DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A company needs to store application log files for 90 days for compliance. The logs are generated continuously and are rarely accessed after 30 days. The data engineer must minimize storage costs. Which storage solution should the engineer choose?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates choose CloudWatch Logs (Option A) because it is a familiar logging service, but they overlook that its cost model (per GB ingested, per GB stored, and per GB archived) can be significantly higher than S3 for long-term retention of large log volumes, and it lacks the automated tiering to lower-cost storage classes.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Amazon S3 Standard with a lifecycle policy to transition to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days and expire after 90 days
Amazon S3 Standard with a lifecycle policy to transition to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days and expire after 90 days is correct because it aligns with the access pattern: logs are frequently accessed only in the first 30 days, then rarely accessed for the remaining 60 days. S3 Standard-IA offers lower storage costs for infrequently accessed data while still providing millisecond retrieval, and the lifecycle policy automates the transition and eventual deletion, minimizing costs without sacrificing availability.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon CloudWatch Logs with a retention policy of 90 days
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch Logs is optimized for real-time monitoring and is more expensive than S3 for long-term storage.
- ✗
Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Why it's wrong here
Glacier Deep Archive has a minimum storage duration of 180 days, making it cost-ineffective for 90-day retention.
- ✗
Amazon EBS gp3 volumes attached to an EC2 instance
Why it's wrong here
EBS is for block storage and costs more for log storage than S3.
- ✓
Amazon S3 Standard with a lifecycle policy to transition to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days and expire after 90 days
Why this is correct
This minimizes cost by using cheaper storage for infrequently accessed data and deleting after compliance period.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DEA-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the DEA-C01 exam.