# Accessing your data
You can access your Amazon FSx file systems using a variety of supported clients and methods from both the Amazon Web Services Cloud and on-premises environments.
**Topics**
+ [Supported clients](#supported-clients-fsx)
+ [Accessing data from within the Amazon Web Services Cloud](#access-environments)
+ [Accessing data from on-premises](#on-premise-access)
+ [Accessing data using default DNS names](#dns-name)
+ [Support for Distributed File System (DFS) namespaces](#dfs-namespace)
+ [Accessing data using DNS aliases](dns-aliases.md)
+ [Accessing data using file shares](using-file-shares.md)
+ [Creating, updating, removing file shares](managing-file-shares.md)
## Supported clients
FSx for Windows File Server supports the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol versions 2.0 through 3.1.1, giving you the flexibility to connect to your file systems using a wide variety of compute instances and operating systems.
The following Amazon compute instances are supported for use with Amazon FSx:
+ Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances, including Microsoft Windows, Mac, Amazon Linux and Amazon Linux 2 instances. For more information, see [Mapping file shares](using-file-shares.md#mapping-file-shares).
+ Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS) containers. For more information, see [ FSx for Windows File Server volumes](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/wfsx-volumes.html) in the *Amazon Elastic Container Service Developer Guide*.
+ WorkSpaces instances – To learn more, see the Amazon blog post [ Using FSx for Windows File Server with Amazon WorkSpaces](https://amazonaws-china.com/blogs/desktop-and-application-streaming/using-amazon-fsx-for-windows-file-server-with-amazon-workspaces/).
+ Amazon AppStream 2.0 instances – To learn more, see the Amazon blog post [ Using Amazon FSx with Amazon AppStream 2.0](https://amazonaws-china.com/blogs/desktop-and-application-streaming/using-amazon-fsx-with-amazon-appstream-2-0/).
+ VMs running in VMware Cloud on Amazon environments – To learn more, see the Amazon blog post [Storing and Sharing Files with FSx for Windows File Server in a VMware Cloud on Amazon Environment](https://amazonaws-china.com/blogs/apn/storing-and-sharing-files-with-amazon-fsx-in-a-vmware-cloud-on-aws-environment/).
The following operating systems are supported for use with Amazon FSx:
+ Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, and Windows Server 2022.
+ Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (including the Windows 7 and Windows 10 desktop experiences of WorkSpaces), and Windows 11.
+ Linux, using the `cifs-utils` tool.
+ macOS
## Accessing data from within the Amazon Web Services Cloud
Each Amazon FSx file system is associated with a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). You can access your FSx for Windows File Server file system from anywhere in the file system's VPC, regardless of Availability Zone. You can also access your file system from VPCs that are in different Amazon Web Services accounts or Amazon Web Services Regions than the file system. In addition to the requirements described in the following sections for accessing FSx for Windows File Server resources, you also need to ensure that your file system's VPC security group is configured so that data and management traffic can flow between your file system and clients. For more information about configuring security groups with the required ports, see [File system access control with Amazon VPC](limit-access-security-groups.md).
You can access FSx for Windows File Server file system from supported clients that are in the same VPC as your file system.
The following table illustrates the environments from which Amazon FSx supports access from clients in each of the supported environments, depending on when the file system was created.
[\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.amazonaws.cn/en_us/fsx/latest/WindowsGuide/supported-fsx-clients.html)
**Note**
In some cases, you might want to access a file system that was created before December 17, 2020 from on-premises using a non-private IP address range. To do this, create a new file system from a backup of the file system. For more information, see [Protecting your data with backups](using-backups.md).
### Accessing data from a different VPC, Amazon Web Services account, or Amazon Web Services Region
You can access your FSx for Windows File Server file system from support clients that are located in a different VPC, Amazon Web Services account, or Amazon Web Services Region than what is associated with your file system using VPC peering or transit gateways. When you use a VPC peering connection or transit gateway to connect VPCs, compute instances that are in one VPC can access Amazon FSx file systems that are in another VPC. This access is possible even if the VPCs belong to different Amazon Web Services accounts, and even if the VPCs reside in different Amazon Web Services Regions.
A *VPC peering connection* is a networking connection between two VPCs that you can use to route traffic between them using private IPv4 or IP version 6 (IPv6) addresses. You can use VPC peering to connect VPCs within the same Amazon Region or between Amazon Regions. For more information on VPC peering, see [What is VPC Peering?](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/vpc/latest/peering/Welcome.html) in the *Amazon VPC Peering Guide*.
A *transit gateway* is a network transit hub that you can use to interconnect your VPCs and on-premises networks. For more information about using VPC transit gateways, see [Getting Started with Transit Gateways](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/vpc/latest/tgw/tgw-getting-started.html) in the *Amazon VPC Transit Gateways*.
After you set up a VPC peering or transit gateway connection, you can access your file system using its DNS name. You do so just as you do from compute instances within the associated VPC.
## Accessing data from on-premises
FSx for Windows File Server supports the use of Amazon Direct Connect or Amazon VPN to access your file systems from your on-premises compute instances. With support for Amazon Direct Connect, FSx for Windows File Server enables you to access your file system over a dedicated network connection from your on-premises environment. With support for Amazon VPN, FSx for Windows File Server enables you to access your file system from your on-premises devices over a secure and private tunnel.
After you connect your on-premises environment to the VPC associated with your Amazon FSx file system, you can access your file system using its DNS name or a DNS alias. You do so just as you do from compute instances within the VPC. For more information on Amazon Direct Connect, see the *[Amazon Direct Connect User Guide](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/directconnect/latest/UserGuide/Welcome.html)*. For more information on setting up Amazon VPN connections, see [VPN Connections](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/vpc/latest/userguide/vpn-connections.html) in the *Amazon VPC User Guide*.
**Note**
In some cases, you might want to access a file system that was created before December 17, 2020 from on-premises using a non-private IP address range. To do this, create a new file system from a backup of the file system. For more information, see [Protecting your data with backups](using-backups.md).
FSx for Windows File Server also supports the use of Amazon FSx File Gateway to provide low latency, seamless access to your in-cloud FSx for Windows File Server file shares from your on-premises compute instances. For more information, see the *[Amazon FSx File Gateway User Guide](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/filegateway/latest/filefsxw/what-is-file-fsxw.html)*.
**Note**
Amazon FSx File Gateway is no longer available to new customers. Existing customers of FSx File Gateway can continue to use the service normally. For capabilities similar to FSx File Gateway, visit [this blog post](https://amazonaws-china.com/blogs/storage/switch-your-file-share-access-from-amazon-fsx-file-gateway-to-amazon-fsx-for-windows-file-server/).
## Accessing data using default DNS names
FSx for Windows File Server provides a Domain Name System (DNS) name for every file system. You access your FSx for Windows File Server file system by mapping a drive letter on your compute instance to your Amazon FSx file share using this DNS name. To learn more, see [Accessing data using file shares](using-file-shares.md).
**Important**
Amazon FSx only registers DNS records for a file system if you are using Microsoft DNS as the default DNS. If you are using a third-party DNS, you must manually set up DNS entries for your Amazon FSx file systems. For information about choosing the correct IP addresses to use for the file system, see [Getting the correct file system IP addresses to use for manual DNS entries](file-system-ip-addresses-for-dns.md).
To find the DNS name:
+ In the Amazon FSx console, choose **File systems**, and then choose **Details**. View the DNS name in the **Network & Security** section.
+ Or, view it in the response of the **CreateFileSystem** or **DescribeFileSystems** API command.
For all Single-AZ file systems joined to an Amazon Managed Microsoft Active Directory, the DNS name has the following format: `fs-0123456789abcdef0.ad-dns-domain-name`
For all Single-AZ file systems joined to a self-managed Active Directory, and any Multi-AZ file system, the DNS name has the following format: `amznfsxaa11bb22.ad-domain.com`
### Using Kerberos authentication with DNS names
We recommend that you use Kerberos-based authentication and encryption in transit with Amazon FSx. Kerberos provides the most secure authentication for clients accessing your file system. To enable Kerberos-based authentication and encryption of data in transit for your SMB sessions, use the file system's DNS name provided by Amazon FSx to access your file system.
If you have an external trust configured between your Amazon Managed Microsoft Active Directory and your on-premises Active Directory, to use the Amazon FSx Remote PowerShell with Kerberos authentication, you must configure a local group policy on the client for forest search order. For more information, see [Configure Kerberos Forest Search Order (KFSO)](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2008-R2-and-2008/hh921473(v=ws.10)?redirectedfrom=MSDN) in the Microsoft documentation.
## Support for Distributed File System (DFS) namespaces
FSx for Windows File Server supports the use of Microsoft DFS Namespaces. Use DFS Namespaces to organize file shares that are located on multiple file systems into one common folder structure (a namespace) that you use to access the entire file dataset. You can use a name in your DFS Namespace to access your Amazon FSx file system by configuring its link target to be the file system's DNS name. For more information, see [Group multiple FSx for Windows File Server file systems with DFS Namespaces](using-dfs-namespaces.md#group-file-systems).