What is an Extreme NAS file system - File Storage NAS - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

The Extreme NAS file system is a high-performance shared file storage service built on Alibaba Cloud's latest-generation network architecture and all-flash storage. This fully managed cloud storage service seamlessly integrates with Alibaba Cloud's extensive computing services, unlocking the full potential of the public cloud ecosystem. It provides low latency, high IOPS, and large capacity, making it ideal for latency-sensitive Linux enterprise applications, CI/CD development and staging environments, and high-performance web services. This topic describes the performance metrics, supported file protocols, supported regions, and advanced features of Extreme NAS file systems.

Performance metrics

After January 19, 2024

Note

Starting January 19, 2024, the maximum throughput for Advanced Extreme NAS file systems in some regions was upgraded to 4,000 MB/s. The maximum throughput in other regions remains unchanged. If your file system was created before this date, its throughput capacity is not automatically upgraded. To use the higher throughput, you can create a new Extreme NAS file system and migrate the data from your existing file system to the new one. For more information, see Migrate data between NAS file systems.

Item	Advanced		Standard
Maximum throughput	After upgrade	Before upgrade	The throughput increases as the storage capacity of the file system increases. The maximum throughput is 1,200 MB/s. Details are as follows: [100 GiB, 500 GiB): 150 MB/s [500 GiB, 2 TiB): 300 MB/s [2 TiB, 4 TiB): 600 MB/s [4 TiB, 8 TiB): 900 MB/s [8 TiB, 256 TiB): 1,200 MB/s
	The throughput increases as the storage capacity of the file system increases. The maximum throughput is 4,000 MB/s. Details are as follows: Click to view supported regions and zones China (Beijing): Zone H, Zone I, Zone K, and Zone L China (Chengdu): Zone A and Zone B China (Hangzhou): Zone I, Zone J, and Zone K China (Shanghai): Zone B, Zone L, Zone M, and Zone N China (Shenzhen): Zone C, Zone E, and Zone F China (Ulanqab): Zone B and Zone C China (Hong Kong): Zone B, Zone C, and Zone D Singapore: Zone A, Zone B, and Zone C US (Virginia): Zone A and Zone B Indonesia (Jakarta): Zone B and Zone C Germany (Frankfurt): Zone C Japan (Tokyo): Tokyo Zone C [100 GiB, 500 GiB): 250 MB/s [500 GiB, 1,024 GiB): 500 MB/s [1 TiB, 2 TiB): 1,000 MB/s [2 TiB, 3 TiB): 1,500 MB/s [3 TiB, 5 TiB): 2,000 MB/s [5 TiB, 8 TiB): 3,000 MB/s [8 TiB, 256 TiB): 4,000 MB/s Important When you create an Advanced Extreme NAS file system in the China (Ulanqab) region, if the upgraded specifications are out of stock, your new file system is automatically created with the specifications available before the upgrade. For more information about how to view the throughput of a file system, see View the throughput of an Extreme NAS file system	The throughput increases as the storage capacity of the file system increases. The maximum throughput is 1,200 MB/s. Details are as follows: Click to view supported regions and zones China (Beijing): Zone F and Zone G China (Hangzhou): Zone G and Zone H China (Qingdao): Zone C China (Zhangjiakou): Zone A, Zone B, and Zone C China (Hohhot): Zone A and Zone B China (Shenzhen): Zone D China (Shanghai): Zone E, Zone F, and Zone G China (Ulanqab): Zone A US (Silicon Valley): Zone B Germany (Frankfurt): Zone B UK (London): Zone A and Zone B [100 GiB, 500 GiB): 150 MB/s [500 GiB, 2 TiB): 300 MB/s [2 TiB, 4 TiB): 600 MB/s [4 TiB, 8 TiB): 900 MB/s [8 TiB, 256 TiB): 1,200 MB/s
IOPS	The IOPS increases as the storage capacity of the file system increases. For an I/O size of 4 KiB, the details are as follows: Read: min{5000 + 50 × Capacity (GiB), 200000} Write: min{2500 + 25 × Capacity (GiB), 100000}		The IOPS increases as the storage capacity of the file system increases. For an I/O size of 4 KiB, the details are as follows: Read: min{7000 + 30 × Capacity (GiB), 200000} Write: min{3500 + 15 × Capacity (GiB), 100000}
Average single-path 4k read/write latency	0.3 ms		1.2 ms
Capacity	100 GiB to 256 TiB		100 GiB to 256 TiB
Scaling step size	1 GiB		1 GiB
Scaling method	Manual scaling		Manual scaling

May 20, 2020 to January 18, 2024

If you created your Extreme NAS file system between May 20, 2020, and January 18, 2024, refer to the following performance metrics.

To experience the performance of the upgraded Advanced type, you can create a new Advanced Extreme NAS file system in a supported region and zone, and then migrate data from your existing file system to the new one. For more information, see Data migration.

Item	Advanced	Standard
Maximum throughput	The throughput increases as the storage capacity of the file system increases. The maximum throughput is 1,200 MB/s. Details are as follows: [100 GiB, 500 GiB): 150 MB/s [500 GiB, 2 TiB): 300 MB/s [2 TiB, 4 TiB): 600 MB/s [4 TiB, 8 TiB): 900 MB/s [8 TiB, 256 TiB): 1,200 MB/s	The throughput increases as the storage capacity of the file system increases. The maximum throughput is 1,200 MB/s. Details are as follows: [100 GiB, 500 GiB): 150 MB/s [500 GiB, 2 TiB): 300 MB/s [2 TiB, 4 TiB): 600 MB/s [4 TiB, 8 TiB): 900 MB/s [8 TiB, 256 TiB): 1,200 MB/s
IOPS	The IOPS increases as the storage capacity of the file system increases. For an I/O size of 4 KiB, the details are as follows: Read: min{5000 + 50 × Capacity (GiB), 200000} Write: min{2500 + 25 × Capacity (GiB), 100000}	The IOPS increases as the storage capacity of the file system increases. For an I/O size of 4 KiB, the details are as follows: Read: min{7000 + 30 × Capacity (GiB), 200000} Write: min{3500 + 15 × Capacity (GiB), 100000}
Average single-path 4k read/write latency	0.3 ms	1.2 ms
Capacity	100 GiB to 256 TiB	100 GiB to 256 TiB
Scaling step size	1 GiB	1 GiB
Scaling method	Manual scaling	Manual scaling

Before May 20, 2020

Extreme NAS file systems were upgraded on May 20, 2020. If you created your Extreme NAS file system before this date, refer to the following performance metrics. For a better performance experience, you can create a new Extreme NAS file system and migrate the data from your existing file system to the new one. For more information, see Data migration.

Item	Advanced (File systems created before May 20, 2020)	Standard (File systems created before May 20, 2020)
Maximum throughput	Does not vary with capacity. Low specification: 0.15 GB/s. High specification: 0.3 GB/s.	Does not vary with capacity. Low specification: 0.15 GB/s. High specification: 0.3 GB/s.
IOPS	The IOPS increases as the storage capacity of the file system increases. For an I/O size of 4 KiB, the details are as follows: Read: min{1000 + 50 × Capacity (GiB), 45000} Write: min{1000 + 50 × Capacity (GiB), 30000}	The IOPS increases as the storage capacity of the file system increases. For an I/O size of 4 KiB, the details are as follows: Read: min{1000 + 30 × Capacity (GiB), 20000} Write: min{1000 + 30 × Capacity (GiB), 10000}
Average single-path 4k read/write latency	0.3 ms	1.2 ms
Maximum capacity	32 TiB	32 TiB
Initial capacity	100 GiB	100 GiB
Scaling step size	1 GiB	1 GiB
Scaling method	Manual scaling	Manual scaling

Note

Average latency: The average value of read or write operations calculated within a 1-second interval.
Capacity: The storage capacity of a NAS file system is calculated in binary units, such as PiB, TiB, GiB, MiB, or KiB. A file smaller than 4 KiB is counted as 4 KiB. A file larger than 4 KiB is rounded up to the nearest multiple of 4 KiB.

File protocols

Extreme NAS file systems support only the NFSv3 protocol.

Operating systems

Extreme NAS file systems support only Linux operating systems. To achieve optimal file system performance, use the recommended kernel images or their later versions. For more information, see Recommended kernel images.

Advanced features

Extreme NAS file systems support the following advanced features:

Category	Scenario	Description	References
Access control	RAM-based access control	Resource Access Management (RAM) is an Alibaba Cloud service for controlling access to resources. A RAM policy is a user-based authorization policy. Using RAM, you can centrally manage your users (such as employees, systems, or applications) and control their access permissions to your resources. For example, you can restrict users to have only read permissions on a specific file system.	Control NAS access with RAM policies
Data security	Encrypted data	Extreme NAS file systems support server-side encryption. Server-side encryption uses the industry-standard AES-256 encryption algorithm to protect static data in your file system and uses an envelope encryption mechanism to prevent unauthorized data access.	Server-side encryption
Data management	Snapshots	Advanced Extreme NAS file systems support the snapshot feature. Using snapshots, you can restore data from a specific point in time to an existing file system. Cross-zone restoration is also supported.	Snapshots
	Data backup	NAS lets you use Cloud Backup to periodically back up NAS files and promptly restore them if data is lost or damaged.	Back up an Extreme NAS file system
	Data migration	NAS supports migrating data from storage services outside Alibaba Cloud to NAS. It also supports migrating data from NAS to other storage media.	Migrate data from a non-Alibaba Cloud service to NAS Migrate data between a NAS file system and an OSS bucket Migrate data between NAS file systems

Scenarios

Extreme NAS file systems provide low latency, high IOPS, and large capacity, making them ideal for latency-sensitive Linux enterprise applications, CI/CD development and staging environments, and high-performance web services.

Note

Because of infrastructure limitations, Advanced Extreme NAS file systems are not available in some zones. In such cases, you can select the Standard type instead. For more information about the regions supported by each storage type, see Regions and zones.
If your business is located in a specific zone, we recommend that you choose an Extreme NAS file system in the same zone.
You cannot convert a Standard instance to an Advanced instance.

Pricing

For more information about the billing rules of Extreme NAS file systems, see Billing of Extreme NAS file systems. For pricing details, see Apsara File Storage NAS Pricing.

For frequently asked questions about billing for Extreme NAS file systems, see Billing FAQ.

Regions and zones

Extreme NAS offers two storage types: Standard and Advanced. The following tables show the regions and zones supported by each storage type.

Advanced

4,000 MB/s

Region	Zone
China (Hangzhou)	Hangzhou Zone I Hangzhou Zone J Hangzhou Zone K
China (Shanghai)	Shanghai Zone B Shanghai Zone L Shanghai Zone M Shanghai Zone N
China (Beijing)	Beijing Zone H Beijing Zone I Beijing Zone K Beijing Zone L
China (Ulanqab)	Ulanqab Zone B Ulanqab Zone C
China (Shenzhen)	Shenzhen Zone C Shenzhen Zone E Shenzhen Zone F
China (Chengdu)	Chengdu Zone A Chengdu Zone B
China (Hong Kong)	Hong Kong Zone B Hong Kong Zone C Hong Kong Zone D
Singapore	Singapore Zone A Singapore Zone B Singapore Zone C
Indonesia (Jakarta)	Jakarta Zone B Jakarta Zone C
Japan (Tokyo)	Tokyo Zone C
US (Virginia)	Virginia Zone A Virginia Zone B
Germany (Frankfurt)	Frankfurt Zone C

1,200 MB/s

Region	Zone
China (Hangzhou)	Hangzhou Zone G Hangzhou Zone H
China (Shanghai)	Shanghai Zone E Shanghai Zone F Shanghai Zone G
China (Qingdao)	Qingdao Zone C
China (Beijing)	Beijing Zone F Beijing Zone G
China (Zhangjiakou)	Zhangjiakou Zone A Zhangjiakou Zone B Zhangjiakou Zone C
China (Hohhot)	Hohhot Zone A Hohhot Zone B
China (Ulanqab)	Ulanqab Zone A
China (Shenzhen)	Shenzhen Zone D
US (Silicon Valley)	US West Zone B
Germany (Frankfurt)	Frankfurt Zone B
UK (London)	London Zone A London Zone B

Standard

Region	Zone
China (Hangzhou)	Hangzhou Zone B Hangzhou Zone E Hangzhou Zone F
China (Shanghai)	Shanghai Zone A Shanghai Zone C Shanghai Zone D
China (Qingdao)	Qingdao Zone B
China (Beijing)	Beijing Zone A Beijing Zone B Beijing Zone C Beijing Zone D Beijing Zone E
China (Shenzhen)	Shenzhen Zone A Shenzhen Zone B
Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)	Kuala Lumpur Zone A Kuala Lumpur Zone B
Indonesia (Jakarta)	Jakarta Zone A
Japan (Tokyo)	Tokyo Zone A Tokyo Zone B
US (Silicon Valley)	US West 1 (Silicon Valley) Zone A
Germany (Frankfurt)	Frankfurt Zone A

Usage suggestions

Scenario 1

Issue: When multiple clients concurrently create and delete files in the same directory of an Extreme NAS file system, performance degrades when you access that directory.

Suggestion: We recommend that you limit the number of clients that concurrently create and delete files in the same directory to 10 or fewer.

Scenario 2

Issue: After many files are stored in an Extreme NAS file system, accessing a single directory that contains many files can cause increased latency. In extreme cases, this may be mistaken for an unresponsive I/O.

Suggestion: If a single Extreme NAS file system contains more than 20 million files, we recommend that a single directory contain no more than 10,000 files or subdirectories.