Amazon FSx is a fully managed file storage service that provides high-performance file systems on AWS for a variety of workloads.
It supports Windows, Lustre, NetApp ONTAP, and OpenZFS file systems — enabling you to run file-based applications without managing storage infrastructure.
🚀 Why Use Amazon FSx?
| Benefit |
Description |
| ✅ Fully managed |
AWS handles setup, patching, backups, etc. |
| 💨 High performance |
Optimized for throughput and IOPS |
| 🔒 Secure |
Supports VPC, encryption, IAM, KMS |
| 💰 Cost-effective |
Pay-as-you-go; storage + throughput pricing |
| 🔁 Integrated |
Supports AD, S3, Kubernetes, and more |
🧱 Amazon FSx File System Types
| FSx Variant |
Best For |
Protocols |
Key Features |
| FSx for Windows File Server |
Windows-based apps, .NET, SQL Server |
SMB (Server Message Block) |
AD integration, DFS, NTFS ACLs |
| FSx for Lustre |
HPC, ML, media rendering, genomics |
Lustre (POSIX) |
Parallel file system, S3-backed |
| FSx for NetApp ONTAP |
Enterprise apps, shared storage |
NFS, SMB, iSCSI |
Snapshots, clones, tiering to S3 |
| FSx for OpenZFS |
Linux workloads, DevOps |
NFS |
ZFS snapshots, compression, clone |
🧠 Use Case Highlights
| Use Case |
FSx Variant Recommended |
| Active Directory file shares |
FSx for Windows File Server |
| Big data analytics / ML |
FSx for Lustre |
| SAP / Oracle on shared NAS |
FSx for ONTAP |
| CI/CD on Linux |
FSx for OpenZFS |
🔐 Security & Access Control
-
IAM Policies and Security Groups
-
VPC support (no public IPs by default)
- Encryption at rest and in transit
- Integration with AWS KMS, AD, and Kerberos
💵 Pricing Overview
| Cost Component |
Description |
| Storage capacity |
Charged per GB/month |
| Provisioned throughput |
Charged separately (except Lustre) |
| Backups & snapshots |
Charged based on usage |
| Data transfer |
Within VPC is free; cross-AZ incurs cost |
🔁 Performance Characteristics
| FSx Variant |
Max Throughput |
Max IOPS |
Latency |
| Windows File Server |
Up to 2 GBps |
Up to 80,000 |
Low-ms |
| Lustre |
100s of GBps (HPC) |
1 million+ |
Sub-ms |
| NetApp ONTAP |
Up to 4 GBps |
Up to 160,000 |
Low-ms |
| OpenZFS |
Up to 10 GBps |
Up to 350,000 |
Low-ms |
🛠️ Integration with Other AWS Services
-
EC2: mount file systems
-
S3: FSx for Lustre & ONTAP can tier/archive to S3
-
Backup: AWS Backup integration
-
EKS / ECS: Persistent storage support
-
AD / AWS Managed Microsoft AD: For Windows FSx
✅ Summary Table
| Feature |
FSx for Windows |
FSx for Lustre |
FSx for ONTAP |
FSx for OpenZFS |
| Protocols Supported |
SMB |
Lustre |
SMB/NFS/iSCSI |
NFS |
| AD Integration |
✅ |
❌ |
✅ |
❌ |
| S3 Tiering |
❌ |
✅ |
✅ |
❌ |
| Best For |
Windows apps |
HPC workloads |
Enterprise NAS |
Linux workloads |
