Features

• SSD Storage: Supports swift data retrieval and reliable data storage.

• Storage Size: The minimum cluster size is 2 TiB and the maximum cluster size is 42 TiB. It is a usable space; hence, you do not have to reserve free space for optimal performance.

• NFSv4.2: The latest NFS protocol version, NFSv4.2, allows standard read and write operations directly to storage.

• Encryption at rest: Provides encryption at rest, by default.

• Root squash security: Network File Storage's built-in security mechanism reduces the risk of unauthorized root-level access from the client machine to the NFS server. Enabling this feature prevents superuser privileges to the root user on a client machine. It also prevents potential attacks on the NFS server when the client machine is compromised.

Benefits

• High Performance & Reliability: NFSv4.2 protocol provides high availability and durability and the following benefits:

  • Reduced protocol overhead with compound operations and caching.

  • Efficient file operations with minimal server interaction.

  • Live data movement without interruption.

  • Detailed file-level access and performance telemetry.

• Seamless Management: Benefit from proactive IT infrastructure management and maintenance with IONOS’s managed Network File Storage.

• Efficient Data Sharing: Easily distribute and manage data across multiple VMs within a VDC, with centralized data organization and fine-grained POSIX access control.

Network File Storage uses the NFS protocol to provide shared data storage accessible to your VMs via a private network. It allows fine-grained POSIX permissions at file and directory levels. You can provision a shared Network File Storage using the NFS protocol. It enables easy data sharing between the connected VMs, all while benefiting from the reliability and security of a cloud-based storage solution.

During cluster creation, you must specify an IP address from your LAN for the cluster. The specified IP address is used as a floating IP address for the two VMs that the Network File Storage uses to provide high availability.

As seen in the illustration, you create a cluster within the Network File Storage and create shares within a cluster. Multiple VMs from within a VDC are connected to shares of a Network File Storage's cluster via a private LAN.

Each cluster can contain multiple shares within it. Shares are individual file systems within the storage. For example, you can imagine it as a cluster being a computer and shares are folders within it that are accessed by VMs. An administrator can allow VMs to use specific shares.

VMs on the same private network can connect to the Network File Storage's cluster. In addition, data can be accessed simultaneously from multiple compute instances (for example, VMs, and containers) without compromising data consistency. Multiple VMs from within the VDC can access the data simultaneously.

IONOS manages maintenance operations, such as software updates and hardware replacement, by offering redundant, high-availability cluster services.

You can also integrate it with Kubernetes clusters to provide persistent storage for containerized workloads.

Network File Storage is a managed service that uses the Network File System (NFS) protocol to offer shared file storage to numerous Virtual Machines (VMs) within the Virtual Data Center (VDC).

For more information about:

• VMs, see Cubes or Compute Engine.

• VDCs, see Data Center Designer and Basic Tutorials.

Product Overview

Recommended DCD How-Tos

Recommended API How-To's

Developer Tools

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

To get answers to the most commonly encountered questions about Network File Storage, see FAQs.

Resilience

VMs are mounted on the POSIX-compliant exported file system inside a local mount point. It provides a fully managed and scalable storage on file level. The service manages all the file storage infrastructure, meaning you can avoid the complexity of deploying, patching, maintaining and scaling complex file system configurations. The service is highly scalable, highly available, and highly durable.

Currently, the Network File Storage is based on the Solid State Drive (SSD) - Standard performance class. Data is stored on two storage servers, providing active-active redundancy. For additional data protection, every storage server is based either on a hardware or a software RAID system.

Performance

Currently, the Network File Storage is based on the SSD Standard performance class, which is recommended for instant data access.

The table below lists the drive types and their specifications:

Security

• Encryption at rest involves encrypting data stored on physical media. It protects data from unauthorized access when the data is not actively being used. Network File Storage is based on Block Storage, and it implements encryption at rest.

• Secure deletion ensures that once data is deleted, it cannot be restored, even with access to the physical media. Network File Storage is based on Block Storage, and it implements secure deletion.

Limitations

• Network File Storage is currently limited to German data centers.

• The cluster size cannot be decreased despite deleting some shares or data within them; the cluster will not shrink.

The billing for Network File Storage is based on the cluster size. The data transfer between the Network File Storage and VMs is not tracked and free.

The initial cluster size must be between 2 TiB and 42 TiB, increasing in 1 TiB increments. All cluster space is fully usable. After creation, the cluster size can only be increased, not decreased.

Prices are listed in the respective price lists:

The following use cases have been derived to meet your business needs based on the features and benefits of Network File Storage:

• Network File Storage for user home directories: Host user home directories in a networked environment where user data, including home directories, are stored and managed centrally.

• Shared storage for databases and application servers: With Network File Storage—central storage for your databases and application servers—you can enable seamless and secure access to the shared database and application server. It also optimizes storage costs through efficient usage and scaling mechanisms.

• Store web content and serve it to multiple web servers: It provides centralized cloud-based storage for web content accessible by multiple servers, thus simplifying content management and ensuring content uniformity.

You can grant appropriate privileges via the User Manager, so your users can create and manage shares and Network File Storage clusters. Without necessary privileges, they have read-only access and cannot provision changes.

To allow users to create and manage shares, follow these steps:

1. Log in to DCD with your username and password.

2. Go to Menu > Management, and select Users & Groups under Users.

3. Select Groups tab in the User Manager window.

4. Create a Group or select an existing group to assign relevant privileges.

5. In the Privileges tab, select Access and Manage Network File Storage to allow the group members to create and use Network File Storage.

6. In the Members tab, add users to the group that you wish to authorize to use Network File Storage.

Quick Links

After creation, you can view the list of Network File Storage clusters or delete an existing one if it is no longer required.

To view a list of the clusters, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the DCD with your username and password.

2. Go to Menu > Storage > Network File Storage.

View individual Cluster details

You can view the properties and connection details of the respective cluster. You can also:

• Select Change cluster settings to modify the cluster settings.

• Select x Delete Cluster to delete the chosen cluster.

• Select the Manage shares tab to manage the shares associated with the respective cluster.

A cluster represents a directory with individual file systems, called shares, within the Network File Storage cluster.

Prerequisites

Create a Cluster

To create a Network File Storage cluster, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the DCD with your username and password.

2. Go to Menu > Storage > Network File Storage.

3. Select Create Cluster to create a new cluster.

4. Enter the following details in the Create Cluster window:
5. Click Save to create the cluster.

Define Cluster Properties

To define cluster properties, specify the following:

1. Cluster Name: Enter an appropriate name for your cluster.

2. Location: This product is currently available in the German data centers. The value is set to Germany / Berlin, by default. Select a value from the drop-down list to change the data center.

3. Size: Select the size of the Network File Storage cluster in TiB using the slider. The size determines the billing fees.

4. File System Version: By default, the cluster supports the latest NFS protocol version NFSv4.2.

Associate a Data Center LAN with the Cluster

You can also follow the steps mentioned in the Finding your Private IP address section on the right side to retrieve an IP address.

2. Datacenter LAN: Select a LAN to which the Network File Storage cluster must be connected in the data center.

A share represents individual file systems within the Network File Storage cluster. Each cluster can contain multiple shares within it.

Prerequisites

• Only contract administrators, owners, and users with Access and Manage Network File Storage privilege are allowed to create shares. You can set the privilege via the DCD group privileges. For more information, see Manage User Access.

Create a Share

To create a share within a Network File Storage cluster, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the DCD with your username and password.

2. Go to Menu > Storage > Network File Storage.

3. Select a cluster from the list of clusters.

4. Enter the following details in the Create Share window:

   • Define Share Properties

   • Add Client Groups

5. Click Save to create a share.

Define Share Properties

To define share properties, specify the following:

1. NAME: Enter an appropriate name for the share.

2. (Optional) QUOTA: Specify the quota in MiB to restrict the amount of data that can be stored within the export file. Set the value to zero, if you want to disable the quota for export.

3. (Optional) GID: The ID of the group that owns the exported share. The default value is 512.

4. (Optional) UID: The ID of the user who owns the exported directory. The default value is 512.

Add Client Groups

Multiple VMs from within a VDC can be connected to shares of a Network File Storage's cluster via a private LAN.

1. (Optional) Description: Enter necessary information about the client group.

2. IP Networks: Select + Add IP Network to add an IP address with the mask CIDR notation. The specified network therefore becomes an authorized network while restricting access to all other networks. Example: 127.0.0.1/24.

3. Hosts: Select + Add Host to add the number of VMs that is allowed to access the share. Example: 10.234.62.123.

4. NFS Squash Mode: Select a squash mode for export. For more information, see Root squash security. You can choose one of the following:

   • None: Select if you do not want a squash mode. For security reasons, we do not recommend setting the mode to None.

   • Root Anonymous: Select to map a root user to an anonymous user.

   • All Anonymous: Select to map all users to anonymous user.

To delete a Network File Storage cluster, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the DCD with your username and password.

2. Go to Menu > Storage > Network File Storage. You will find a list of all the Network File Storage clusters.

4. Select Delete in the dialog box to confirm deletion.

Alternatively, you can also click the respective row to choose a cluster that must be deleted and on the Cluster Details page, select x Delete Cluster.

Network File Storage APIs allow contract owners, administrators, and authenticated users with the required permissions to create clusters and shares within the storage system via the API.

Quick Links

Endpoint

Use the regional endpoints to interact with Network File Storage:

• Berlin, Germany: https://nfs.de-txl.ionos.com

• Frankfurt, Germany: https://nfs.de-fra.ionos.com

Authentication

The API uses the following two authentication methods:

• Basic Authentication: Ensure that the string containing your username and password is base64-encoded and separated by a colon: username@domain.tld:password.

• Token Authentication: Provide a header value as Bearer followed by your token.

After creation, you can view the list of shares within a Network File Storage cluster. You can also delete an existing one if it is no longer required.

To view a list of the shares, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the DCD with your username and password.

2. Go to Menu > Storage > Network File Storage > Manage Shares.

View individual Share details

You can view the properties and client group details of the respective share. You can also:

• Select Change share settings to modify the share settings.

• Select x Delete Share to delete the chosen share.

To delete a share from a Network File Storage cluster, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the DCD with your username and password.

2. Go to Menu > Storage > Network File Storage > Manage Shares. You will find a list of all the shares within the respective Network File Storage cluster.

4. Select Delete in the dialog box to confirm deletion.

Alternatively, you can also click the respective row to choose a share that must be deleted and on the Share Details page, select x Delete Share.