CompTIA Cloud+ (CV0-004)Cloud ArchitectureHard
A cloud administrator is designing a cost-effective storage solution for infrequently accessed log files that must be retained for compliance reasons for seven years. These logs are rarely needed after 90 days but must be retrievable within a few hours if an audit occurs. Which storage tier provides the best balance of cost and retrieval requirements?
- ANearline Archive Storage
- BStandard Object Storage
- CBlock Storage
- DCold Object Storage (Archive)
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Cold Object Storage (Archive)
Cold Object Storage (Archive) is designed for long-term retention of infrequently accessed data, offering the lowest storage costs with retrieval times ranging from minutes to hours, which aligns with the compliance and retrieval requirements.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Nearline Archive Storage offers faster retrieval than cold archive but is typically more expensive; the 'few hours' retrieval time suggests cold archive is sufficient and more cost-effective.
- B. Standard Object Storage is for frequently accessed data and is significantly more expensive for long-term, infrequent access.
- C. Block Storage is for high-performance, low-latency transactional data, not cost-effective for long-term archival of infrequently accessed logs.
Cold Object Storage (Archive)
Cold Object Storage, often referred to as Archive Storage, is a cloud storage tier optimized for extremely infrequent access and long-term data retention. It offers the lowest storage costs but typically has higher retrieval latency (minutes to hours) and potentially retrieval costs.
- Lowest storage costs per GB
- Designed for long-term archival and compliance
- Infrequent access patterns
- Retrieval times range from minutes to hours
- Examples: AWS Glacier, Azure Archive Storage, Google Cloud Archive Storage
Memory trick: Cold Archive is like putting your data in a deep freeze – cheap to store, but takes time to thaw out.