Encryption at rest - FSx for OpenZFS
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Encryption at rest

Encryption of data at rest is automatically enabled when you create an Amazon FSx for OpenZFS file system through the Amazon Web Services Management Console, the Amazon CLI, or programmatically through the Amazon FSx API or one of the Amazon SDKs. Your organization might require the encryption of all data that meets a specific classification or is associated with a particular application, workload, or environment. When you create a file system using the custom create flow, you can specify the KMS key with which to encrypt the data. If you create a file system using the Quick create flow, the data is encrypted using the Amazon managed key. For more information about creating a file system encrypted at rest using the console, see Create Your Amazon FSx for OpenZFS File System and Creating FSx for OpenZFS file systems.

Note

The Amazon key management infrastructure uses Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 approved cryptographic algorithms. The infrastructure is consistent with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-57 recommendations.

For more information on how FSx for OpenZFS uses Amazon KMS, see How Amazon FSx for OpenZFS uses Amazon KMS.

How encryption at rest works

In an encrypted file system, data and metadata are automatically encrypted before being written to the file system. Similarly, as data and metadata are read, they are automatically decrypted before being presented to the application. These processes are handled transparently by Amazon FSx for OpenZFS, so you don't have to modify your applications.

Amazon FSx for OpenZFS uses industry-standard AES-256 encryption algorithm to encrypt file system data at rest. For more information, see Cryptography Basics in the Amazon Key Management Service Developer Guide.

How Amazon FSx for OpenZFS uses Amazon KMS

Amazon FSx for OpenZFS integrates with Amazon Key Management Service (Amazon KMS) for key management for encrypting data at rest. Amazon FSx uses Amazon KMS keys to encrypt your file system in the following way:

  • Encrypting data at rest – Amazon FSx for OpenZFS uses a KMS key, either the Amazon managed key for Amazon FSx or a custom KMS key, to encrypt and decrypt file system data. All Amazon FSx for OpenZFS file systems are encrypted at rest with keys managed by the service. Data is encrypted using an XTS-AES-256 block cipher. The keys used to encrypt data at-rest are unique per file system and destroyed after the file system is deleted. You can enable, disable, or revoke grants on this KMS key. This KMS key can be one of the two following types:

    • Amazon managed key for Amazon FSx – This is the default KMS key. You're not charged to create and store a KMS key, but there are usage charges. For more information, see Amazon Key Management Service pricing.

    • Customer managed key – This is the most flexible KMS key to use, because you can configure its key policies and grants for multiple users or services. For more information on creating customer managed keys, see Creating keys in the Amazon Key Management Service Developer Guide.

      If you use a customer managed key as your KMS key for file data encryption and decryption, you can enable key rotation. When you enable key rotation, Amazon KMS automatically rotates your key once per year. Additionally, with a customer managed key, you can choose when to disable, re-enable, delete, or revoke access to your customer managed key at any time. For more information, see Rotating Amazon KMS keys and Enabling and disabling keys in the Amazon Key Management Service Developer Guide.

Important

Amazon FSx accepts only symmetric KMS keys. You can't use asymmetric KMS keys with Amazon FSx.

Amazon FSx Key Policies for Amazon KMS

Key policies are the primary way to control access to KMS keys. For more information on key policies, see Using key policies in Amazon KMS in the Amazon Key Management Service Developer Guide. The following list describes all the Amazon KMS–related permissions supported by Amazon FSx for encrypted at rest file systems:

  • kms:Encrypt – (Optional) Encrypts plain-text into cipher-text. This permission is included in the default key policy.

  • kms:Decrypt – (Required) Decrypts ciphertext. Ciphertext is plaintext that has been previously encrypted. This permission is included in the default key policy.

  • kms:ReEncrypt – (Optional) Encrypts data on the server side with a new KMS key, without exposing the plaintext of the data on the client side. The data is first decrypted and then re-encrypted. This permission is included in the default key policy.

  • kms:GenerateDataKeyWithoutPlaintext – (Required) Returns a data encryption key encrypted under a KMS key. This permission is included in the default key policy under kms:GenerateDataKey*.

  • kms:CreateGrant – (Required) Adds a grant to a key to specify who can use the key and under what conditions. Grants are alternate permission mechanisms to key policies. For more information on grants, see Using grants in the Amazon Key Management Service Developer Guide. This permission is included in the default key policy.

  • kms:DescribeKey – (Required) Provides detailed information about the specified KMS key. This permission is included in the default key policy.

  • kms:ListAliases – (Optional) Lists all of the key aliases in the account. When you use the console to create an encrypted file system, this permission populates the list to select the KMS key. We recommend using this permission to provide the best user experience. This permission is included in the default key policy.