Product & Architecture
Roadrunner SMB extends Amazon EFS — elastic, serverless, AWS-native — to Windows with native SMB3, Active Directory integration, and patent-pending Elastic SMB™ metadata acceleration. Deploy from AWS Marketplace into your VPC; scale 1–4 nodes for evaluation or production HA. Replacing DIY Samba on EFS? Start there.
How it scales
Capacity is a node-count decision, not a provisioning guess. Add nodes, scale throughput.
Pay for what you actually use
Storage and throughput follow real demand, so your bill tracks consumption rather than a peak you size up front. Elastic SMB absorbs login storms automatically.
SMB file server on AWS for EFS and Windows workloads
Native SMB3 for Windows workloads
Access Amazon EFS from Windows like a native file server — with NTFS-style ACLs, permission inheritance, and correct SMB semantics.
Active Directory integration
Domain-join the cluster, authenticate with Kerberos, and enforce AD security groups — on elastic, AWS-native infrastructure.
Fast logins for VDI and profiles
Elastic SMB caching keeps EFS metadata fast during login storms — and because caching absorbs the surge, you pay for real usage.
Highly available SMB cluster
Multi-node clusters across AZs with NLB health checks and automatic failover — ~99.9% with 2 nodes, up to 99.99% at scale with 3–4 nodes.
Deploy in minutes with CloudFormation
Launch a complete SMB environment from AWS Marketplace — load balancing, cluster nodes, EFS integration, IAM, and security wiring.
Admin UI included
Manage shares, watch cluster health, review billing status, and generate support reports from a browser.
Your data stays in your AWS account
Files live in your Amazon EFS and share permissions in your DynamoDB — no proprietary format. Remove Roadrunner SMB; your files remain.
Linux and Windows on one dataset
Linux over NFS and Windows over SMB on the same EFS data. (VDI/FSLogix profiles should remain SMB-only.)
Ideal for
- VDI, FSLogix, and user profiles — Fast, domain-joined SMB storage for Amazon WorkSpaces, Citrix, Windows 365, and profile-heavy login storms on AWS.
- Departmental file shares — Team folders and shared drives on elastic EFS with native SMB for Windows clients.
- Home directories — Persistent, AD-authenticated user storage for domain users on AWS.
- MSP-managed AWS file services — Deliver Windows-compatible SMB shares to customers on elastic, AWS-native infrastructure.
- Windows file server modernization — Lift-and-shift file services while keeping SMB3, Active Directory, and Windows ACL semantics.
Comparing to FSx for Windows?
Detailed dimension-by-dimension comparison, demand-following cost illustration, TCO context, and when FSx is the better fit live on a dedicated page — so this overview stays focused on product architecture.
Architecture whitepaper
The GA architecture whitepaper covers Elastic SMB caching, cluster HA, identity model, billing dimensions, and deployment topology.
Ready to evaluate?
Subscribe on AWS Marketplace and launch into your VPC — most teams reach a first SMB share in about 30 minutes.