Amazon Web Services (AWS), recently announced improvements to its managed file storage service Amazon FSx, focusing on Windows Server.
Amazon FSx Windows File Server now supports hard drive (HDD storage), the company announced last Wednesday. It is touted as the “lowest-cost file storage solution for Windows applications and cloud workloads.”
The HDD option costs $0.013 per month for a single availability area and $0.025 for multiple availability areas. According to Jeff Barr, AWS evangelist, organizations can enjoy even greater cost savings by turning on data deduplication.
Barr wrote in a blog post that “if you use this option together with Data Deduplication, and use 50% space saving as a reasonable guide point, you can achieve an effect cost of $0.0065 for a single-AZ-file system and $0.0125 for a multiAZ-file system, you can achieve a cost effective cost of $0.0065 for a GB-month,”
Amazon FSx Windows File Server previously supported only solid state drive (SSD), which allowed for highly business-critical workloads such as anlaytics or databases. The HDD option allows the service to handle less latency-sensitive workloads such as content management systems or home directories.
AWS announced last week that Amazon FSx (for Windows File Server) and Amazon FSx (for Lustre) are now available from its Hong Kong cloud region. Amazon FSx Lustre is designed to work with the open-source Lustre file system.
You can find more information about Amazon FSx here.
