This blog was co-authored by Bruno Almeida, Technology Advisor, bruno@exce.pt.
The most valuable data enterprises own often reside in on-premises environments, separated from the powerful services available on AWS.
There are many reasons why it would be a priority for this data to remain in on-premises storage systems. But the potential business value that can be gained from using AWS managed services for use cases such as analytics, AI, DevOps, content delivery and security management can’t be ignored. So, the challenge is finding a way to bridge the data center and AWS without having to plan and carry out costly data migrations.
Amazon S3 Access Points for Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP provides this bridge for NetApp® ONTAP® customers. It supports organizations by providing access to AWS without the friction of traditional data migration. This post looks at how Amazon S3 Access Points work and the benefits of building a bridge between your ONTAP systems and AWS.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
When data centers become data silos, they create barriers to innovation
Bridging the gap between on-premises systems and AWS
Unlocking the potential of AWS services: Use case examples
The benefits of Amazon S3 Access Points for FSx for ONTAP
Start using AWS services with your on-premises data
When data centers become data silos, they create barriers to innovation
Many organizations rely on on-premises ONTAP storage for its reliability and management features. However, a major challenge arises when these teams want to use that same data with AWS services such as AWS Glue, Amazon Macie, Amazon Redshift Spectrum, Amazon CloudFront, Amazon Athena, Amazon Quick, and many others which are designed to work with Amazon S3.
Traditionally, solving this challenge would require a full-scale migration of the ONTAP datasets into Amazon S3 buckets. That solution becomes a challenge in itself: The process of relocating the data can be time-consuming, complex, and costly. And after migration, teams have duplicate data sets to work with and keep in sync across disparate environments.
Why not move all the data to AWS? For one, there are a lot of advantages to ONTAP storage systems. A total migration may also not be feasible due to strict data management policies, data residency regulations, or the need for local low-latency access.
If these challenges force an organization to give up trying to gain the use of AWS services with their on-premises data, it creates a gap where data remains underutilized and the value AWS services could provide is just out of reach.
Bridging the gap between on-premises systems and AWS
Amazon S3 Access Points for FSx for ONTAP is a robust mechanism that makes it possible to bridge the gap between on-premises ONTAP environments with AWS. This feature supports organizations by making data in Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP (FSx for ONTAP) file systems accessible through an Amazon S3-compatible access point. This approach facilitates a secure hybrid solution that avoids the need for massive, one-way data migrations and keeps your data within ONTAP-based storage environments.
ONTAP users can get their data to FSx for ONTAP easily by using NetApp SnapMirror® data replication technology. In some cases, that work has already been done: If you’re maintaining a space efficient disaster recovery (DR) copy on FSx for ONTAP to support your on-premises ONTAP data, that DR copy can serve as the primary source for the Amazon S3 Access Point.
Unlocking the potential of AWS services: Use case examples
Amazon S3 Access Points for FSx for ONTAP accelerates innovation by providing a seamless, on-demand bridge for integrating your on-premises data with powerful AWS managed services, enabling everything from advanced analytics and AI and machine learning (AI/ML) initiatives to streamlined Content Delivery and optimized data lifecycle management.
- Faster analytics insights
One of the most immediate benefits of this technology is the ability to run AWS-based analytics on on-premises datasets. Organizations can run intensive analytical queries using services like Amazon Athena against their local data without actually moving the primary source. Learn more about using Amazon Athena directly on FSx for ONTAP data in our post.
This supports faster decision-making while maintaining the integrity of the original on-premises environment. For instance, a financial institution can keep sensitive transaction records on-premises for regulatory reasons while simultaneously using AWS-native analytics to identify market trends.
- Driving AI and machine learning initiatives
Supporting AI/ML workloads is another critical use case. Modern models require vast amounts of data for training and inference. By using S3 Access Points, teams can point services like Amazon SageMaker directly at their ONTAP volumes.
This architecture with Amazon Sagemaker makes it possible to build and deploy AI models without exposing sensitive on-premises data to the risks associated with manual file transfers. Data scientists can access the exact same dataset used by production systems on premises, but with the massive compute power of AWS at their disposal.
- Facilitating unified data access
FSx for ONTAP provides integrated data access across multiple types of environments. In a large organization, different teams might use different protocols or environments to interact with the same information. Because FSx for ONTAP supports multiprotocol access, including Network File System (NFS), Server Message Block (SMB), and iSCSI, adding Amazon S3 compatibility means that a single dataset can support legacy applications and modern AWS-native workloads simultaneously. Learn more about multiprotocol access with FSx for ONTAP in our post.
- Streamlining content delivery and DevOps
Development teams can use this hybrid bridge to accelerate software delivery cycles. By making on-premises data accessible to AWS-native continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, developers can automate testing and deployment workflows without needing to manually sync files.
This streamlined process creates a cohesive environment where the physical location of the storage becomes secondary to the accessibility of the data itself. Furthermore, media companies can use this to feed content delivery networks directly from their production storage, reducing the latency between content creation and distribution.
- Optimizing data lifecycle management
Organizations frequently struggle with dark data—information that organizations accumulate but often never use for analytics or decision-making. These vast volumes of on-premises backups often remain idle due to difficult access for modern analytical processing. Historically, extracting value from these legacy datasets require manual movement or complex reformatting into object storage.
Using Amazon S3 Access Points for FSx for ONTAP provides a direct path between your data and services such as AWS Glue and Amazon Macie to perform critical tasks without permanent data migration.
For instance, AWS Glue can crawl these volumes to build a comprehensive data catalog, providing immediate visibility into on-premises assets for broader AWS-based analytics. Similarly, Amazon Macie can scan replicated volumes for sensitive information or personally identifiable information (PII), supporting security teams in identifying risks within historical archives.
Learn more about use cases with Amazon S3 Access Points for FSx for ONTAP in our post.
The benefits of Amazon S3 Access Points for FSx for ONTAP
Bridging on-premises ONTAP systems with AWS with Amazon S3 Access Points for FSx for OTNAP provides a wide range of benefits:
- Less complexity: Amazon S3 Access Points for FSx for ONTAP removes the technical debt associated with traditional data migrations, saving organizations significant time and resources. Instead of waiting weeks for data to transfer, teams can begin working on AWS in a matter of minutes once the SnapMirror relationship is active. This speed is a critical advantage for organizations that need to adapt quickly to changes in the operating conditions or sudden bursts in compute demand.
- More flexibility: With S3 Access Points, AWS services that require an S3 data source can now access the data stored in the file volumes without any changes to existing user workflows.
- Trusted security: Since the data remains in FSx for ONTAP, it is protected by enterprise-grade NetApp security features, such as NetApp Snapshot™ technology for point-in-time recovery, ransomware protection, and immutable data copies. This maintains a secure environment for sensitive workloads that must remain compliant with internal governance standards. Learn more about FSx for ONTAP security features in our post.
Start using AWS services with your on-premises data
Amazon S3 Access Points for FSx for ONTAP represents a major step forward for ONTAP customers. By bridging the gap between on-premises storage and AWS services, organizations can accelerate innovation and time to market by unlocking advanced AWS-native managed services that work with their on-premises data without the pain of complex migrations.
Whether you are running advanced analytics or training the next generation of AI models, this solution provides the speed and flexibility required to succeed.
Learn more about how to modernize your hybrid data strategy with FSx for ONTAP here.
