AWS Storage Gateway
Bridge between on-prem storage and AWS
An appliance (VM or hardware) placed on-prem so internal applications can use AWS storage over familiar protocols: S3 File Gateway (NFS/SMB → S3), Volume Gateway (iSCSI), Tape Gateway (virtual tape library), with a local cache.
- Cost$ Low
- Difficulty●●●●●
- Costs money when idle?A little
- Managed by AWS
- In examsCLF · SAA · SOA
Think of it asLike an office filing cabinet wired straight to a big warehouse: frequently used files stay in the cabinet, and the rest goes to the warehouse.
When to use it
✓ Use it when
Hybrid: on-prem applications need to expand capacity or back up to the cloud without changing how they access data.
✗ Avoid it when
One-time data transfer or scheduled sync → DataSync; file transfer over SFTP → Transfer Family.
Common uses
- Replacing physical tape with Tape Gateway
- On-prem file shares with the actual data stored in S3
- Backing up on-prem volumes to AWS
What does it cost?
- Pricing model: Charged per GB stored in AWS, requests, and data written/read through the gateway; appliance hardware is purchased separately if used.
⚠️ Cost traps
Data read from AWS back to on-prem incurs data transfer out charges.
Related services
SAA-C03 study guide
Storage Gateway is covered in these study modules: