AWS FSx for Windows File Server
The AWS FSx service is a fully managed, high-performance file system that can replace customers' on-premises file servers. Cloudamize has the capability to recommend Amazon FSx where customers have Windows File Servers in place on-premises.
What is Supported?
Cloudamize can identify Windows Servers currently sharing files and folders via SMB. Storage on such servers can be migrated to FSx without necessarily moving the servers to EC2 instances.
Data Collection
Cloudamize will collect the necessary data for FSx migrations using data currently gathered by Agent and Agentless Data Collectors, nothing further is required to provide the data necessary for these recommendations.
How it Works
Windows servers that are sharing files via SMB will be included in the analytics for FSx recommendations. Note that C:\ drives or any administrative shares (those ending in $ (eg, \ADMIN$ or \IPC$)) are excluded from this. Recommendations for FSx are then made based on multiple factors and included with the final TCO results.
What it looks like
The Assessment Details screen, and its downloadable report, includes an FSx tab that shows the results of the recommendation calculations, with the following columns:
Instance Name
Single-AZ/Multi-AZ
Storage Type (SSD/HDD)
Storage Capacity (in GB)
Deduplication %
Actual Capacity
Throughput (MBps)
FSx cost
EC2 Compute cost
EBS Storage cost (Note: this will include the C:\ drive in addition to the data drives)
Total Instance cost (EC2 Compute cost + EBS Storage cost)
Monthly Savings (Total Instance cost - FSx Cost)
Column Name | Description |
|---|---|
Group Name | User-defined name of the asset group or logical grouping. |
Asset | A user-defined name or unique identifier for the asset. |
Server Name | Machine's hostname. |
Single-AZ / Multi-AZ | Indicates whether the FSx deployment is Single-AZ (within one Availability Zone) or Multi-AZ (with high availability across two AZs). Multi-AZ provides redundancy but may increase cost. |
Storage Type (SSD / HDD) | Specifies the FSx storage type: - SSD (Solid State Drive): Higher performance for transactional workloads. - HDD (Hard Disk Drive): Cost-effective for throughput-intensive workloads. |
Storage Capacity (GB) | The total allocated storage capacity in gigabytes (GB) for the FSx file system. |
Deduplication % | The estimated percentage of storage savings from deduplication helps in calculating effective storage capacity. |
Effective Storage Capacity (GB) | The storage available after applying deduplication, compression, or other storage efficiency features. |
Throughput (MBps) | The expected throughput or I/O bandwidth of the FSx system in megabytes per second. Useful for estimating performance and sizing workloads. |
EC2 Compute Cost ($) | The cost associated with the compute instance required to access or manage FSx, if applicable. |
EBS Storage Cost ($) | The cost of storage used in the context of FSx (may include temporary or attached EBS volumes if part of the TCO calculation). |
Total Instance Cost ($) | Sum of EC2 Compute Cost and EBS Storage Cost, representing the total cost of ownership for the FSx asset. |
FSx Cost ($) | The FSx Cost ($) column represents the estimated monthly cost of the Amazon FSx file system |
Annual Savings ($) (Total Instance Cost - FSx Cost) | The Annual Savings ($) column represents the estimated yearly cost savings when migrating to Amazon FSx. |
For more details on AWS’s FSx offering please see their documentation at See https://aws.amazon.com/fsx/windows/, or reach out to AWS directly.
If you have queries regarding Cloudamize’s presentation of these recommendations, please get in touch with the Technical Helpdesk at helpdesk@cloudamize.com