S3 & Lifecycle — SAA-C03 Practice Question
A representative AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) exam question on S3 & Lifecycle. Work through it below, then read why each option is right or wrong.
Short answer
The correct answer is C. Transition to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days, S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval after 90 days, and S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 365 days.
S3 Standard for the first 30 days handles frequent access. S3 Standard-IA after 30 days provides lower-cost storage for occasional access (60-day period). After 90 days, S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval provides very low-cost archival with standard retrieval in 3-5 hours (meeting the 12-hour requirement). After 365 days, S3 Glacier Deep Archive provides the lowest cost for long-term retention (within 12 hours using Standard retrieval). This tiered approach minimizes costs at each stage.
The Question
A healthcare company stores patient medical images in Amazon S3 Standard. Analysis shows the following access patterns: images are accessed frequently for the first 30 days after upload, occasionally for the next 60 days, and rarely after 90 days. However, when accessed after 90 days, images must be retrieved within 12 hours. Compliance requires images to be retained for 7 years. The company currently stores 500 TB and adds 10 TB per month. Which S3 Lifecycle configuration minimizes storage costs while meeting all requirements?
Why C is correct
S3 Standard for the first 30 days handles frequent access. S3 Standard-IA after 30 days provides lower-cost storage for occasional access (60-day period). After 90 days, S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval provides very low-cost archival with standard retrieval in 3-5 hours (meeting the 12-hour requirement). After 365 days, S3 Glacier Deep Archive provides the lowest cost for long-term retention (within 12 hours using Standard retrieval). This tiered approach minimizes costs at each stage.
Why the other options are wrong
S3 Intelligent-Tiering charges a monthly monitoring and automation fee per object. For 500+ TB with millions of medical images, this per-object fee adds up significantly. Intelligent-Tiering also only moves to Archive Access and Deep Archive tiers with additional configuration, and the monthly fee makes it more expensive than a well-designed lifecycle policy for predictable access patterns.
S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval provides millisecond retrieval, which is more than the 12-hour requirement specifies. It costs more than Glacier Flexible Retrieval. Since the requirement is 12-hour retrieval (not instant), Flexible Retrieval is more cost-effective for the 90-365 day period.
S3 One Zone-IA stores data in a single Availability Zone, providing less durability than Standard-IA. For healthcare patient records with 7-year retention requirements, losing data due to an AZ failure is unacceptable. Expedited retrieval from Glacier is expensive and unnecessary when 12 hours is acceptable.
Key idea: S3 & Lifecycle
Why C is correct: S3 Standard for the first 30 days handles frequent access. S3 Standard-IA after 30 days provides lower-cost storage for occasional access (60-day period). After 90 days, S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval provides very low-cost archival with standard retrieval in 3-5 hours (meeting the 12-hour requirement). After 365 days, S3 Glacier Deep Archive provides the lowest cost for long-term retention (within 12 hours using Standard retrieval). This tiered approach minimizes costs at each stage. Why A is wrong: S3 Intelligent-Tiering charges a monthly monitoring and automation fee per object. For 500+ TB with millions of medical images, this per-object fee adds up significantly. Intelligent-Tiering also only moves to Archive Access and Deep Archive tiers with additional configuration, and the monthly fee makes it more expensive than a well-designed lifecycle policy for predictable access patterns. Why B is wrong: S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval provides millisecond retrieval, which is more than the 12-hour requirement specifies. It costs more than Glacier Flexible Retrieval. Since the requirement is 12-hour retrieval (not instant), Flexible Retrieval is more cost-effective for the 90-365 day period. Why D is wrong: S3 One Zone-IA stores data in a single Availability Zone, providing less durability than Standard-IA. For healthcare patient records with 7-year retention requirements, losing data due to an AZ failure is unacceptable. Expedited retrieval from Glacier is expensive and unnecessary when 12 hours is acceptable. On the SAA-C03 exam, questions in the "Design Cost-Optimized Architectures" domain test whether you can map a scenario's constraints to the right choice. Read the requirement carefully, eliminate options that violate any single constraint, and pick the one that satisfies all of them with the least operational overhead.
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