Mounting a file share on an Amazon EC2 Linux instance - Amazon FSx for Windows File Server
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Mounting a file share on an Amazon EC2 Linux instance

You can mount an FSx for Windows File Server file share on an Amazon EC2 Linux instance that is either joined to your Active Directory or not joined to access your FSx for Windows File Server file system.

Note

  • The following commands specify parameters such as SMB protocol, caching, and read and write buffer size as examples only. Parameter choices for the Linux cifs command, as well as the Linux kernel version used, can impact throughput and latency for network operations between the client and the Amazon FSx file system. For more information, see cifs documentation for the Linux environment you are using.

  • Linux clients do not support automatic DNS-based failover. For more information, see Failover experience on Linux clients.

  1. If you don't already have a running EC2 Linux instance joined to your Microsoft Active Directory, see Manually join a Linux instance in the Amazon Directory Service Administration Guide for the instructions to do so.

  2. Connect to your EC2 Linux instance. For more information, see Connect to your Linux instance in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

  3. Run the following command to install the cifs-utils package. This package is used to mount network file systems like Amazon FSx on Linux.

    $ sudo yum install cifs-utils

  4. Create the mount point directory /mnt/fsx. This is where you will mount the Amazon FSx file system.

    $ sudo mkdir -p /mnt/fsx

  5. Authenticate with kerberos using the following command.

    $ kinit

  6. Mount the file share with the following command.

    $ sudo mount -t cifs //file_system_dns_name/file_share mount_point --verbose -o vers=SMB_version,sec=krb5,cruid=ad_user,rsize=CIFSMaxBufSize,wsize=CIFSMaxBufSize,cache=none,ip=preferred-file-server-Ip

    You can find the DNS name on the Amazon FSx console by choosing Windows File Server, Network & security. Or, you can find them in the response of CreateFileSystem or DescribeFileSystems API operation.

    • For a Single-AZ file system joined to an Amazon Managed Microsoft Active Directory, the DNS name looks like the following.

      fs-0123456789abcdef0.ad-domain.com

    • For a Single-AZ file system joined to a self-managed Active Directory, and any Multi-AZ file system, the DNS name looks like the following.

      amznfsxaa11bb22.ad-domain.com

    Replace CIFSMaxBufSize with the largest value allowed by your kernel. Run the following command to get this value.

    $ modinfo cifs | grep CIFSMaxBufSize
parm:           CIFSMaxBufSize:Network buffer size (not including header). Default: 16384 Range: 8192 to 130048 (uint)

    The output shows that the maximum buffer size is 130048.

  7. Verify that the file system is mounted by running the following command, which returns only file systems of the Common Internet File System (CIFS) type.

    $ mount -l -t cifs
//fs-0123456789abcdef0/share on /mnt/fsx type cifs (rw,relatime,vers=SMB_version,sec=krb5,cache=cache_mode,username=user1@CORP.NETWORK.COM,uid=0,noforceuid,gid=0,noforcegid,addr=192.0.2.0,file_mode=0755,dir_mode=0755,soft,nounix,serverino,mapposix,rsize=1048576,wsize=1048576,echo_interval=60,actimeo=1)

The mount command used in this procedure does the following at the given points:

  • //file_system_dns_name/file_share – Specifies the DNS name and share of the file system to mount.

  • mount_point – The directory on the EC2 instance that you are mounting the file system to.

  • -t cifs vers=SMB_version – Specifies the type of file system as CIFS and the SMB protocol version. Amazon FSx for Windows File Server supports SMB versions 2.0 through 3.1.1.

  • sec=krb5 – Specifies to use Kerberos version 5 for authentication.

  • cache=cache_mode – Sets the cache mode. This option for CIFS cache can impact performance, and you should test which settings work best (and review Linux documentation) for your kernel and workload. Options strict and none are recommended, because loose can cause data inconsistency due to the looser protocol semantics.

  • cruid=ad_user – Sets the uid of the owner of the credentials cache to the AD directory administrator.

  • /mnt/fsx – Specifies the mount point for the Amazon FSx file share on your EC2 instance.

  • rsize=CIFSMaxBufSize,wsize=CIFSMaxBufSize – Specifies the read and write buffer size as the maximum allowed by the CIFS protocol. Replace CIFSMaxBufSize with the largest value allowed by your kernel. Determine the CIFSMaxBufSize by running the following command.

    $ modinfo cifs | grep CIFSMaxBufSize
parm:           CIFSMaxBufSize:Network buffer size (not including header). Default: 16384 Range: 8192 to 130048 (uint)

    The output shows that the maximum buffer size is 130048.

  • ip=preferred-file-server-Ip – Sets the destination IP address to that of the file system's preferred file server.

    You can retrieve the file system's preferred file server IP address as follows:

    • Using the Amazon FSx console, on the Network & security tab of the File system details page.

    • In the response of the describe-file-systems CLI command or the equivalent DescribeFileSystems API command.

The following procedure mounts an Amazon FSx file share to an Amazon EC2 Linux instance that is not joined to your Active Directory (AD). For an EC2 Linux instance that is not joined to your AD, you can only mount an FSx for Windows File Server file share by using its private IP address. You can get the file system's private IP address using the Amazon FSx console, on the Network & security tab, in Preferred File Server IP Address.

This example uses NTLM authentication. To do this, you mount the file system as a user that is a member of the Microsoft Active Directory domain that the FSx for Windows File Server file system is joined to. The credentials for the user account are provided in a text file that you create on your EC2 instance, creds.txt. This file contains the user name, password, and domain for the user.

$ cat creds.txt
username=user1
password=Password123
domain=EXAMPLE.COM
To launch and configure the Amazon Linux EC2 instance

  1. Launch an Amazon Linux EC2 instance using the Amazon EC2 console. For more information, see Launch an instance in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

  2. Connect to your Amazon Linux EC2 instance. For more information, see Connect to your Linux instance in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

  3. Run the following command to install the cifs-utils package. This package is used to mount network file systems like Amazon FSx on Linux.

    $ sudo yum install cifs-utils

  4. Create the mount point /mnt/fsxx where you plan to mount the Amazon FSx file system.

    $ sudo mkdir -p /mnt/fsx

  5. Create the creds.txt credentials file in the /home/ec2-user directory, using the format shown previously.

  6. Set the creds.txt file permissions so that only you (the owner) can read and write to the file by running the following command.

    $ chmod 700 creds.txt
To mount the file system

  1. You mount a file share not joined to your Active Directory by using its private IP address. You can get the file system's private IP address using the Amazon FSx console, on the Network & security tab, in the Preferred File Server IP Address.

  2. Mount the file system using the following command:

    $ sudo mount -t cifs //file-system-IP-address/file_share /mnt/fsx --verbose -o vers=SMB_version,sec=ntlmsspi,cred=/home/ec2-user/creds.txt,rsize=CIFSMaxBufSize,wsize=CIFSMaxBufSize,cache=none

    Replace CIFSMaxBufSize with the largest value allowed by your kernel. Run the following command to get this value.

    $ modinfo cifs | grep CIFSMaxBufSize
parm:           CIFSMaxBufSize:Network buffer size (not including header). Default: 16384 Range: 8192 to 130048 (uint)

    The output shows that the maximum buffer size is 130048.

  3. Verify that the file system is mounted by running the following command, which returns only CIFS file systems.

    $ mount -l -t cifs
//file-system-IP-address/file_share on /mnt/fsx type cifs (rw,relatime,vers=SMB_version,sec=ntlmsspi,cache=cache_mode,username=user1,domain=CORP.EXAMPLE.COM,uid=0,noforceuid,gid=0,noforcegid,addr=192.0.2.0,file_mode=0755,dir_mode=0755,soft,nounix,serverino,mapposix,rsize=1048576,wsize=1048576,echo_interval=60,actimeo=1)

The mount command used in this procedure does the following at the given points:

  • //file-system-IP-address/file_share – Specifies the IP address and share of the file system you're mounting.

  • -t cifs vers=SMB_version – Specifies the type of file system as CIFS and the SMB protocol version. Amazon FSx for Windows File Server supports SMB versions 2.0 through 3.1.1.

  • sec=ntlmsspi – Specifies to use NT LAN Manager Security Support Provider Interface (NTLMSSPI) for authentication.

  • cache=cache_mode – Sets the cache mode. This option for CIFS cache can impact performance, and you should test which settings work best (and review Linux documentation) for your kernel and workload. Options strict and none are recommended, because loose can cause data inconsistency due to the looser protocol semantics.

  • cred=/home/ec2-user/creds.txt – Specifies where to get the user credentials.

  • /mnt/fsx – Specifies the mount point for the Amazon FSx file share on your EC2 instance.

  • rsize=CIFSMaxBufSize,wsize=CIFSMaxBufSize – Specifies the read and write buffer size as the maximum allowed by the CIFS protocol. Replace CIFSMaxBufSize with the largest value allowed by your kernel. Determine the CIFSMaxBufSize by running the following command.

    $ modinfo cifs | grep CIFSMaxBufSize
parm:           CIFSMaxBufSize:Network buffer size (not including header). Default: 16384 Range: 8192 to 130048 (uint)