AWS re:Invent 2025 - Data innovation: Amazon S3 Access Points for FSx for NetApp ONTAP (STG219)

AWS re:Invent 2025 - Data Innovation: Amazon S3 Access Points for FSx for NetApp ONTAP

Overview

• The presentation focuses on leveraging AWS services to unlock the value of enterprise file server data for analytics and innovation.
• Key topics include:
  • The importance of enterprise file server data for AI, machine learning, and analytics
  • Introducing Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP as a fully managed file storage service
  • Enabling seamless access to file server data through Amazon S3 Access Points

The Challenge of Unlocking Enterprise File Server Data

• Enterprises often have exabytes of unstructured data stored in file servers and SMB/NFS shares.
• This data is typically underutilized, serving only for basic file sharing and business processes.
• Extracting value from this data for analytics, AI, and machine learning has been a challenge due to the difficulty of migrating and accessing the data.

Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP

• A fully managed AWS service that provides enterprise-grade file storage with the features and capabilities of on-premises NetApp ONTAP.
• Allows customers to provision file storage in 30 minutes and take advantage of ONTAP features like deduplication, compression, snapshots, and replication.
• Provides a seamless migration path from on-premises file servers to the cloud, reducing the complexity of managing file storage infrastructure.
• Offers cost savings through features like thin provisioning and data reduction, as well as the ability to leverage the AWS pay-as-you-go model.

Introducing Amazon S3 Access Points for FSx for NetApp ONTAP

• S3 Access Points enable seamless integration between file server data in FSx for NetApp ONTAP and AWS analytics and AI services.
• Allows file server data to be accessed directly from S3 without the need for data migration or duplication.
• Provides S3 compatibility while preserving the file-based nature of the data, enabling use cases like:
  • Querying file data using Amazon Athena and Amazon Redshift
  • Applying AWS AI and machine learning services like Amazon Bedrock and Amazon QuickSight
  • Integrating file data into knowledge bases and virtual assistants

Business Impact and Use Cases

• Unlocks the value of enterprise file server data for analytics, AI, and machine learning without the need for complex data migration or ETL pipelines.
• Enables pharmaceutical researchers to quickly query historical trial data to identify promising compounds.
• Allows financial institutions to create real-time dashboards and reports for executives using trading data stored in file shares.
• Empowers organizations to build knowledge bases and virtual assistants that can understand and respond to natural language queries about their institutional knowledge stored in file servers.

Key Takeaways

• Amazon S3 Access Points for FSx for NetApp ONTAP provide a seamless way to leverage enterprise file server data for analytics and innovation.
• This approach avoids the need for data migration or duplication, keeping data in its original location while providing S3 compatibility.
• Unlocking the value of file server data can lead to significant business benefits, such as accelerating research, improving decision-making, and enhancing knowledge management.
• The integration of file data with AWS analytics, AI, and compute services enables new use cases and drives data-driven innovation.