AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Practice Exam

Which AWS service should you use to replace on-premise NFS v3 drive while ensuring local caching of commonly used files?

1. AWS Storage Gateway.

2. Amazon EFS (Elastic File System).

3. Amazon S3.

4. AWS File Gateway.

The correct answer is: AWS File Gateway.

The correct choice is AWS File Gateway. This service functions as a bridge between on-premises applications and cloud storage, specifically designed to provide a way to store and retrieve data through an NFS interface. By utilizing AWS File Gateway, you can replace your on-premise NFS v3 drive while also benefiting from local caching of frequently accessed files, which improves access speed and reduces latency. The local cache built into AWS File Gateway allows your file shares to store commonly used data closer to the application, making it efficient for read and write operations. Additionally, any changes made locally will sync with Amazon S3 in the background, ensuring that your cloud storage is up-to-date while still providing a familiar NFS interface for your applications. AWS Storage Gateway could also be considered, but it encompasses different gateway types beyond just AWS File Gateway, and those may not directly support the NFS v3 protocol in the way required for this scenario. Amazon EFS, while it's an excellent managed file system, lacks specific mechanisms for local caching in the way needed to replace on-premise NFS drives. Amazon S3 is fundamentally an object storage service rather than a file system, making it unsuitable for direct NFS replacement with local caching capabilities.