When deploying applications in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud that require low-latency storage and operating-system-level disk access, many organizations defer to the default block storage option on AWS.
Another available option, Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP (FSx for ONTAP), is often associated with just file storage, but is in fact a fully managed storage service that also supports block and object storage, all from within a single platform. And not only that; it also provides the enterprise-grade data management capabilities often required by business-critical workloads but missing in other block storage services.
In this post, we explore use cases in which default block storage is a good fit, and those where organizations can benefit from the enterprise-grade storage capabilities that FSx for ONTAP provides to help support demanding workloads on AWS.
What this post covers:
- What workloads need from block storage
- Enterprise-grade block storage for business-critical workloads
- Case study: How adidas accelerated SAP recovery with FSx for ONTAP
What workloads need from block storage
Block storage is often deployed in enterprise applications that require low-latency access, transactional integrity, predictable performance, and direct disk access from the operating system. These include Oracle Databases, Microsoft SQL Server deployments, SAP applications, VMware environments, Epic systems, IBM MQ, NoSQL platforms, and stateful Kubernetes workloads.
AWS provides multiple approaches to block storage. The two fully managed options are Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS), which is commonly considered the default block storage service on AWS, and FSx for ONTAP, which combines block storage with enterprise-grade data management capabilities. For specialized use cases, organizations can also choose from the numerous third-party storage solutions available through AWS Marketplace.
For many workloads, Amazon EBS is the right starting point. It provides the simplicity, resilience, and performance required for Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) boot volumes, general-purpose application storage, single-instance deployments, and many transactional workloads.
But as an organization’s applications and data estates scale, complexity and size require an added combination of performance, scalability, operational simplicity, resilience, and advanced data management capabilities—preferably in a single service.
This is where FSx for ONTAP becomes relevant.
Enterprise-grade block storage for business-critical workloads
FSx for ONTAP delivers block storage as a fully managed service, through both iSCSI and NVMe/TCP protocols. For organizations running production databases, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, analytics platforms, and other mission-critical applications, FSx for ONTAP provides high-performance block storage alongside enterprise data management capabilities. This combination delivers several benefits.
High performance at scale
Enterprise workloads often require more than low latency. They need performance that can scale with application growth while maintaining consistent responsiveness.
Supporting large databases and highly concurrent workloads, FSx for ONTAP provides SSD-backed storage with submillisecond latency and can scale to deliver up to 36 GBps of throughput and 1.2 million IOPS.
Built-in Multi-AZ resilience
One of the most distinctive features of FSx for ONTAP is its unique built-in Multi-Availability Zone (Multi-AZ) high-availability (HA) architecture. This enables synchronous mirroring of data across AZs to automatically fail over in the event of an infrastructure (or entire AZ) failure. The result is seamless protection with a recovery point objective (RPO) of zero and a recovery time objective (RTO) of less than 60 seconds.
This storage-level resilience is particularly valuable because it eliminates much of the complexity traditionally associated with application-level replication, host-based clustering, and custom availability architectures. By offloading replication and availability functions to the storage layer, organizations can reduce operational complexity, while creating opportunities to optimize compute resources and associated software licensing costs.
For disaster recovery (DR) across AWS Regions, FSx for ONTAP supports SnapMirror® replication, helping organizations build recovery architectures that are aligned with demanding business requirements, on top of a Multi-AZ HA deployment. Learn how FSx for ONTAP enhances your DR capabilities in our recent post.
Data cloning and storage efficiency
Enterprise data is rarely used for a single purpose. Production datasets are often copied for development, testing, analytics, reporting, validation, and disaster recovery.
FSx for ONTAP features FlexClone®, a cloning technology that provides near-instant creation of writable, space-efficient data copies. Instead of requiring full physical copies, clones consume additional storage only as changes are made. This can significantly reduce both provisioning time and storage consumption. Learn how to reduce costs and increase efficiency with FSx for ONTAP.
The platform also includes thin provisioning, data compression, deduplication, compaction, efficient snapshots, and automated tiering capabilities. Together, these technologies can reduce storage footprint and storage costs by up to 65% or more, depending on workload characteristics. Learn how FSx for ONTAP thin cloning speeds up development and cuts costs.
Beyond block storage
FSx for ONTAP provides much more than block storage and performance. The same storage platform supports Network File System (NFS), Server Message Block (SMB), and Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3)-compatible access.
This gives organizations the flexibility to support databases, enterprise applications, user file shares, analytics platforms, AI initiatives, and other workloads using a common set of data management, protection, replication, and monitoring capabilities. Consolidating these storage requirements on a single platform can simplify architecture, streamline operations, and reduce management overhead. Learn how to gain the benefits of multiprotocol access using FSx for ONTAP.
Case study: How adidas accelerated SAP recovery with FSx for ONTAP
Global retailer adidas is undergoing its largest IT transformation project yet—to build a modern, scalable infrastructure in the cloud.
In the first phase of this initiative, adidas needed a storage platform capable of supporting massive scale, while meeting the demanding recovery objectives ofits business-critical ERP systems, which reside on the world's largest SAP S/4HANA deployment. The project required stringent availability, backup, restore, and DR capabilities for an environment expected to support more than 75 TB of transactional data, and eventually exceed 40 TB in SAP HANA capacity.
Working alongside AWS, SAP, and NetApp, adidas evaluated the available storage options before selecting FSx for ONTAP. Its combination of Multi-AZ resilience, advanced data management capabilities, storage efficiencies, and DR functionality offered a solution uniquely aligned with the scale and recovery requirements of the project.
Supporting rapid restoration of large SAP HANA databases, FSx for ONTAP is helping adidas achieve a recovery process time of 44 minutes—59% faster than its service-level objective.
This project demonstrates how enterprise-grade block storage capabilities can help organizations meet stringent availability and recovery requirements, while supporting some of the largest and most business-critical workloads running on AWS. Read the full case study.
Summary
FSx for ONTAP combines enterprise-grade block storage with advanced capabilities, including built-in Multi-AZ HA, SnapMirror replication, FlexClone thin cloning, storage efficiency features, automated tiering, and multi-protocol access.
For organizations running databases, ERP systems, and other business-critical applications, these capabilities can help improve resilience, accelerate recovery, simplify operations, and optimize workload-level TCO. The result is not only high-performance block storage on AWS, but also a fully managed enterprise storage platform designed for workloads where performance, availability, efficiency, and operational simplicity all matter.
