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Kapil Uthra
Kapil Uthra

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AWS Migration Series: DataSync Overview

AWS DataSync is an online data transfer service that simplifies, automates, and accelerates moving data between on-premises storage systems and AWS storage services, and also between AWS storage services. DataSync can copy data between Network File System (NFS), Server Message Block (SMB) file servers, self-managed object storage, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) buckets, Amazon EFS file systems, and Amazon FSx for Windows File Server file systems.

Data transfer between self-managed storage and AWS

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Data transfer between AWS storage services

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How DataSync works?

To understand the science behind DataSync, we need to understand few key components.

  • Agent An agent is a VM that you own that is used to read or write data from self-managed storage systems. The agent can be deployed on VMware ESXi, KVM, Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisors, or it can be launched as an Amazon EC2 instance.

  • Location Any source or destination location that is used in the data transfer (for example, Amazon S3, Amazon EFS, Amazon FSx for Windows File Server, NFS, SMB, or self-managed object storage).

  • Task Consists of a source location and a destination location, and configuration that define how data is transferred. Configuration settings can include options such as how to treat metadata, deleted files, and permission.

  • Task execution An individual run of a task, which includes information such as start time, end time, bytes written, and status.

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Workflow
  • In the LAUNCHING status, DataSync initializes the task execution.
  • In the PREPARING status, DataSync examines the source and destination file systems to determine which files to sync.
  • In the TRANSFERRING status, DataSync starts transferring files and metadata from the source file system to the destination.
  • In the VERIFYING status, DataSync verifies consistency between the source and destination file systems.

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Source: AWS Documentation

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