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Amazon Elastic File System (EFS)

Amazon Elastic File System (EFS)

Overview

What is Amazon Elastic File System (EFS)?

The Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) provides a simple, scalable, elastic file system for Linux-based workloads for use with AWS Cloud services and on-premises resources.

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Recent Reviews
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Popular Features

View all 9 features
  • Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime (5)
    10.0
    100%
  • Dynamic scaling (5)
    10.0
    100%
  • Operating system support (5)
    9.5
    95%
  • Monitoring tools (5)
    8.5
    85%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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US East & West Region

$0.043

Cloud
per month per GB (One zone)

Europe (Ireland) Region

$0.046

Cloud
per month per GB (One zone)

Asia Pacific & Canada Region

$0.047

Cloud
per month per GB (One zone)

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://aws.amazon.com/efs/pricing

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Starting price (does not include set up fee)

  • $0.04 per GB
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Features

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)

IaaS provides the basic building blocks for an IT infrastructure like servers, storage, and networking, in an on-demand model over the Internet

8.8
Avg 8.1
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Product Details

What is Amazon Elastic File System (EFS)?

Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) Video

Amazon EFS Overview

Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

The Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) provides a simple, scalable, elastic file system for Linux-based workloads for use with AWS Cloud services and on-premises resources.

Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) starts at $0.043.

Reviewers rate Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime and Dynamic scaling and Elastic load balancing highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(15)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-5 of 5)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
December 29, 2023

Is EFS worth the trouble?

Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use it as part of a server cloud allowing for the implementation of quick and easy access between two different web applications (WordPress and Discourse)
  • Allows for seamless transfer of user experience from one application to another
  • Allows for storage of user-uploaded images to be addressed over different servers and applications
  • EFS is scalable so it can be implemented from a small userbase set up through enterprise applications
  • Compatibility issues are always something to be on the lookout for before implementation of new technologies and systems
  • It's difficult for new employees to grasp the technology coming in from small server cloud applications. It could stand to be simpler.
  • Sharing of files sometimes doesn't go always as expected.
While the idea is to utilize it enterprise wide; it sometimes doesn't work well in smaller applications and that causes slowdowns and impacts productivity. Also when evaluating EFS versus EBS - one needs to look at cost as EFS is a lot more expensive to implement and run so you need to weigh cost benefits of both systems and choose the best for you.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) (8)
88.75%
8.9
Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime
100%
10.0
Dynamic scaling
100%
10.0
Elastic load balancing
100%
10.0
Pre-configured templates
40%
4.0
Monitoring tools
70%
7.0
Operating system support
100%
10.0
Security controls
100%
10.0
Automation
100%
10.0
  • Cost is always a paramount issue when looking at ROI
  • It is fast and if that's what you need for your implementation - you probably will not find a better solution
  • Expertise in EFS is sometimes hard to come by so it's best to look at your employee's ability to grasp this technology. Otherwise, it's a pretty steep learning curve.
Both S3 and EBS have their place in implementations but it does matter in looking at technology solutions from a total viewpoint of marrying various projects and systems and then weighing the advantages (and disadvantages) of EFS against them.
Iván García | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use EFS as a shared file system for a WebServer application, it's easy to mount of linux servers and all of them can read or write to the same storage. Excellent response time and no need to provision storage beforehand.
  • No limit on IOPS
  • No limit on storage size
  • Can optimize cost by using infrequent access tier
  • Integration with Windows instances is not supported
If you need to shared information across a fleet of servers your vest option is EFS.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) (6)
98.33333333333334%
9.8
Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime
100%
10.0
Dynamic scaling
100%
10.0
Monitoring tools
100%
10.0
Operating system support
90%
9.0
Security controls
100%
10.0
Automation
100%
10.0
  • Reduce administration burden of storage
  • Reduce over-all cost by using infrequent access tier
EFS is easier to configure, no need for Active Directory.
Amazon FSx, Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service), AWS Backup
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Amazon Elastic File System is being used in certain departments of the organization. This is a great tool as it handles the scalability of the filesystem so that multiple instances of EC2 can write and monitor the updates simultaneously. The capacity in this can be easily adjusted and no overhead management is needed.
  • This is very easy to setup and has a great performance.
  • As per the name, Elastic grows as your data grows.
  • We can run multiple EC2 instances.
  • For multiple small files, EFS performance might get degraded.
  • Doesn't have a great compatibility with Redhat 6.
  • Bit expensive
This tool is very well suited if you want to work in the AWS ecosystem along with other AWS tools as it easily integrates with them. This works very fast for distributed systems. Sometimes, you can face compatibility issues with the operating system so my advice would be to check that before the implementation.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) (9)
85.55555555555556%
8.6
Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime
90%
9.0
Dynamic scaling
90%
9.0
Elastic load balancing
100%
10.0
Pre-configured templates
80%
8.0
Monitoring tools
90%
9.0
Pre-defined machine images
80%
8.0
Operating system support
70%
7.0
Security controls
90%
9.0
Automation
80%
8.0
  • This tool is responsible for providing efficiency in multiple aspects.
  • It has a positive impact on the business outcomes.
  • Because of this tool we are having positive impact on customer retention.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Amazon EFS provide you scalable elastic file system with ease of integration of your past setup.My company already using multiple Amazon services AWS cloud so Amazon EFS is very helpful.
I am from analytics team but I have used this in project with out Tech engineering team.
We need large file system where rdbms and other resource is not helpful and we start using elastic file system.
It is started from project level and now it used completed department not company level but our department which consist of engineering team, analytics team and category product managers. System are now using Amazon EFS
  • Easy Integration
  • No problem like in RDBMS
  • Cloud script to maintain EFS dynamically
  • For early age start it would be costly
  • Not necessary for small scale system, but very beneficial for system which have high TPS and huge user base
When are API is exposed to limited user previous system is working fine. Amazon EFS comes into picture when we have more number user for internal API and even one user has multiple instance which required file need to maintained dynamically and session out problem need to be resolved.
Amazon EFS help in making system scalable and highly reliable. now no more high user and session timeout issue exist
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) (9)
82.22222222222221%
8.2
Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime
90%
9.0
Dynamic scaling
90%
9.0
Elastic load balancing
100%
10.0
Pre-configured templates
70%
7.0
Monitoring tools
60%
6.0
Pre-defined machine images
60%
6.0
Operating system support
90%
9.0
Security controls
90%
9.0
Automation
90%
9.0
  • Positive: Highly scalable solution, more than 6 month for bug fixing exist only product improvement is there
  • Positive : Dynamic file maintenance to make sure no session time out issue
  • Negative: Nothing as such
If your Team/Company already using AWS and you are building a scalable solution which require API building which connect to a database consist numerous file, then Amazon EFS is definitely must go to tool. which enable the productivity with less maintenance highly compatibility with old system . easy integration and api development.
Chris Saenz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use EFS for back-end storage for our larger systems and platforms. It adequately solves the business problem of file-as-a-service. Rather than spin up a few VMs and employ something like DRBD, EFS will provide a highly-available, scalable NFS export that can be mounted in multiple availability zones. It has just enough options to make it robust and enterprise-ready while keeping it simple to set up in just a few clicks.
  • EFS is easily made high-availability.
  • EFS is simple to implement.
  • EFS uses native NFS file-sharing protocol.
  • EFS could be made highly-available across regions.
  • EFS could be made with a better on-premise extension than Cloud Gateway.
  • EFS could be made to support CIFS/SMB.
It works well as run-of-the-mill NFS that is managed as a service rather than a server. It works anywhere NFS is usable.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) (8)
60%
6.0
Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime
80%
8.0
Dynamic scaling
60%
6.0
Elastic load balancing
60%
6.0
Pre-configured templates
40%
4.0
Monitoring tools
70%
7.0
Pre-defined machine images
60%
6.0
Operating system support
40%
4.0
Security controls
70%
7.0
  • EFS has made managing NFS file exports easier with less administration.
EFS is essentially an NFS export offering, just simplified and accessible through all the automation and scalability that AWS offers. It provides high-available replicated data in multiple AZs with is akin to something like DRBD, but without having to manage the layer of software that does replication and keeps track of roles.
The documentation is sufficient for setting up and it is basic NFS for mounting so not much support is required. I have not had any issues to warrant a request with AWS support.
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