Creating EFS file systems

To quick create an Amazon EFS file system that has the recommended settings

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon EFS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/efs/.

2. Choose Create file system to open the Create file system dialog box.

3. (Optional) Enter a Name for your file system.

4. For Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), choose your VPC, or keep it set to your default VPC.

5. Choose Create to create a file system that uses the following service recommended settings:

   • Automatic backups enabled. For more information, see Backing up EFS file systems.

   • Mount targets configured with the following settings:

     • Created in each Availability Zone in the AWS Region in which the file system is created.

     • Located in the default subnets of the VPC you selected.

     • Using the VPC's default security group – You can manage security groups after the file system is the created.

     For more information, see Managing mount targets.

   • Regional file system type – For more information, see EFS file system types.

   • General Purpose performance – For more information, see Performance modes.

   • Elastic throughput – For more information, see Throughput modes.

   • Encryption of data at rest enabled using your default key for Amazon EFS (aws/elasticfilesystem) – For more information, see Encrypting data at rest.

   • Lifecycle management – Amazon EFS creates the file system with the following lifecycle policies:

     • Transition into IA set to 30 days since last access.

     • TransitionToArchive set to 90 days since last access.

     • Transition into Standard set to None.

     For more information, see Managing storage lifecycle for EFS file systems.

   After you create the file system, you can customize the file system's settings with the exception of availability and durability, encryption, and performance mode.

   The File systems page appears with a banner across the top showing the status of the file system you created. A link to access the file system details page appears in the banner when the file system becomes available.

   For more information about file system status, see Understanding file system status.

Step 1: Configure file system settings

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon EFS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/efs/.

2. Choose Create file system to open the Create file system dialog box.

3. Choose Customize to create a customized file system instead of creating a file system by using the service-recommended settings. The File system settings page opens.

4. For General settings, do the following.

   1. (Optional) Enter a Name for the file system.

   2. For File system type, choose an availability option:

      • Choose Regional to create a file system that stores file system data and metadata redundantly across all Availability Zones within an AWS Region. Regional offers the highest levels of availability and durability.

      • Choose One Zone to create a file system that stores file system data and metadata redundantly within a single Availability Zone. If you choose One Zone, choose the Availability Zone that you want the file system created in, or keep the default value. For more information, see EFS storage classes.

   3. Automatic backups are turned on by default. You can turn off automatic backups by clearing the check box. For more information, see Backing up EFS file systems.

   4. For Lifecycle management, change the lifecycle policies, if necessary.

      • Transition into IA – Select when to transition files into the Infrequent Access (IA) storage class, based on the time since they were last accessed in Standard storage.

      • Transition into Archive – Select when to transition files into the Archive storage class, based on the time since they were last accessed in Standard storage.

      • Transition into Standard – Select whether to transition the file system to the storage class.

        For more information about lifecycle policies, see Managing storage lifecycle for EFS file systems.

   5. For Encryption, encryption of data at rest is enabled by default. Amazon EFS uses your AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) EFS service key (aws/elasticfilesystem) by default. To choose a different KMS key to use for encryption, expand Customize encryption settings and choose a key from the list. Or, enter a KMS key ID or Amazon Resource Name (ARN) for the KMS key that you want to use.

      If you need to create a new key, choose Create an AWS KMS key to launch the AWS KMS console and create a new key.

      You can turn off encryption of data at rest by clearing the check box.

5. For Performance settings, do the following:

   1. For Throughput mode, the Elastic mode is selected by default.

      • To use provisioned throughput, choose Provisioned, and, in Provisioned Throughput (MiB/s), enter the amount of throughput to provision for file system requests. The amount of Maximum Read Throughput is displayed at three times the amount of the throughput that you enter.

      • To use bursting throughput, choose Bursting.

      Amazon EFS file systems meter read requests at one-third the rate of other requests. After you enter the throughput mode, an estimate of the monthly cost for the file system is shown. You can change the throughput mode after the file system becomes available.

      For more information about choosing the correct throughput mode for your performance needs, see Throughput modes.

   2. For Performance mode, the default is General Purpose. To change the performance mode, expand Additional settings, and then choose Max I/O.

      You cannot change the performance mode after the file system becomes available. For more information, see Performance modes.

      Important

      Due to the higher per-operation latencies with Max I/O, we recommend using General Purpose performance mode for all file systems.

6. (Optional) Add tag key-value pairs to your file system.

7. Choose Next to configure network access for the file system.

Step 2: Configure network access

In Step 2, you configure the file system's network settings, including the VPC and mount targets.

1. Choose the Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) where you want EC2 instances to connect to your file system. For more information, see Managing mount targets.

2. For Mount targets, you create one or more mount targets for your file system. For each mount target, set the following properties:

   • Availability Zone – By default, a mount target is configured in each Availability Zone in an AWS Region. If you don't want a mount target in a particular Availability Zone, choose Remove to delete the mount target for that zone. Create a mount target in every Availability Zone that you plan to access your file system from – there is no cost to do so.

   • Subnet ID – Choose from the available subnets in an Availability Zone. The default subnet is preselected.

   • IP Address – By default, Amazon EFS chooses the IP address automatically from the available addresses in the subnet. Or, you can enter a specific IP address that's in the subnet. Although mount targets have a single IP address, they are redundant, highly available network resources.

   • Security groups – You can specify one or more security groups for the mount target. For more information, see Using VPC security groups for Amazon EC2 instances and mount targets.

     To add another security group, or to change the security group, choose Choose security groups and add another security group from the list. If you don't want to use the default security group, you can delete it. For more information, see Creating security groups.

3. Choose Add mount target to create a mount target for an Availability Zone that doesn't have one. If a mount target is configured for each Availability Zone, this choice is not available.

4. Choose Next to set the file system policy.

Step 3: Create a file system policy (optional)

Optionally, you can create a file system policy for your file system. An EFS file system policy is an IAM resource policy that you use to control NFS client access to the file system. For more information, see Using IAM to control file system data access.

1. In Policy options, you can choose any combination of the available preconfigured policies:

   • Prevent root access by default

   • Enforce read-only access by default

   • Enforce in-transit encryption for all clients

2. Use the Policy editor to customize a preconfigured policy or to create your own policy. When you choose one of the preconfigured policies, the JSON policy definition appears in the policy editor. You can edit the JSON to create a policy of your choice. To undo your changes, choose Clear.

   The preconfigured policies become available once again in Policy options.

3. Choose Next to review and create the file system.

Step 4: Review and create

1. Review each of the file system configuration groups. You can make changes to each group at this time by choosing Edit.

2. Choose Create to create your file system and return to the File systems page.

   A banner across the top shows that the new file system is being created. A link to access the new file system details page appears in the banner when the file system becomes available.