Amazon S3 File Gateway | Overview.

Amazon S3 File Gateway - Overview. 

Scope:

• Intro,
• What Amazon S3 File Gateway Does,
• Architecture,
• Common Use Cases,
• How Amazon S3 File Gateway Works (High-Level),
• key Features,
• Protocols Supported,
• Architecture Diagram,
• Costs,
• Best Practices.

Intro:

• Amazon S3 File Gateway is a hybrid cloud storage solution from AWS that allows twtech on-premises applications to seamlessly access data in Amazon S3 using standard file protocols such as NFS (Network File System) or SMB (Server Message Block). 
• Amazon S3 File Gateway is part of AWS Storage Gateway, which bridges on-premises environments with cloud storage.

 What Amazon S3 File Gateway Does

S3 File Gateway presents S3 buckets as file shares to twtech on-premises applications. 

With that, twtech can:

• Upload files from twtech local environment to S3.
• Access S3-stored files via familiar file system interfaces.
• Cache frequently accessed data locally to reduce latency.

 Architecture

Common Use Cases

Use Case	Description
Backup & Archive	Store backups and archives in cost-effective S3 storage while keeping local access.
Data Migration	Move large volumes of data to AWS using standard file protocols.
AI/ML & Analytics	Make on-prem applications push data to S3 for analytics, training, or processing.
Hybrid Workloads	Run applications locally that need to access large datasets in S3.

 How Amazon S3 File Gateway Works (High-Level)

1. Deploy the gateway:
• Run the gateway as a VM, EC2 instance, or hardware appliance.
2. Connect to AWS:
• Activate the gateway in the AWS Storage Gateway Console.
3. Create file shares:
• Each file share maps to an S3 bucket or prefix.
4. Access locally:
• Mount the share using NFS or SMB on client machines.
5. Data flow:
• Files written to the share are uploaded to S3 (optionally with caching).
• Files in S3 are made accessible via the file system.

 key Features

Feature	Description
Local caching	Frequently accessed data is cached locally for low latency.
Bandwidth management	Control network usage with throttling.
Access control	Integrates with AWS IAM, AD, and file system permissions.
Durability	Files are stored in S3 with its native 11 9’s durability.
Notifications	Supports event notifications via S3 and Amazon CloudWatch.

 Protocols Supported

Protocol	Description
NFS v3/v4.1	For Linux/Unix clients
SMB v2/v3	For Windows clients

 Architecture Diagram 

 Costs

• Gateway instance: No additional cost from AWS (twtech manages VM or EC2 costs).
• Storage: twtech pays for S3 storage, requests (PUT/GET), and optional data transfer.
• Caching: Local disk used for caching is managed by twtech.

 twtech Best Practices

• Use S3 lifecycle policies for tiering (e.g., S3 Standard → Glacier).
• Use CloudWatch for monitoring gateway health and performance.
• Secure NFS/SMB access with proper authentication (e.g., AD for SMB).
• Most recently used data is cached in the file gateway.
• It Supports S3 Standard, S3 Standard IA, S3 One Zone A, S3 Intelligent Tiering.
• S3 file Gateway can Transition to S3 Glacier using a Lifecycle Policy.
• The S3 bucket can be accessed using IAM roles for each File Gateway.
• The SMB (Server Message Block) Protocol has integration with Active Directory (AD) for user authentication.