Professional Data EngineerBuilding and operationalizing data processing systemsMedium
A financial institution needs to store immutable audit logs for regulatory compliance. These logs are written once and rarely accessed after initial ingestion, but must be retained for 7 years. Cost optimization for storage is a critical factor, as the volume is expected to grow into petabytes. Which Cloud Storage class is most appropriate for this use case?
- AArchive
- BNearline
- CStandard
- DColdline
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Archive
Archive storage is the most cost-effective solution for data that is rarely accessed (less than once a year) and needs to be retained for long periods, making it ideal for immutable audit logs with a 7-year retention requirement.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Nearline storage is for data accessed less than once a month, still more costly than needed for 7-year retention with rare access.
- C. Standard storage is for frequently accessed data and would be too expensive for rarely accessed audit logs.
- D. Coldline storage is for data accessed less than once a quarter, better than Nearline but still not as cost-optimized as Archive for very infrequent access.
Cloud Storage Archive Class
The lowest-cost Cloud Storage class designed for long-term data archiving, backup, and disaster recovery. It offers very low storage costs but has higher data retrieval costs and a minimum storage duration.
- Lowest storage cost per GB
- Higher data retrieval costs and retrieval time
- Minimum storage duration of 365 days
- Ideal for data accessed less than once a year
Memory trick: Storage tiers: Hot to cold, cost to access.