These questions are independently created for study purposes. They are not official AWS exam questions, actual exam questions, leaked questions, or exam dumps.
SAA-049
You will store audit logs in S3 that must be retained for 7 years for legal compliance. They are almost never referenced during the retention period, and even when an audit request arrives it is acceptable for retrieval to take about half a day. Which configuration is the most appropriate for minimizing the storage cost over 7 years?
Choices
Explanation and answer
Read the explanation and correct answer (spoiler — try answering first)
Correct answer: D. Transition to S3 Glacier Deep Archive with a lifecycle rule and delete via expiration after 7 years
Explanation
S3 Glacier Deep Archive has the lowest storage price of any S3 storage class, and standard retrieval takes about 12 hours. That matches the conditions of "almost never referenced" and "retrieval may take half a day," and it minimizes the storage cost over 7 years.
Per-choice explanations
A. Enable S3 Intelligent-Tiering and leave automatic tiering to the access pattern
Incorrect. Intelligent-Tiering is a good option when the access pattern is unpredictable. When you already know the data is almost never accessed, as here, the per-object monitoring charge only makes it less favorable.
B. Transition to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval with a lifecycle rule and retain for 7 years
Incorrect. S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval is an intermediate class retrievable in minutes to 12 hours, but its storage price is higher than Deep Archive. For a requirement that can wait half a day, you would be paying for retrieval speed you do not need.
C. Transition to S3 Standard-IA (Infrequent Access) with a lifecycle rule and retain for 7 years
Incorrect. S3 Standard-IA can be retrieved immediately in milliseconds, but its storage price is much higher than the Glacier classes. Since immediate retrieval is not required here, it does not minimize cost.
D. Transition to S3 Glacier Deep Archive with a lifecycle rule and delete via expiration after 7 years
Correct. If you transition with a lifecycle rule and also define expiration-based deletion at the 7-year mark in the same rule, you can automate retention management as well.
Practical Use
S3 storage classes are arranged along a trade-off between storage price and retrieval speed and cost. The instant-access classes are S3 Standard, S3 Standard-IA, S3 One Zone-IA, and S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval; all can be retrieved in milliseconds, storage price decreases in that order, and in exchange there are constraints such as retrieval charges and minimum storage durations (30 days for the IA classes, 90 days for Glacier Instant Retrieval). The archive classes are S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval (90-day minimum, retrieval in minutes to 12 hours) and S3 Glacier Deep Archive (180-day minimum, standard retrieval within 12 hours and bulk retrieval within 48 hours), with Deep Archive offering the lowest storage price in S3. The selection criteria come down to two points: how long you can wait for retrieval, and whether you can satisfy the minimum storage duration. Cases such as long-term retention of audit logs or compliance data, where the data is never referenced for most of the retention period and immediacy is not required even when it is, make Deep Archive the optimal answer. Conversely, "a few times a year but retrieval must be immediate" suits Glacier Instant Retrieval, and "the access pattern is unpredictable" suits S3 Intelligent-Tiering. Intelligent-Tiering moves objects between tiers automatically based on access, but adds a per-object monitoring and automation charge, so for data you know in advance is almost never accessed, moving directly to a fixed archive class is cheaper. Both transition and expiration can be declared in lifecycle rules, and the standard practice is to design all the way through to automatic deletion at the end of the retention period. On SAA-C03, questions repeatedly embed three conditions — retention period, access frequency, and acceptable retrieval time — and ask you to select the matching storage class. Because "within a few hours" versus "within 12 hours is fine" is what separates Glacier Flexible Retrieval from Deep Archive, not skimming over the time wording is what decides your score. The fact that deleting before the minimum storage duration incurs charges for the remaining period is also asked in cost calculation questions.