An administrator deploys FSx for ONTAP as a storage solution in their cloud environment. The administrator cannot mount the file system to their…

When an Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP file system and the client cloud instances are in the same Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), connectivity issues are most commonly caused by network access control configurations. Security Groups in AWS act as stateful firewalls for resources like EC2 instances and FSx file systems. A failure to mount indicates that the network traffic, likely over NFS (port 2049) or SMB (port 445) protocols, is being blocked. Verifying that the security group associated with the FSx file system has the correct inbound rules to allow traffic from the client instances is the essential first troubleshooting step.

A. A Transit Gateway is used to connect multiple VPCs and on-premises networks. It is not required for communication between resources within the same VPC.

C. autofs is a client-side utility for automatically mounting file systems on demand. Its absence would not prevent a manual mount and is not the root cause of a connectivity failure.

D. A virtual private gateway is used to connect a VPC to an external network (e.g., on-premises) via VPN or Direct Connect, not for intra-VPC communication.

1. Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP User Guide: In the section "File system access control with Amazon VPC," it states, "You control access to your file system using Amazon VPC security groups... You add rules to your security group to allow traffic to and from the EC2 instances in your VPC." It further details the specific ports required for NFS, SMB, and management access, confirming that security group rules are the primary mechanism for controlling access. (See section: File system access control with Amazon VPC -> VPC security groups).

2. Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP User Guide: The guide explicitly details the required security group rules for access. For example, for NFS clients, it specifies creating a custom TCP rule for port 2049 and a custom UDP rule for port 111, with the source being the security group of the client instance. This directly supports troubleshooting by verifying these rules. (See section: Accessing data from within the deployment VPC -> To create and configure the security group for your clients).

3. NetApp Technical Report TR-4948, "Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP: Use Cases and Best Practices": In the "Network and security" section, the document discusses the networking components. It mentions, "FSx for ONTAP is deployed with a security group that allows all outbound traffic. You must add inbound rules to allow clients to access the file system." This reinforces that configuring security group rules is a mandatory step for enabling client access. (See section 3.2, Network and security).