What is AWS Transfer Family?
AWS Transfer Family stores your data in Amazon Cloud storage (S3 or EFS) while maintaining your existing file transfer workflows. It provides a fully managed endpoint for file transfers via SFTP, FTPS, and FTP.
Key Concepts
1. Fully Managed Protocols
- SFTP: Secure File Transfer Protocol (SSH).
- FTPS: File Transfer Protocol over SSL/TLS.
- FTP: File Transfer Protocol (Unencrypted - generally restricted to VPC).
- AS2: Applicability Statement 2 (business-to-business).
2. Backend Storage
- Directly integrates with Amazon S3 or Amazon EFS.
- Users see a standard file directory, but files are actually objects in S3 or files in EFS.
3. Identity Providers
- Integrates with "Service Managed" users, Microsoft Active Directory, or Custom Identity Provider (Lambda).
Exam Tips
[!IMPORTANT] "Legacy FTP/SFTP migration": If a company wants to move their SFTP server to the cloud without changing how their partners/clients connect, use AWS Transfer Family.
[!TIP] Any mention of "SFTP to S3" is a clear pointer to AWS Transfer Family.
Common Use Cases
- B2B Data Exchange: Receiving invoices, medical records, or financial data from partners who only support SFTP.
- SaaS Integration: Allowing users to upload bulk data via FTP which then triggers S3 Event Notifications for processing.