Question #954
A company is migrating an application's data storage from on-premises to AWS. The application currently uses a shared file system accessed via SMB. The company wants to use Amazon S3 as the storage backend but needs the on-premises application to continue accessing the data via SMB until the application is refactored to use S3 APIs. The solution must ensure minimal disruption during migration and direct access to the data in S3 afterward.
Which solution meets these requirements?
Create an S3 bucket. Deploy an AWS Storage Gateway file gateway on-premises, create a file share linked to the S3 bucket, and copy the data to the file gateway endpoint.
Use AWS DataSync to transfer data from the on-premises file share to Amazon EFS. Configure a Storage Gateway volume gateway to expose the EFS file system via SMB.
Migrate the on-premises file server to Amazon EC2 using AWS Application Migration Service. Install S3FS on the EC2 instance to mount the S3 bucket as a file system.
Provision an Amazon FSx for Windows File Server file system. Use DataSync to copy data from on-premises to FSx, then enable S3 integration for the FSx file system.
Explanation
Answer A is correct because:
- Storage Gateway File Gateway allows on-premises applications to access data via SMB, while the backend storage is Amazon S3. This meets the requirement to maintain SMB access during migration.
- Data copied to the file gateway is stored directly in S3, ensuring no additional migration steps are needed once the application is refactored to use S3 APIs.
- Other options are incorrect:
- B: Volume Gateway uses iSCSI (block storage), not SMB, and EFS uses NFS, not SMB.
- C: S3FS has consistency limitations and requires reconfiguring the application to use a new EC2-based file server.
- D: FSx for Windows requires additional steps to integrate with S3 and does not provide direct S3 access post-migration.
Key Points:
- Use Storage Gateway File Gateway for SMB-to-S3 integration.
- Avoid solutions that introduce protocol mismatches (NFS/iSCSI) or require unnecessary infrastructure changes.
Answer
The correct answer is: A