Creating an EFS Elastic File Storage

This guide provides step-by-step instructions for creating an EFS Elastic File Storage.

Hafeez Baig
16 steps
2 minutes

Amazon Web Services

Refer to the following guide to learn how to use IAM in the cloud\ <https://scribehow.com/shared/Creating_an_IAM_User_and_User_Group_in_AWS_Management_Console__hWNiiXlcRJKFqYZZEJD-cg>

Sign in to **AWS Management Console** as an **IAM User** **Pre-requisite** - Ensure you have selected the AWS region closest to your location\ For this guide, we will be using us-east-2 (Ohio) as a preferred choice

Type **EFS** in the search bar and click on **EFS** to view the EFS page

**What is EFS in AWS?** Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) is a scalable, fully managed file storage service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is designed to provide scalable, elastic, and shared file storage for use with AWS cloud services and on-premises resources.

On the EFS page, On the top right to corner click on the **Create file system** button

**Create file system** wizard will open, click on the **Customize** button

The **File system settings** wizard will open, give a Name and choose the option **Regional** for the **File system** **type**

**What are File system types?** **Regional File System**: A regional file system spans multiple Availability Zones within a single AWS Region. It replicates data across multiple Availability Zones to provide high availability and durability. **One Zone File System**: A one-zone file system is confined to a single Availability Zone within an AWS Region. Data is stored within that single Availability Zone, and there is no replication to other Availability Zones.

Scroll to the **Automatic backups** section and checkbox the **Enable automatic backups**

Scroll to the **Lifecycle management** section, configure the settings and checkbox the **Enable encryption of data at rest** option to enable encryption

Enabling encryption of data at rest refers to the practice of encrypting data when it is stored on a disk or storage medium, ensuring that the data remains secure even if it's not actively being used.

Scroll to the **Performance settings** section, choose the option **Enhanced** and select the **Elastic (Recommended)** radio button

**What are the Throughput modes?** Throughput modes are configurations that determine how the file system's performance scales with the amount of data stored in it. **Provisioned Throughput**: In the Provisioned Throughput mode, you specify the throughput capacity (in MiB/s) that you want your file system to have. This throughput capacity remains constant regardless of the amount of data stored in the file system. **Bursting Throughput**: In the Bursting Throughput mode, your file system's throughput scales with the amount of data stored in it. The file system accumulates credits over time, based on the amount of data stored, and uses these credits to burst to higher throughput levels when needed.

Scroll the page and click on the **Next** button

**Network access** wizard will open, select the default **VPC** from the dropdown

Scroll to the **Mount targets** section, and from the **Security groups** dropdown select the **default** security group for all the Availability zones

Click on the **Next** button

**File system policy** wizard will open, these settings are optional

Scroll the page and click on the **Next** button

**Review and create** wizard will open, review the settings and click on the **Create** button

Success. The File system is available

In conclusion, we utilized existing EC2 instances to set up a file share via AWS Elastic File Storage (EFS). By configuring the file system within our chosen VPC, selecting suitable security groups, and opting for default settings, we ensured efficient access and performance. Access policies were set to allow appropriate read and write access, and encryption options were briefly considered but disabled for simplicity.

Congratulations on completing the lab and successfully creating an EFS (Elastic File Storage) ! Well done!