What does Amazon EFS primarily provide for Amazon EC2 instances?

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) primarily provides file storage for Amazon EC2 instances. It is designed to offer scalable and fully-managed file storage that can be accessed by multiple EC2 instances concurrently. This allows applications running on different instances to share data easily and efficiently, making it ideal for use cases such as content management, web serving, and data analytics.

Unlike block-level storage, which provides raw storage resources at the block level, EFS functions as a network file system, enabling users to work with files and directories. The ability to handle a wide range of files and support shared access across various instances is a critical benefit of using EFS in cloud-based architectures. Furthermore, EFS automatically scales as files are added or removed, allowing applications to grow seamlessly without worrying about pre-provisioning storage. This flexibility is why EFS is particularly suited for workloads requiring cooperative file sharing among multiple EC2 instances.