distributed File System Replication (DFSR) in both Single-AZ and Multi-AZ deployments as can be seen in the feature comparison table below.
CORRECT: “Amazon FSx” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Amazon EFS” is incorrect as EFS only supports Linux systems.
INCORRECT: “Amazon S3” is incorrect as this is not a suitable replacement for a Microsoft filesystem.
INCORRECT: “AWS Storage Gateway” is incorrect as this service is primarily used for connecting on-premises storage to cloud storage. It consists of a software device installed on-premises and can be used with SMB shares but it actually stores the data on S3. It is also used for migration. However, in this case the company need to replace the file server farm and Amazon FSx is the best choice for this job.

Question 7:
A Microsoft Windows file server farm uses Distributed File System Replication (DFSR) to synchronize data in an on-premises environment. The infrastructure is being migrated to the AWS Cloud.
Which service should the solutions architect use to replace the file server farm?
Options:
A. Amazon EBS
B. Amazon FSx
C. AWS Storage Gateway
D. Amazon EFS
Answer: B
Explanation
Amazon FSx for Windows file server supports DFS namespaces and DFS replication. This is the best solution for replacing the on-premises infrastructure.
CORRECT: “Amazon FSx” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Amazon EFS” is incorrect. You cannot replace a Windows file server farm with EFS as it uses a completely different protocol.
INCORRECT: “Amazon EBS” is incorrect. Amazon EBS provides block-based volumes that are attached to EC2 instances. It cannot be used for replacing a shared Windows file server farm using DFSR.
INCORRECT: “AWS Storage Gateway” is incorrect. This service is used for providing cloud storage solutions for on-premises servers. In this case the infrastructure is being migrated into the AWS Cloud.

Question 8:
An Electronic Design Automation (EDA) application produces massive volumes of data that can be divided into two categories. The ‘hot data’ needs to be both processed and stored quickly in a parallel and distributed fashion. The ‘cold data’ needs to be kept for reference with quick access for reads and updates at a low cost.
Which of the following AWS services is BEST suited to accelerate the aforementioned chip design process?
Options:
A. AWS Glue
B. Amazon EMR
C. Amazon FSx for Windows File Server
D. Amazon FSx for Lustre
Answer: D
Explanation
Correct option:
Amazon FSx for Lustre
Amazon FSx for Lustre makes it easy and cost-effective to launch and run the world’s most popular high-performance file system. It is used for workloads such as machine learning, high-performance computing (HPC), video processing, and financial modeling. The open-source Lustre file system is designed for applications that require fast storage – where you want your storage to keep up with your compute. FSx for Lustre integrates with Amazon S3, making it easy to process data sets with the Lustre file system. When linked to an S3 bucket, an FSx for Lustre file system transparently presents S3 objects as files and allows you to write changed data back to S3.
FSx for Lustre provides the ability to both process the ‘hot data’ in a parallel and distributed fashion as well as easily store the ‘cold data’ on Amazon S3. Therefore this option is the BEST fit for the given problem statement.
Incorrect options:
Amazon FSx for Windows File Server – Amazon FSx for Windows File Server provides fully managed, highly reliable file storage that is accessible over the industry-standard Service Message Block (SMB) protocol. It is built on Windows Server, delivering a wide range of administrative features such as user quotas, end-user file restore, and Microsoft Active Directory (AD) integration. FSx for Windows does not allow you to present S3 objects as files and does not allow you to write changed data back to S3. Therefore you cannot reference the “cold data” with quick access for reads and updates at low cost. Hence this option is not correct.
Amazon EMR – Amazon EMR is the industry-leading cloud big data platform for processing vast amounts of data using open source tools such as Apache Spark, Apache Hive, Apache HBase, Apache Flink, Apache Hudi, and Presto. Amazon EMR uses Hadoop, an open-source framework, to distribute your data and processing across a resizable cluster of Amazon EC2 instances. EMR does not offer the same storage and processing speed as FSx for Lustre. So it is not the right fit for the given high-performance workflow scenario.
AWS Glue – AWS Glue is a fully managed extract, transform, and load (ETL) service that makes it easy for customers to prepare and load their data for analytics. AWS Glue job is meant to be used for batch ETL data processing. AWS Glue does not offer the same storage and processing speed as FSx for Lustre. So it is not the right fit for the given high-performance workflow scenario.

Question 9:
A large financial institution operates an on-premises data center with hundreds of PB of data managed on Microsoft’s Distributed File System (DFS). The CTO wants the organization to transition into a hybrid cloud environment and run data-intensive analytics workloads that support DFS.
Which of the following AWS services can facilitate the migration of these workloads?
Options:
A. AWS Managaed Microsoft AD
B. Amazon FSx for Windows File Server
C. Amazon FSx for Lustre
D. Microsoft SQL Server on Amazon
Answer: B
Explanation
Correct option:
Amazon FSx for Windows File Server
Amazon FSx for Windows File Server provides fully managed, highly reliable file storage that is accessible over the industry-standard Service Message Block (SMB) protocol. It is built on Windows Server, delivering a wide range of administrative features such as user quotas, end-user file restore, and Microsoft Active Directory (AD) integration. Amazon FSx supports the use of Microsoft’s Distributed File System (DFS) to organize shares into a single folder structure up to hundreds of PB in size. So this option is correct.
Incorrect options:
Amazon FSx for Lustre
Amazon FSx for Lustre makes it easy and cost-effective to launch and run the world’s most popular high-performance file system. It is used for workloads such as machine learning, high-performance computing (HPC), video processing, and financial modeling. Amazon FSx enables you to use Lustre file systems for any workload where storage speed matters. FSx for Lustre does not support Microsoft’s Distributed File System (DFS), so this option is incorrect.
AWS Managed Microsoft AD
AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory, also known as AWS Managed Microsoft AD, enables your directory-aware workloads and AWS resources to use managed Active Directory in the AWS Cloud. AWS Managed Microsoft AD is built on the actual Microsoft Active Directory and does not require you to synchronize or replicate data from your existing Active Directory to the cloud. AWS Managed Microsoft AD does not support Microsoft’s Distributed File System (DFS), so this option is incorrect.
Microsoft SQL Server on Amazon
Microsoft SQL Server on AWS offers you the flexibility to run Microsoft SQL Server database on AWS Cloud. Microsoft SQL Server on AWS does not support Microsoft’s Distributed File System (DFS), so this option is incorrect.

Question 10:
Your company has an on-premises Distributed File System Replication (DFSR) service to keep files synchronized on multiple Windows servers, and would like to migrate to AWS cloud.
What do you recommend as a replacement for the DFSR?
• Amazon S3
• EFS
• FSx for Windows (Correct)
• FSx for Lustre
Explanation
Correct option:
FSx for Windows
Amazon FSx for Windows File Server provides fully managed, highly reliable file storage that is accessible over the industry-standard Service Message Block (SMB) protocol. It is built on Windows Server, delivering a wide range of administrative features such as user quotas, end-user file restore, and Microsoft Active Directory (AD) integration. The Distributed File System Replication (DFSR) service is a new multi-master replication engine that is used to keep folders synchronized on multiple servers. Amazon FSx supports the use of Microsoft’s Distributed File System (DFS) to organize shares into a single folder structure up to hundreds of PB in size.
FSx for Windows is a perfect distributed file system, with replication capability, and can be mounted on Windows.
Incorrect options:
FSx for Lustre – Amazon FSx for Lustre makes it easy and cost-effective to launch and run the world’s most popular high-performance file system. It is used for workloads such as machine learning, high-performance computing (HPC), video processing, and financial modeling. The open-source Lustre file system is designed for applications that require fast storage – where you want your storage to keep up with your compute. Amazon FSx enables you to use Lustre file systems for any workload where storage speed matters. FSx for Lustre integrates with Amazon S3, making it easy to process data sets with the Lustre file system.
FSx for Lustre is for Linux only, so this option is incorrect.
EFS – Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) provides a simple, scalable, fully managed elastic NFS file system for use with AWS Cloud services and on-premises resources. It is built to scale on-demand to petabytes without disrupting applications, growing and shrinking automatically as you add and remove files, eliminating the need to provision and manage capacity to accommodate growth.
EFS is a network file system but for Linux only, so this option is incorrect.
Amazon S3 – Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is an object storage service that offers industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance.
Amazon S3 cannot be mounted as a file system on Windows, so this option is incorrect.

Question 11:
A financial services company wants to move the Windows file server clusters out of their datacenters. They are looking for cloud file storage offerings that provide full Windows compatibility. Can you identify the AWS storage services that provide highly reliable file storage that is accessible over the industry-standard Server Message Block (SMB) protocol compatible with Windows systems? (Select two)
• File Gateway Configuration of AWS Storage Gateway
• Amazon FSx for Windows File Server
• Elastic Block Storage
• Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3)
• Elastic File System
Answer: A & B
Explanation
Correct options:
Amazon FSx for Windows File Server – Amazon FSx for Windows File Server is a fully managed, highly reliable file storage that is accessible over the industry-standard Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. It is built on Windows Server, delivering a wide range of administrative features such as user quotas, end-user file restore, and Microsoft Active Directory (AD) integration.
File Gateway Configuration of AWS Storage Gateway – Depending on the use case, Storage Gateway provides 3 types of storage interfaces for on-premises applications: File, Volume, and Tape. The File Gateway enables you to store and retrieve objects in Amazon S3 using file protocols such as Network File System (NFS) and Server Message Block (SMB).
Incorrect options:
Elastic File System – Amazon EFS is a file storage service for use with Amazon EC2. Amazon EFS provides a file system interface, file system access semantics, and concurrently-accessible storage for up to thousands of Amazon EC2 instances. Amazon EFS uses the Network File System protocol. EFS does not support SMB protocol.
Elastic Block Storage – Amazon EBS is a block-level storage service for use with Amazon EC2. Amazon EBS can deliver performance for workloads that require the lowest latency access to data from a single EC2 instance. EBS does not support SMB protocol.
Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) – Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is an object storage service that offers industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance. Amazon S3 provides a simple, standards-based REST web services interface that is designed to work with any Internet-development toolkit. S3 does not support SMB protocol.

Question 12:
An e-commerce company uses Microsoft Active Directory to provide users and groups with access to resources on the on-premises infrastructure. The company has extended its IT infrastructure to AWS in the form of a hybrid cloud. The engineering team at the company wants to run directory-aware workloads on AWS for a SQL Server-based application. The team also wants to configure a trust relationship to enable single sign-on (SSO) for its users to access resources in either domain.
As a solutions architect, which of the following AWS services would you recommend for this use-case?
• AWS Managed Microsoft AD
• Simple AD
• Amazon Cloud Directory
• AD Connector
Answer: A
Explanation
Correct option:
AWS Managed Microsoft AD
AWS Directory Service provides multiple ways to use Amazon Cloud Directory and Microsoft Active Directory (AD) with other AWS services.
AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory (aka AWS Managed Microsoft AD) is powered by an actual Microsoft Windows Server Active Directory (AD), managed by AWS. With AWS Managed Microsoft AD, you can run directory-aware workloads in the AWS Cloud such as SQL Server-based applications. You can also configure a trust relationship between AWS Managed Microsoft AD in the AWS Cloud and your existing on-premises Microsoft Active Directory, providing users and groups with access to resources in either domain, using single sign-on (SSO).
Incorrect options:
AD Connector – Use AD Connector if you only need to allow your on-premises users to log in to AWS applications and services with their Active Directory credentials. AD Connector simply connects your existing on-premises Active Directory to AWS. You cannot use it to run directory-aware workloads on AWS, hence this option is not correct.
Simple AD – Simple AD provides a subset of the features offered by AWS Managed Microsoft AD. Simple AD is a standalone managed directory that is powered by a Samba 4 Active Directory Compatible Server. Simple AD does not support features such as trust relationships with other domains. Therefore, this option is not correct.
Amazon Cloud Directory – Amazon Cloud Directory is a cloud-native directory that can store hundreds of millions of application-specific objects with multiple relationships and schemas. Use Amazon Cloud Directory if you need a highly scalable directory store for your application’s hierarchical data. You cannot use it to establish trust relationships with other domains on the on-premises infrastructure. Therefore, this option is not correct.
Exam Alert:
You may see questions on choosing “AWS Managed Microsoft AD” vs “AD Connector” vs “Simple AD” on the exam. Just remember that you should use AD Connector if you only need to allow your on-premises users to log in to AWS applications with their Active Directory credentials. AWS Managed Microsoft AD would also allow you to run directory-aware workloads in the AWS Cloud. AWS Managed Microsoft AD is your best choice if you have more than 5,000 users and need a trust relationship set up between an AWS hosted directory and your on-premises directories. Simple AD is the least expensive option and your best choice if you have 5,000 or fewer users and don’t need the more advanced Microsoft Active Directory features such as trust relationships with other domains.

Question 13:
An IT company hosts windows based applications on its on-premises data center. The company is looking at moving the business to the AWS Cloud. The cloud solution should offer shared storage space that multiple applications can access without a need for replication. Also, the solution should integrate with the company’s self-managed Active Directory domain.
Which of the following solutions addresses these requirements with the minimal integration effort?
• Use Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) as a shared storage solution
• Use Amazon FSx for Lustre as a shared storage solution with millisecond latencies
• Use File Gateway of AWS Storage Gateway to create a hybrid storage solution
• Use Amazon FSx for Windows File Server as a shared storage solution
Answer: D
Explanation
Correct option:
Use Amazon FSx for Windows File Server as a shared storage solution – Amazon FSx for Windows File Server provides fully managed, highly reliable, and scalable file storage that is accessible over the industry-standard Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. It is built on Windows Server, delivering a wide range of administrative features such as user quotas, end-user file restore, and Microsoft Active Directory (AD) integration. It offers single-AZ and multi-AZ deployment options, fully managed backups, and encryption of data at rest and in transit. You can optimize cost and performance for your workload needs with SSD and HDD storage options; and you can scale storage and change the throughput performance of your file system at any time.
With Amazon FSx, you get highly available and durable file storage starting from $0.013 per GB-month. Data deduplication enables you to optimize costs even further by removing redundant data. You can increase your file system storage and scale throughput capacity at any time, making it easy to respond to changing business needs. There are no upfront costs or licensing fees.
Incorrect options:
Use File Gateway of AWS Storage Gateway to create a hybrid storage solution – AWS Storage Gateway connects an on-premises software appliance with cloud-based storage to provide seamless integration between your on-premises IT environment and the AWS storage infrastructure. Storage Gateway uses Amazon S3 to store data on AWS Cloud and from here the on-premises data can seamlessly integrate with Cloud services. It is not suited to be used as a shared storage space that multiple applications can access in parallel.
Use Amazon FSx for Lustre as a shared storage solution with millisecond latencies – Amazon FSx for Lustre is a fully managed service that provides cost-effective, high-performance storage for compute workloads. Many workloads such as machine learning, high performance computing (HPC), video rendering, and financial simulations depend on compute instances accessing the same set of data through high-performance shared storage. Lustre is Linux based, hence it is not the right choice since the use case is about Windows-based applications.
Use Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) as a shared storage solution – Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) provides a simple, scalable, fully managed elastic NFS file system for use with AWS Cloud services and on-premises resources. EFS is a powerful, shared storage solution that would have been the right answer if the customer systems were Linux based. Amazon EFS is compatible with only Linux-based AMIs for Amazon EC2.