Cutting data movement costs

FSxN S3 access point is an endpoint that helps control and simplify how different applications or users can access data. With S3 access points, you can easily discover new insights, innovate faster, and make better data decisions. With S3 access points, large buckets policy can be broken down into separate policies for each application that needs access to the dataset without interfering with workflow.

• PolyBase can query S3compatible storage directly, meaning SQL Server can now query FSxN file system data exposed over S3.
• FSxN Access Points eliminate the need to migrate or duplicate file shares into S3 buckets.
• Organizations gain real-time access to file-based datasets through T-SQL without building complex or costly pipelines.
• Duallayer access controls (IAM + ONTAP security) ensure strong governance without additional infrastructure.

Conclusion

Data movement has become a growing but often overlooked cost driver in enterprise data platforms. By integrating SQL Server PolyBase with FSxN S3 Access Points, organizations can create a modern, cost-efficient, zeroETL architecture. This reduces operational overhead, accelerates analytics, improves governance, and future-proofs the data environment for AI-driven workloads.

To explore more, read: Cutting Data Movement Costs with SQL Server 2025 PolyBase and Amazon FSxN S3 Access Points in the NetApp Community.

Additional references:

• Configure PolyBase to access external data in S3-compatible object storage
• Simplify data access with S3 Access Points for FSx for ONTAP