File Storage Gateway on EC2 in case of AZ failure

Question

Hello,

I have a question related to EC2 Storage Gateway HA that was discussed here https://repost.aws/questions/QU7uSNAm4qR1C1VKircva_NQ/aws-storage-gateway-ec-2-high-availability and here https://repost.aws/questions/QUHkuVnkdPT7WsGWmECm14TA/ec-2-storage-gateway-high-availability-configuration

1. For the file gateway - If the EC2 instance is destroyed will I have access to files stored in S3? 
2. What happens if entire AZ is gone - can I recover EC2 instance in another AZ?
3. It answer for 1 is NO then - is it possible to do a backup or snapshot of the SG config/cache?

Accepted Answer

Hello, 
1) Yes, you can access the files that are uploaded and stored in S3 if the EC2 instance is destroyed. You can use [CachePercentDirty](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/filegateway/latest/files3/monitoring-file-gateway.html#monitoring-file-gateway-resources) metric to monitor for any pending data upload to S3 from the gateway.
2) In this case, you would need to launch a new gateway in a different AZ. Then, create shares on that gateway using the same underlying S3 buckets. You can collect current file gateway and file share details using [describe-gateway](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/storagegateway/describe-gateway-information.html) and describe [smb](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/storagegateway/describe-smb-file-shares.html) and [nfs](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/storagegateway/describe-nfs-file-shares.html) file shares CLI commands. Then, use this information to setup a new EC2 instance/gateway and for its file shares.

File Storage Gateway on EC2 in case of AZ failure

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