AWS EFS (Elastic File System)

AWS EFS (Elastic File System) – Complete Practical Guide

1️⃣ What is EFS

EFS (Elastic File System) is a managed NFS storage service in AWS used to share files between multiple servers (EC2 instances).

Key Points

  • Purpose: Share data between multiple servers

  • Storage: Automatically scales up to petabytes

  • Type: Serverless storage (no storage management required)

  • Protocol:

    • NFS v4.0

    • NFS v4.1

  • Integrations:

    • EC2

    • ECS

    • EKS

    • Lambda

    • Fargate

  • Performance Modes

    1. General Purpose – Low latency (default)

    2. Elastic – For very high throughput workloads

  • Pricing

    • AWS Free Tier gives 5 GB free

2️⃣ Architecture of this Practical

We will create:

EC2 Server 1 (AZ-1)  ----\
                          --->  EFS (Shared Storage)
EC2 Server 2 (AZ-2)  ----/

Both servers will access same files.

3️⃣ Step 1 – Create Security Group

Go to:

AWS Console
→ EC2
→ Security Groups
→ Create Security Group

Name

efs-sg

Inbound Rules

TypePortPurpose
SSH22Access server
HTTP80Web server
NFS2049EFS communication

Example

SSH      TCP 22     Anywhere
HTTP     TCP 80     Anywhere
NFS      TCP 2049   Anywhere

⚠️ Important

If NFS (2049) is not allowed
EFS cannot communicate with EC2

4️⃣ Step 2 – Create EFS

Go to:

AWS Console
→ EFS
→ Create File System

Select

Customize

Configure

Name : one
Region : ap-south-1
Type : Regional
Performance Mode : Elastic

Networking

Select VPC

Attach Security Group

efs-sg

Make sure NFS is enabled

Click

Next
→ Create File System

Now EFS is created.

5️⃣ Step 3 – Create EC2 Servers

Create 2 servers.

Server 1

Name : server1
AZ : ap-south-1a
AMI : Ubuntu
Instance : t2.micro
Security Group : efs-sg

Server 2

Name : server2
AZ : ap-south-1b
AMI : Ubuntu
Instance : t2.micro
Security Group : efs-sg

Launch both servers.

6️⃣ Step 4 – Connect to Server

SSH into server.

Example:

ssh -i key.pem ubuntu@public-ip

7️⃣ Step 5 – Install Required Packages

Run in both servers

sudo -i

Explanation

sudo -i
Switch to root user
apt update

Explanation

Updates package repository list
apt install nginx nfs-common -y

Explanation

nginx       → Web server
nfs-common  → Allows Linux server to mount NFS storage (EFS)
-y          → Automatically confirm installation

8️⃣ Check Web Directory

ls /var/www/html/

Explanation

This is the default nginx website folder

Example output

index.nginx-debian.html

9️⃣ Step 6 – Mount EFS

Go to

EFS Console
→ Select your EFS
→ Attach

You will see mount command.

Example command:

sudo mount -t nfs4 -o \
nfsvers=4.1,rsize=1048576,wsize=1048576,hard,timeo=600,retrans=2,noresvport \
fs-028e9171f773dcc7f.efs.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com:/ /var/www/html/

Explanation

mount                 → attach storage
-t nfs4               → mount using NFS v4
nfsvers=4.1           → NFS version
rsize / wsize         → read/write buffer size
hard                  → retry if connection fails
timeo                 → timeout
retrans               → retry attempts
noresvport            → use random ports

Mount location:

/var/www/html

So the website folder now uses EFS storage.

Run this command on both servers.

🔟 Verify Mount

df -h

Example output

Filesystem                     Size  Used Avail Mounted on
fs-028e9171f773dcc7f.efs      8.0E     0  8.0E /var/www/html

Explanation

df -h → shows mounted storage

11️⃣ Test Shared Storage

On Server 1

cd /var/www/html
Go to website folder

Create file

touch file1

Check

ls

Output

file1

Now go to Server 2

cd /var/www/html
ls

Output

file1

✅ File is visible.

This proves EFS is shared between servers.

12️⃣ Deploy Website Code

Go to website folder.

cd /var/www/html

Clone code

git clone https://github.com/Ironhack-Archive/online-clone-amazon.git

Explanation

Downloads website source code

Move files

mv online-clone-amazon/* .

Explanation

Moves all files into current directory

Restart nginx

systemctl restart nginx

Now open browser

http://EC2-PUBLIC-IP

Website will load.

Since EFS is shared, both servers show same website.

13️⃣ Important Note (ASG)

⚠️ EFS cannot be directly attached to ASG instances automatically unless mount is configured.

Standard method:

Create EC2
→ Configure EFS
→ Create AMI
→ Use AMI in Auto Scaling Group

OR

Use User Data script to mount EFS automatically.

14️⃣ Final Architecture

             +-------------+
             |    EFS      |
             | Shared NFS  |
             +------+------+
                    |
        ----------------------------
        |                          |
+---------------+          +---------------+
|   EC2 Server1 |          |   EC2 Server2 |
|   AZ-1        |          |   AZ-2        |
|   Nginx       |          |   Nginx       |
+---------------+          +---------------+

Both servers read/write same storage.

15️⃣ Important Interview Points

Why EFS?

Shared storage for multiple servers

Protocol used?

NFS v4

Port used?

2049

Max Storage?

Petabytes

Difference

FeatureEBSEFS
TypeBlockFile
AttachSingle EC2Multiple EC2
ProtocolNoneNFS

✅ This is a complete DevOps EFS practical.

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