Table of contents
1.
Introduction
2.
About AWS Storage Gateway
3.
Types of Storage Gateway
3.1.
Amazon S3 File Gateway
3.2.
Amazon FSx File Gateway
3.3.
Tape Gateway
3.4.
Volume Gateway
4.
Setting up AWS storage gateway
5.
AWS storage gateway pricing
6.
Frequently Asked Questions
6.1.
Can we change our file share name?
6.2.
Can we monitor client activity for individual file shares?
6.3.
What are some of the alternatives to the AWS storage gateway?
7.
Conclusion
Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024
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AWS Storage Gateway

Author Md Yawar
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Introduction

AWS is an immensely popular cloud service provider. AWS provides servers, storage, networking, etc., to the clients. AWS storage gateway connects an on-premise software appliance to cloud-based storage. Let us learn more about it.

Source

About AWS Storage Gateway

AWS storage gateway is a service that gives us hybrid cloud storage for the on-premises environment and the AWS cloud storage. On-premises means that the clients have the IT appliances on-site while the storage is offsite on the cloud. AWS storage gateway provides secure storage in the AWS cloud cost-effectively. 

It is a virtual appliance that we can download as a virtual machine image that can be installed in our data storage. The AWS storage gateway can support either Vmware EXI or Microsoft Hyper-V.

AWS storage gateway overview

Types of Storage Gateway

AWS storage gateway supports three types of gateways: filetape, and volume.

Types of storage gateway

Amazon S3 File Gateway

Amazon S3 File Gateway supports a file interface into Amazon simple storage service (Amazon S3). Files are stored as objects in S3 buckets. The files are then accessed through a Network File System (NFS) mount point. The permissions and timestamps are stored in S3 in the user metadata of the object associated with the file.

Amazon s3 file gateway

Amazon FSx File Gateway

Amazon FSx File Gateway provides on-premises access to file shares in Amazon FSx for Windows File Server. Clients with unstructured data or file data may require on-premises access to meet low-latency requirements. Amazon FSx File Gateway accelerates the file-based storage migration to the cloud to enable faster performance, improved data protection, and reduced cost.

Amazon FSx File gateway

Tape Gateway

The tape gateway allows us to back up our data with the iSCSI virtual tape library (VTL) interface. It consists of a virtual media changer, virtual tapes, and virtual tape drives. It provides secure data transfer by encrypting the data between the gateway and AWS. The virtual data is stored in Amazon S3 or Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive to minimize storage costs.

 

Tape gateway

Volume Gateway

Volume Gateway cloud-based iSCSI blocks storage volumes for our on-premises applications. Volume gateway stores our on-premise data in Amazon S3 and operates in either cache mode or stored mode.

Volume gateway

Setting up AWS storage gateway

Let us take an example where we set up AWS S3 File Gateway using Amazon EC2 as the host platform.

  1. Start by downloading a VM image for the gateway.
  2. Open the Storage gateway console and choose Create gateway. 
  3. In the Select gateway type, choose Amazon S3 File Gateway.
  4. In the Select host platform, choose Amazon EC2. Then, select Launch Instance. We will be directed to the EC2 console.
  5. In the Amazon EC2 console, configure the EC2 instance as a host for the file gateway.
  6. Proceed with the steps to connect to the file gateway, activate the file gateway, configure local disks, and configure logging.
  7. Create the file share.

AWS storage gateway pricing

We pay for Amazon gateway only when our APIs are in use. There are no upfront fees for that. The API Gateway free tier includes one million HTTP API calls, one million REST API calls, one million messages, and 750,000 connection minutes per month for up to 12 months. You can check the AWS storage gateway pricing here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can we change our file share name?

Yes, we can change our file share name.

Can we monitor client activity for individual file shares?

Yes, we can configure File Gateway audit logs to monitor user operations for folders.

What are some of the alternatives to the AWS storage gateway?

Some of the popular alternatives to AWS storage gateway are Azure Safety Explorer, Google Hybrid cloud, and Zadara.

Conclusion

This blog talks extensively about the AWS storage gateway. We talked about the different types of storage gateways. We learned how to set up a storage gateway with an example. We also discussed the pricing of setting up the amazon gateway. 

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