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SOA-C02: Which action should SysOps take so that EC2 instances can share files between nodes

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Question

A SysOps administrator has many Windows Amazon EC2 instances that need to share a file system between nodes. The SysOps administrator creates an Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) file share. After creation of the file share, the SysOps administrator is having trouble mounting the file share to the EC2 instances. Which action should the SysOps administrator take so that the EC2 instances can share the files?

A. Delete the EFS file share. Create an Amazon FSx for Windows File Server file share for the EC2 instances.
B. Use the correct IAM credentials to mount the EFS file share.
C. Configure NFSv4 support on the Windows operating system that is running on the EC2 instances.
D. Allow the correct port for NFS through the security group and network ACL.

Answer

A. Delete the EFS file share. Create an Amazon FSx for Windows File Server file share for the EC2 instances.

Explanation

The correct answer to the question is A. Delete the EFS file share. Create an Amazon FSx for Windows File Server file share for the EC2 instances.

Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) is a service that provides a scalable, elastic, and fully managed file system for Linux-based workloads. Amazon EFS supports the Network File System version 4 (NFSv4) protocol, which allows multiple EC2 instances to access and share the same file system concurrently. However, Amazon EFS does not support the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, which is the native file sharing protocol for Windows-based workloads. Therefore, Amazon EFS is not compatible with Windows EC2 instances, and the SysOps administrator cannot mount the EFS file share to the EC2 instances.

To share a file system between Windows EC2 instances, the SysOps administrator should use Amazon FSx for Windows File Server instead. Amazon FSx for Windows File Server is a service that provides a fully managed native Microsoft Windows file system that is accessible over the SMB protocol. Amazon FSx for Windows File Server integrates with Microsoft Active Directory and supports features such as encryption, deduplication, compression, shadow copies, and DFS namespaces. Amazon FSx for Windows File Server allows multiple EC2 instances to access and share the same file system concurrently.

To use Amazon FSx for Windows File Server, the SysOps administrator should delete the EFS file share and create an FSx file share instead. The SysOps administrator can use the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, or the AWS SDK to create an FSx file share. The SysOps administrator needs to specify the following parameters:

  • File system type: The type of file system to create. The SysOps administrator should choose Windows File Server for this scenario.
  • Storage capacity: The amount of storage space to provision for the file system. The SysOps administrator can choose from 32 GB to 65,536 GB in increments of 1 GB.
  • Throughput capacity: The throughput of the file system in megabytes per second. The SysOps administrator can choose from 8 MB/s to 2,048 MB/s in increments of 1 MB/s.
  • Deployment type: The type of deployment for the file system. The SysOps administrator can choose from Single-AZ or Multi-AZ for high availability and durability.
  • Storage type: The type of storage for the file system. The SysOps administrator can choose from SSD or HDD depending on the performance and cost requirements.
  • Network and security: The VPC, subnet, security group, and encryption settings for the file system. The SysOps administrator should choose a VPC and subnet that are in the same Availability Zone as the EC2 instances that need to access the file system. The SysOps administrator should also choose a security group that allows inbound traffic on port 445 for SMB access.
  • Windows authentication: The method of authenticating users and groups that access the file system. The SysOps administrator can choose from using an existing self-managed Active Directory or creating a new AWS-managed Microsoft Active Directory.
  • Maintenance preferences: The preferred time window and backup settings for performing maintenance tasks on the file system.

After creating the FSx file share, the SysOps administrator can mount it to the Windows EC2 instances using either PowerShell commands or a graphical user interface (GUI). For more details, you can refer to this article.

Therefore, option A is correct. Options B, C, and D are incorrect because they are not effective or relevant ways to mount an EFS file share to Windows EC2 instances. Option B will use IAM credentials to mount the EFS file share, but IAM credentials are not required or used for mounting an EFS file share. Option C will configure NFSv4 support on the Windows operating system, but NFSv4 is not natively supported by Windows and requires additional software or configuration that may not be reliable or secure. Option D will allow port 3389 through the security group and network ACL, but port 3389 is used for RDP access, not for EFS access.

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