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Don't just learn the cloud—BYTE it!
Byte the Cloud is your go-to, on-the-go, podcast for mastering AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud certifications and exam prep!
Chris 0:00
Welcome back, everybody. We're diving deep today into Amazon EFS. It's become like essential for so many cloud applications, especially for those of you out there working with containers or big data, you know, yeah,
Kelly 0:13
you hit the nail on the head. It's It's funny though, EFS seems straightforward at first, but trust me, there's a lot more to it than just like storage in the cloud, it's got these little quirks, these nuances that can really trip you up, especially if you're thinking about, you know, an exam scenario Gotcha.
Chris 0:28
So for anyone who's maybe not as familiar with EFS, let's break it down, like, what is it? In simple terms, why should say a mid level cloud engineer care about this? Okay,
Kelly 0:39
imagine this. You're building a website, right? And it's got a ton of images and videos, heavy stuff. Now, back in the day, you'd probably store all that on the same server that's running your website, but in the cloud, we do things differently. With EFS, you create the separate, dedicated file storage, and the cool part is multiple servers can access it at the same time,
Chris 0:57
so instead of each server needing its own copy of like every file, they all share access to this one central spot exactly.
Kelly 1:04
That's why we call it a network file system. Think of it as a shared drive, but built specifically for the cloud. It's just way more efficient, especially as you start to scale your application. Okay,
Chris 1:15
I'm seeing the appeal here, shared access efficiency. That all sounds good, but what are some real world problems that EFS is solving? Like concrete examples? Oh,
Kelly 1:27
tons. Let's say you've got a media company, right? They're editing a film. You've got editors, sound designers, animators, all working with these massive video files. EFS lets them collaborate easily, no matter where they are, what kind of computer they're using, makes
Chris 1:40
sense, like a virtual editing bay in the cloud. Any other cool use cases that come to mind? Oh, absolutely.
Kelly 1:46
Big Data analytics is another great example. Say you have, like, terabytes of data you need to analyze. EFS lets you spin up a bunch of servers, all of them can access the data, and then you can run your analytics in parallel, way faster. Okay,
Chris 1:58
so EFS is not just about storage then, right? It's about enabling collaboration, boosting your processing power. We're getting into the good stuff now. But to really understand EFS, we gotta go deeper. What about the features, the functionality? What makes EFS different from other storage options in AWS? All
Kelly 2:17
right, so first off, EFS is super scalable. Unlike a physical drive, it can grow or shrink automatically as your needs change. No more messing around with manual provisioning or worrying about running out of space.
Chris 2:29
That's pretty slick. So if my website suddenly gets like a huge spike in traffic and I need more storage for logs or user uploads, EFS just handles it. You got
Kelly 2:38
it. EFS does all the heavy lifting behind the scenes, plus it offers high availability like really high your data is automatically replicated across multiple availability zones, so even if one zone goes down, your application keeps running, no sweat.
Chris 2:52
I mean that peace of mind is valuable, especially when you're dealing with applications that can't afford any downtime. But no, tech is perfect, right? What about limitations? When would you say, hey, maybe EFS isn't the best choice here. Use something else.
Kelly 3:06
Yeah, you're right. Everything has its trade offs EFS, it's not the fastest storage option out there. If you need ultra low latency, like super fast response times for a busy database, then you might want to look at EBS or even a service like elasticache. So EFS is
Chris 3:20
more about scalability and availability than pure speed.
Kelly 3:25
Makes sense? All right, I think we've got a good foundation now. We know what EFS is, how it fits into the AWS world, but let's get to the part. I know a lot of you are waiting for Exam Prep.
Chris 3:35
Let's put that knowledge to the test. Don't forget exam questions. They're not about just memorizing stuff. It's about applying what you know about EFS to different situations. Yeah, you ready for some tricky questions? Bring
Kelly 3:46
on. I'm ready. All right, let's
Chris 3:47
jump into a classic scenario, something you're likely to see on the exam. Picture this, you're designing a web application, and it needs storage for user uploaded images, lots of them, but it has to be highly available. What AWS service comes to mind. And more importantly, why that one? Okay,
Kelly 4:04
so web app, user generated content, high availability. It does sound like EFS is a good fit, right? You got it, but the exam, it might try to throw you off by mentioning other services like EBS or maybe even S3 gotta remember EDS, it's tied to a specific instance, doesn't give you that same level of availability as EFS and S3 while great for object storage, it's not ideal when you've got files that need to be accessed all the time, shared across multiple servers. So
Chris 4:33
the takeaway here is, know your services inside and out. EFS wins in this case, because it's built for shared access and that high availability we need exactly
Kelly 4:41
all right. How about this one, which the following is not a benefit of using EFS these types of questions. They're all about those little nuances of the service. Oh, the
Chris 4:51
not questions. Yeah, always tricky. It's easy to get caught up in what sounds right. What's the best way to approach these you think focus
Kelly 4:57
on what we know EFS is good at scale. Ability high availability and shared access. If an answer goes against those core strengths, that's probably your red flag right there. So
Chris 5:06
if I see an option like ultra low latency for transactional workloads, alarm bills should be ringing. Got
Kelly 5:13
it? Okay. Let's get a little more specific with the EFS features. What about this? You need to restrict access to certain directories within your EFS file system, and you need to do it based on user roles. How would you go about that? This
Chris 5:27
is where I am comes in. Good old I am. You can use those I am roles and policies to set up very granular access control, like you could have a role specifically for developers. They can only read and write files in a certain project directory. So
Kelly 5:40
it's not just like everyone gets access to the whole EFS file system. You can get really specific with who can do what. That's great for security and just keeping things organized. Okay, let's try a scenario that's a little more real world migration issue. You're moving a legacy application over to AWS, and this thing, it relies heavily on NFS file shares. What's the best way to get those shares onto EFS, and you got to do it without disrupting the application. That's a common one. Luckily, AWS has a service just for this, datasync. Datasync can move tons of data from on premise, NFS, shares right into EFS, and it does it efficiently, keeps downtime to a minimum. Make sure your data stays safe.
Chris 6:20
Data Sync. It's like a bridge between the old way and the cloud, huh? Handy to know. Let's talk performance for a sec. EFS, it offers different performance modes, right? How do you know which one to pick for a given application?
Kelly 6:32
Good question. So you've got two main modes, general purpose and Max IO. General purpose. It's Well, General works for most stuff, but if you need high throughput, especially if you're dealing with lots of small files, then max IO is your friend. So
Chris 6:45
if I'm building a photo sharing app, users are constantly uploading and downloading image files, probably small ones. Max IO would help keep things smooth. You
Kelly 6:53
got it. The exam might throw you a curve ball. Ask you to look at an application and decide which performance mode is best. Okay, let's shift gears a bit. Let's talk about keeping costs down. You're using EFS big data set, but it's not accessed very often. How do you minimize those storage costs, but without, like, sacrificing your data,
Chris 7:10
classic cloud problem, right balance the performance you need with the budget you have. What's the trick here?
Kelly 7:17
EFS has this storage class. It's called infrequent access, or IA, for short. It's perfect for data that you got to keep, but you're not pulling it up every day. By moving that infrequent data to IA storage, you can cut your costs way down, and the data is still safe and sound.
Chris 7:33
It's like putting those old photo albums in a storage unit. Yeah, you know they're there, but you're not paying top dollar to look at them all the time. Yeah, I like that. All right. One more security question. Got to make sure we're covering all the bases. How do you control access to an EFS file system using IAM, that's identity and access management. If anyone needs the full name.
Kelly 7:52
Security is huge in the cloud and EFS it plays nice with IAM, you can create specific roles and policies that say exactly who can do what with your EFS file system. You could, for example, have read only access for some users, while others have full Read Write permissions. It all depends on what they need.
Chris 8:08
So it's like having a bouncer at the door your EFS file system right checks everyone's ID before letting them in love it. Okay. Last scenario for this round, got to make sure our data is protected. How do you keep your EFS data safe from accidental deletion or maybe corruption?
Kelly 8:25
That's where EFS snapshots come in. Snapshots, they're like time capsules for your EFS file system. You can create 'em, store 'em, so if something bad happens, data gets corrupted or someone accidentally hits delete, you can just restore from a previous snapshot. No harm, no foul. Snapshots, they're
Chris 8:40
like a safety net for your data. Nice.
Kelly 8:42
Okay, I feel like we've covered a lot here, from the basics of EFS to some pretty tough exam style questions. I'm feeling way more ready to tackle this on the AWS exam. Now, me too,
Chris 8:52
but practice makes perfect, right? Yeah, the key is to not just memorize, but really understand how to use EFS in different situations. Keep practicing, and you'll ace that exam. Totally agree. But mastering EFS, it's not just about passing an exam. It's about having the skills to build awesome cloud applications, applications that are robust, scalable, secure, the whole package. It's crazy, right? We've been talking for a while now, and I feel like we've only just scratch the surface of what EFS can do?
Kelly 9:21
Yeah, absolutely. And there's a whole bunch of stuff we haven't even touched on, like lifecycle management, how to really fine tune performance, and integrating EFS with other services, like AWS, Lambda, for example.
Chris 9:33
Oh, for sure. It's like EFS. Is this like starting point for all these cool cloud solutions. So where do you see EFS going in the future, like next few years, what's on the horizon? That's
Kelly 9:42
a good question. I think we're gonna see EFS evolve even more to support like, really demanding workloads. Think about machine learning, AI, all that stuff EFS is gonna have to handle even bigger data sets, more complex file structures. So
Chris 9:55
we might see it get even tighter with those machine learning services right optimize for that kind of stuff. Yeah,
Kelly 10:00
exactly. And I think security and compliance, that's gonna be a big focus, too. As companies move more sensitive data to the cloud, they need those strong security controls. Makes
Chris 10:09
sense. And actually, speaking of security, let's go back to something we talked about earlier, the whole IAM integration with EFS. Can you break down how those IAM roles and policies help create, like a multi layered security approach.
Kelly 10:23
For sure, IAM, it's your best friend when it comes to securing your EFS file system, you can use IAM roles to give specific permissions to users or applications. You control exactly who can access which files and directories. So you can have a role for developers, right? And they can only read and write to files in their specific project directory. But then the administrators, they have full control over everything. So
Chris 10:44
it's like different levels of access depending on who you are, what you need to do makes sense. And
Kelly 10:48
on top of those IAM roles, you can use IAM policies too. They let you fine tune those access controls even more, like you could have a policy that stops people from bleeding files, or one that only allows access from certain IP addresses or specific VPCs, wow.
Chris 11:01
So you can get really specific with your security settings. That's pretty powerful stuff. It
Kelly 11:07
is, and it's important, especially for companies that need to meet all those security and compliance rules. Okay,
Chris 11:12
I feel like we've covered a ton of ground today. Anything else you want to add before we wrap up? Any advice for our listeners who are, you know, maybe prepping for the AWS exam, or just getting started with EFS. Best
Kelly 11:23
advice I can give, get your hands dirty, spin up an EFS file system in your own AWS account, play around with the different features, see what you can do, even try to break things. You know that's the best way to learn.
Chris 11:36
I like that. Learn by Doing, and don't forget, there are tons of resources out there, AWS documentation, blog post, tutorials, you can even find practice exam questions online. Totally.
Kelly 11:46
There's no shortage of information out there. And hey, keep listening to the deep dive. We'll keep breaking down these AWS services for you. Hi, folks,
Speaker 1 11:53
that's a wrap for our deep dive into Amazon, EFS. We've talked about what it is, what it can do, what it can't do. We even threw in some tricky exam style questions just for fun. Hopefully you're feeling a lot more comfortable with EFS now or ready to tackle it in your own cloud projects. Thanks for joining us, and we'll see you on the next episode of the Deep Dive.