AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – AssociateCost and Performance OptimizationMedium
A development team is using an Amazon S3 bucket to store application logs. They need to analyze these logs using Amazon Athena, but are concerned about the cost of storing infrequently accessed older logs in S3 Standard. The retention policy dictates that logs older than 30 days are accessed very rarely, but must be retained for compliance for 7 years. Logs older than 1 year are almost never accessed. Which S3 lifecycle policy configuration would be most cost-effective while meeting these requirements?
- ATransition objects to S3 One Zone-IA after 30 days, then to S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval after 1 year, then delete after 7 years.
- BTransition objects to S3 Intelligent-Tiering after 30 days, then to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 1 year, then delete after 7 years.
- CTransition objects to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days, then delete after 7 years.
- DTransition objects to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days, then to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval after 1 year, then delete after 7 years.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Transition objects to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days, then to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval after 1 year, then delete after 7 years.
This lifecycle policy correctly transitions objects from S3 Standard to S3 Standard-IA for infrequently accessed data after 30 days, then to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval for archival after 1 year (when access is very rare), which is cost-effective for long-term retention of rarely accessed data, and finally deletes them after 7 years.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. S3 One Zone-IA offers lower cost but less durability, which might not be suitable for compliance logs. Glacier Instant Retrieval might be more expensive than Flexible Retrieval if immediate access isn't strictly necessary for data older than 1 year.
- B. S3 Intelligent-Tiering is good for unpredictable access patterns, but for known, infrequent access, direct transition to Standard-IA is more cost-effective. Glacier Deep Archive is for data accessed once a year or less, and retrieval costs can be higher if accessed even occasionally.
- C. This only transitions to Standard-IA and does not leverage the lower cost of Glacier for very long-term, rarely accessed data.
S3 Lifecycle Policies
Rules to automate the transition of objects between S3 storage classes or their deletion over time to optimize costs.
- Automates storage class transitions.
- Automates object expiration/deletion.
- Based on object age or creation date.
Memory trick: S3 storage is like a wardrobe: daily clothes, seasonal outfits, and deep storage for heirlooms, all with a timeline.