# Network File Storage Features

Network File Storage is a fully managed, POSIX-compliant file storage solution built for demanding workloads like AI/ML pipelines, containerized applications, and DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) clusters. It provides scalable, high-throughput shared storage that simplifies storage management for distributed applications.

Network File Storage (NFS) is a fully managed, POSIX-compliant file storage solution for [Droplets](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/droplets/index.html.md) and [DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS)](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/kubernetes/index.html.md). It supports NFSv4.1, POSIX permissions, and VPC-based access, allowing a single share to be mounted across multiple Droplets and Kubernetes nodes.

NFS is available in two performance tiers:

- **Standard Tier** provides predictable, cost-effective shared storage for general-purpose workloads such as web applications, CI/CD pipelines, CMS platforms, App Platform workloads, and small-file compute use cases.
- **High Performance Tier** delivers sustained higher throughput and multi-node scaling for data-intensive workloads such as AI/ML training, GPU workloads, high-throughput analytics, and parallel multi-node access.

Both tiers provide up to 32 TiB of storage.

All NFS traffic uses [VPC networks](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/networking/vpc/index.html.md) to ensure secure and private data transfer. NFS also supports [point-in-time snapshots](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/nfs/how-to/create-snapshot/index.html.md) for file-level recovery.

You can upgrade a share from Standard to High Performance at any time without interruption, and you can increase a share’s storage size at any time. See the [NFS limits page](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/nfs/details/limits/index.html.md) for details.

## Performance

NFS share performance varies by tier:

| Feature | Standard Tier | High Performance Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Throughput | Up to 1 Gbps aggregated | 8 Gbps up to 1 TiB of provisioned storage, then +1 Gbps per additional TiB |
| Read IOPS | 10,000 | Up to 100,000 |
| Write IOPS | 7,000 | Up to 70,000 |

Throughput scales with share size and represents aggregate throughput across all mounted clients.

### Droplet Network Throughput Limits

Individual Droplet network interfaces limit the throughput each client can achieve. To realize aggregate throughput beyond a single Droplet’s network limit, mount the NFS share on multiple Droplets or DOKS worker nodes.

| Droplet Type | Per-Droplet Throughput Limit |
|---|---|
| GPU Droplets | Up to 25 Gbps |
| Premium CPU Droplets | Up to 10 Gbps |
| Standard CPU Droplets | Up to 2 Gbps |

## Common Use Cases

### Standard Tier

Standard Tier is designed for general-purpose shared storage across cloud applications.

| Use Case | Description |
|---|---|
| Web applications and media assets | Store shared web assets, user uploads, and exports accessed from multiple application instances. |
| CMS platforms | Shared filesystem access across compute nodes for themes, plugins, and uploaded media. |
| Analytics pipelines and shared staging | Shared staging area for CPU-based batch jobs, intermediate datasets, logs, and exports. |
| Shared storage for Droplets and DOKS | Shared configuration, assets, and small-file workloads with predictable baseline throughput. |

### High Performance Tier

High Performance Tier is designed for data-intensive and throughput-demanding workloads.

| Use Case | Description |
|---|---|
| AI/ML workloads | Concurrent access to shared datasets, model artifacts, and checkpoints across multiple GPU Droplets. |
| Kubernetes applications (DOKS) | Stateful workloads with ReadWriteMany semantics across pods and nodes, including ML pipelines and shared caches. |
| Media and content collaboration | Multiple contributors working on shared project files without moving data between systems. |

## Limits

Your maximum storage capacity and the maximum number of shares you can create are based on per-account limits. To increase your limits or request larger share sizes and higher performance, [contact support](https://cloudsupport.digitalocean.com). For a full list of limits, see the [NFS limits page](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/nfs/details/limits/index.html.md).