A global e-commerce company operates its data analytics platform on AWS. They need to ensure that customer data stored in Amazon S3 is retained for a minimum of 7 years for compliance, but also automatically deleted after 10 years to manage storage costs and comply with data minimization principles. The solution should be cost-effective and automated. Which S3 lifecycle policy configuration meets these requirements?
- ATwo separate lifecycle rules: one to transition to Glacier Deep Archive after 7 years, and another to expire after 10 years.
- BA single lifecycle rule to transition to Glacier after 7 years and expire after 10 years.
- CA single lifecycle rule to transition to Glacier Instant Retrieval after 7 years and expire after 10 years.
- DA single lifecycle rule to transition to S3 Intelligent-Tiering after 7 years and expire after 10 years.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. A single lifecycle rule to transition to Glacier Instant Retrieval after 7 years and expire after 10 years.
A single S3 lifecycle rule can include both transition actions and expiration actions. Transitioning to Glacier Instant Retrieval after 7 years meets the cost-effectiveness for long-term retention, and then expiring after 10 years meets the automatic deletion requirement. This is more cost-effective than S3 Standard or Glacier Flexible Retrieval for data accessed infrequently.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. While two rules could work, a single rule is simpler and often preferred. Glacier Deep Archive is for data that is rarely, if ever, accessed and has retrieval times in hours, which might be too long if any access is required within the 3-year window (years 7-10).
- B. Glacier (now Glacier Flexible Retrieval) has retrieval times in minutes to hours, which might not be ideal if any access is needed within the 3-year window before expiration. Glacier Instant Retrieval is better for infrequently accessed data that needs quick retrieval.
- D. S3 Intelligent-Tiering automatically moves data between access tiers, but it's designed for changing access patterns, not primarily for fixed long-term archival with strict expiration. It also doesn't provide the same cost savings for very infrequent access as Glacier tiers.
S3 Lifecycle Policies
S3 Lifecycle policies define rules to automatically transition objects to different storage classes or expire them after a specified time, optimizing storage costs and managing data retention.
- Automate object transitions to cheaper storage classes
- Automate object deletion (expiration)
- Rules can be based on object age or number of versions
Memory trick: Lifecycle rules manage data, transition then expire.