SAA-C03 Question 378
Single answerA company is running a web application that stores user-uploaded images in Amazon S3. The application frequently accesses recently uploaded images but rarely accesses older images. The company wants to reduce storage costs while ensuring that all images remain accessible when needed. What is the MOST cost-effective solution?
- A
Store all images in the S3 Standard storage class.
- B
Use S3 Lifecycle policies to transition older images to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval.
- C
Use S3 Lifecycle policies to transition older images to S3 Standard-IA (Infrequent Access).
- D
Store all images in S3 Intelligent-Tiering.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The company wants to reduce storage costs while ensuring that all images remain accessible without delays. Since older images are rarely accessed, transitioning them to S3 Standard-IA using lifecycle policies is the most cost-effective approach. S3 Standard-IA provides lower storage costs than S3 Standard and is optimized for infrequent access while still providing immediate access when needed. Other options either do not provide sufficient cost savings or are not suitable for the application's requirements.
- A. Incorrect.
Storing all images in the S3 Standard storage class is not cost-efficient for data that is infrequently accessed, as the Standard storage class is optimized for frequent access and has higher storage costs.
- B. Incorrect.
Transitioning older images to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval would significantly reduce costs but is not suitable for this scenario because Glacier is designed for archival storage and has retrieval delays, which can impact user experience when accessing older images.
- C. Correct.
Using S3 Lifecycle policies to transition older images to S3 Standard-IA is the most cost-effective solution for this scenario. Standard-IA offers lower storage costs compared to S3 Standard, while still providing millisecond access for infrequently accessed data.
- D. Incorrect.
S3 Intelligent-Tiering is a good option for optimizing costs automatically without lifecycle management, but it may not be the MOST cost-effective solution in this scenario. If the access patterns are predictable (recently uploaded images are accessed frequently and older ones are not), using Standard-IA via lifecycle policies is more cost-efficient.