Amazon EFS Infrequent Access (IA) and EFS Archive storage classes provide cost-optimized options for files that are not accessed daily or frequently.
EFS Standard-IA and EFS One Zone-IA offer up to 85% lower storage prices compared to EFS Standard and EFS One Zone, making them ideal for files accessed less frequently. Check Amazon EFS Infrequent Access.
EFS Archive is designed for long-lived file data accessed a few times a year or less, delivering up to 50% lower storage prices than EFS IA and up to 97% lower than EFS Standard. Note that the request charge is 3x higher than EFS IA, so it is best suited for archive use cases where instant access is occasionally needed.
EFS Intelligent-Tiering uses Lifecycle Management to automatically transition files that are not accessed for a specified duration (e.g., 30 days) from EFS Standard or EFS One Zone to their corresponding IA storage class. If access patterns change, files are automatically moved back to the original storage class.
EFS Pricing Page: EFS Pricing
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How to identify?
From our Cost Optimizations Report, check at EFS_Storage_Classes section.
In AWS Console, navigate to Cost Explorer > Filter by Service → Elastic File System, Usage Type → Search for "TimedStorage-" and select all options, Group by → Usage Type.
In AWS Console, navigate to Amazon EFS > View Details on a specific file system > Metered size. Review the percentage of Standard, IA, and Archive storage.
How to fix?
To change your Amazon EFS file system from Standard to Infrequent Access (IA) or Archive, enable Amazon EFS Lifecycle Management:
In AWS Console, Navigate to Amazon EFS > Edit to view lifecycle management.
Set a Transition Policy: Choose a policy that specifies after how many days of inactivity (e.g., 1, 7, 14, 30, 60, 90, 180, 270 or 365 days) files should be automatically moved from Standard to Infrequent Access or Archive.
Automatic Transition: Once enabled, EFS will automatically and transparently move files that haven’t been accessed for the specified period to the new storage class. This process is seamless and doesn’t require any changes to your applications or workflows.
Note: If the resources are provisioned automatically (e.g., via CloudFormation or Terraform), update your infrastructure-as-code (IaC) to reflect these changes.
Bonus: If your file system is Multi-AZ, consider converting it to Single-AZ for non-production accounts to further reduce costs.