Amazon FSx: SAA-C03 file-system scenarios

One family, four file systems. The exam tests which FSx flavor a workload actually needs — SMB with Active Directory, high-performance Lustre, multi-protocol ONTAP, or OpenZFS. Seven scenarios, SAA-C03, 2026 edition.

Try 7 free Amazon FSx scenarios in the exam's own style — every answer explained, no sign-up.

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Amazon FSx is not one product but a family of four file systems, and the SAA-C03 rarely asks “what is FSx?” It asks which flavor a workload needs. The distractors are always other real FSx flavors or EFS, so the exam is testing whether you can read a requirement — a protocol, a platform, a performance profile — and land on the one file system built for it. The diagram maps each flavor to the use case that selects it.

The Windows counterpart to EFS

FSx for Windows File Server is the managed home for Windows workloads: SMB shares, NTFS permissions and Active Directory integration, with AWS running the servers. Think of it as the Windows counterpart to EFS’s Linux/NFS world. When a stem names Active Directory, SMB or an on-premises Windows file server, this is the answer — not EFS, which speaks only NFS.

Lustre is for performance, and for S3

FSx for Lustre is a parallel file system for high-performance computing, ML training and big-data processing — hundreds of gigabytes per second at sub-millisecond latency. Its signature exam trait is the S3 link: point Lustre at a bucket and objects appear as files, with results exported back to S3. That makes it the default storage layer for an S3-backed processing pipeline, with no manual copy step. Lustre also offers scratch and persistent deployment modes — scratch for cheap, regenerable, throughput-hungry data; persistent when the tier must be durable.

ONTAP for multi-protocol and NetApp continuity

FSx for NetApp ONTAP runs the full ONTAP feature set as a managed service. Its differentiators are multi-protocol access — NFS, SMB and iSCSI over the same data — and continuity for teams already invested in NetApp tooling like SnapMirror. When a scenario says “existing NetApp environment” or “serve the same data over more than one protocol”, ONTAP is the fit.

OpenZFS is the name-level answer

FSx for OpenZFS is the managed home for ZFS and NFS workloads, preserving ZFS-native snapshots and clones. The exam usually gives this one away at the name level: when the stem says a team is migrating a ZFS server and wants NFS with snapshots, choose OpenZFS.

The matching method

Every FSx scenario reduces to one requirement word. Windows, SMB, Active Directory → FSx for Windows File Server. HPC, ML, extreme throughput, S3-linked → FSx for Lustre. Multi-protocol or existing NetApp → FSx for NetApp ONTAP. ZFS migration with snapshots → FSx for OpenZFS. And when none of those apply — a plain Linux NFS share — the answer is not FSx at all, but EFS. The whole family exists to cover the cases EFS cannot, so the first fork is always “is this a Linux NFS job, or something more specific?”

How to use the seven scenarios below

Answer each one before opening the explanation, then find the requirement word that decided it. Every explanation names that word and takes apart why each other FSx flavor — or EFS — misses it. The recurring trap is a flavor that is genuinely a real file system but the wrong protocol or performance profile for the stated need. For the domain overview, see Design High-Performing Architectures, and for the block-versus-object-versus-EFS split, see EBS vs S3 vs EFS.

A map of the Amazon FSx family and the use case each flavor serves. FSx for Windows File Server sits over SMB with Active Directory integration, the fully managed Windows counterpart to EFS. FSx for Lustre sits over high-performance computing, machine learning and big-data processing, linked to an S3 bucket for input and output. FSx for NetApp ONTAP sits over multi-protocol access and existing NetApp workloads, serving NFS, SMB and iSCSI at once. FSx for OpenZFS sits over migrated ZFS and NFS workloads. Alongside them, EFS is shown as the Linux and NFS choice, distinct from the whole FSx family.

7 free SAA-C03 practice questions

Answers and explanations — no email wall

SAA-C03 Question 1 of 7

A company is lifting an on-premises Windows file server into AWS. Users authenticate against Active Directory, rely on NTFS permissions and access shares over SMB, and the team wants a fully managed service with no file servers to patch. Which Amazon FSx flavor fits?

Answer: A — Amazon FSx for Windows File Server.

FSx for Windows File Server is the managed Windows-native file system: SMB shares, NTFS permissions and Active Directory join, with AWS handling the servers — the Windows counterpart to EFS's Linux/NFS world. Why not the others: Lustre is a high-performance parallel file system for compute, not general Windows shares; OpenZFS speaks NFS, not native SMB with AD; and EFS is NFS-only, with no such thing as an 'SMB gateway' bolt-on. When the stem says Active Directory and SMB, the answer is FSx for Windows File Server.

SAA-C03 Question 2 of 7

A research team trains machine-learning models on GPU instances that must read a large shared dataset at hundreds of gigabytes per second with sub-millisecond latency. Which Amazon FSx flavor is purpose-built for this?

Answer: A — Amazon FSx for Lustre.

FSx for Lustre is a parallel file system built for high-performance computing, ML training and big-data processing — it delivers the massive, low-latency throughput that GPU fleets need from shared storage. Why not the others: FSx for Windows File Server targets office-style SMB shares, not HPC throughput; NetApp ONTAP is a strong general-purpose, multi-protocol system but is not the throughput-per-instance leader for parallel compute; and EFS General Purpose is elastic NFS, nowhere near Lustre's parallel scale. The words HPC, ML training and hundreds of GB/s point straight at Lustre.

SAA-C03 Question 3 of 7

An enterprise runs an existing on-premises NetApp environment and wants to move to AWS while keeping SnapMirror replication and serving the same data over NFS, SMB and iSCSI simultaneously. Which Amazon FSx flavor should a solutions architect choose?

Answer: A — Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP.

FSx for NetApp ONTAP runs the full ONTAP feature set as a managed service — multi-protocol NFS, SMB and iSCSI over the same data, plus familiar tools like SnapMirror — which is exactly what an existing NetApp shop wants to carry over. Why not the others: FSx for Windows serves SMB only; Lustre is single-purpose HPC storage; and splitting into two file systems duplicates the data and defeats the point when one multi-protocol system serves it all. Existing NetApp workloads and multi-protocol access mean FSx for NetApp ONTAP.

SAA-C03 Question 4 of 7

A team is migrating a Linux application from an on-premises OpenZFS server and wants a managed AWS file system that speaks NFS and preserves ZFS features like point-in-time snapshots and cheap clones, with minimal application change. Which Amazon FSx flavor matches?

Answer: A — Amazon FSx for OpenZFS.

FSx for OpenZFS is the managed home for ZFS/NFS workloads: it serves NFS and brings ZFS-native snapshots and clones, so a ZFS migration lands with almost no rework — the name itself is the tell. Why not the others: Lustre is for parallel HPC, not a drop-in ZFS replacement; FSx for Windows is SMB/Windows, the wrong protocol and feature set; and S3 is object storage, not a POSIX NFS file system. When the stem names ZFS and NFS with snapshots and clones, choose FSx for OpenZFS.

SAA-C03 Question 5 of 7

An architect must decide between Amazon EFS and the Amazon FSx family for a new workload. Which requirement makes EFS — rather than any FSx flavor — the correct choice?

Answer: A — A simple elastic file system for Linux instances accessed over NFS, with no Windows or HPC needs.

EFS is elastic, fully managed NFS for Linux — the default when a workload just needs a shared POSIX file system with no Windows or high-performance-computing angle. Why not the others: each describes a job a specific FSx flavor owns: SMB with Active Directory is FSx for Windows File Server, extreme parallel throughput is FSx for Lustre, and multi-protocol NetApp continuity is FSx for NetApp ONTAP. The exam's split is clean — plain Linux/NFS goes to EFS; Windows, HPC or multi-protocol needs push you into the FSx family.

SAA-C03 Question 6 of 7

A genomics pipeline keeps its raw input and final results in an Amazon S3 bucket but needs a high-performance file system for the processing stage, ideally without a manual copy step in and out of S3. How should the storage layer be built?

Answer: A — Create an FSx for Lustre file system linked to the S3 bucket, so objects appear as files and results are written back to S3.

FSx for Lustre integrates natively with S3: link it to a bucket and the objects are presented as files for the compute stage, with results exported back to S3 — high throughput and no manual staging, the standard pattern for S3-backed processing pipelines. Why not the others: S3 is object storage and cannot be mounted as a true POSIX file system; FSx for Windows adds an SMB copy step and no S3 linkage; and EFS has no native S3 import/export binding. An S3-linked, high-performance processing stage is FSx for Lustre.

SAA-C03 Question 7 of 7

A media-rendering farm needs a shared scratch file system for a batch job: extreme aggregate throughput while the job runs, and the data can be regenerated if lost afterward, so cost matters more than durability of the scratch tier. Which choice best fits?

Answer: A — Amazon FSx for Lustre in scratch deployment mode.

Scratch deployment of FSx for Lustre gives high throughput at the lowest cost for short-lived, regenerable data — exactly a render or batch scratch tier where the data need not survive a failure. Why not the others: persistent Lustre adds replication and durability you are paying for but do not need here; NetApp ONTAP is multi-protocol general storage, not a throughput-optimized scratch tier; and EFS, even with provisioned throughput, does not reach Lustre's parallel scale. Temporary, regenerable, throughput-hungry scratch is FSx for Lustre in scratch mode.

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Frequently asked questions

FSx for Windows File Server or EFS — how does the exam decide?

By protocol and platform. FSx for Windows File Server serves SMB with Active Directory and NTFS for Windows clients; EFS serves NFS for Linux. If a stem names Windows, SMB or Active Directory, it is FSx for Windows. If it is a plain Linux shared file system over NFS, it is EFS. The FSx family covers the needs EFS does not.

When is FSx for Lustre the right answer?

When the workload is high-performance computing, machine-learning training or big-data processing that needs extreme shared throughput and low latency — especially when the data lives in Amazon S3. Lustre links to an S3 bucket so objects appear as files and results export back, which is the standard high-performance processing pattern.

Are these real exam questions?

No. They are original scenarios written for this page in the exam's style and difficulty. Reproducing real exam items violates the AWS certification agreement and can cost a candidate their certification — ours come with the full reasoning attached instead.

Updated for SAA-C03 (July 2026). The sample questions above are our own work in the style of the exam — not real exam items. The exam itself is set and marked by the certification body.