AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03)Design Cost-Optimized ArchitecturesMedium
A global media company uses AWS S3 to store petabytes of video footage. This footage is accessed frequently for the first 30 days after upload, then accessed infrequently for the next 60 days, and finally, rarely accessed after 90 days, but must be retained for 7 years for compliance. The company wants to implement a cost-effective storage strategy that automatically moves data to lower-cost tiers without manual intervention. Which S3 storage class and lifecycle policy combination should be recommended?
- AS3 Standard, transitioning to S3 One Zone-IA after 30 days, then to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 90 days.
- BS3 Intelligent-Tiering, with no lifecycle policies required.
- CS3 Standard, transitioning to S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval after 30 days, then to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval after 90 days.
- DS3 Standard, transitioning to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days, then to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval after 90 days.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. S3 Standard, transitioning to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days, then to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval after 90 days.
This lifecycle policy effectively moves data through S3 Standard (frequent access), S3 Standard-IA (infrequent access), and then to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval (archival with flexible retrieval options), optimizing costs based on access patterns while meeting retention requirements.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. S3 One Zone-IA is not suitable for data that 'must be highly available' (implied by video footage and compliance, unless specified otherwise for single-AZ tolerance), and S3 Glacier Deep Archive has retrieval times of hours, which might not fit the 'rarely accessed' but potentially still needed-faster than Deep Archive context.
- B. S3 Intelligent-Tiering automatically moves data, but it doesn't have a specific tier for 'rarely accessed after 90 days' and '7 years compliance' that matches the deep archival cost-effectiveness of Glacier tiers directly without additional lifecycle rules or a specific Intelligent-Tiering configuration for deep archive.
- C. S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval is for millisecond retrieval of archive data, which is faster and more expensive than Glacier Flexible Retrieval, and the scenario implies 'rarely accessed' after 90 days, suggesting a preference for lower cost over instant retrieval for the deepest archive.
S3 Lifecycle Policies
S3 Lifecycle Policies define rules to automatically transition objects between different S3 storage classes or expire objects after a specified time.
- Automate cost optimization by moving data to cheaper storage tiers.
- Can transition objects based on age or access patterns.
- Can expire objects after a set period.
- Helps meet compliance requirements for data retention.
Memory trick: Standard to Infrequent, then to Glacier's Deep Sleep.