Question 1,042 of 1,711
DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A data engineer is designing a data lake on Amazon S3. The data is accessed frequently for the first 30 days, then rarely accessed after 90 days, and must be archived after 1 year. Which S3 lifecycle policy configuration meets these requirements with the lowest cost?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates choose S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval (Option C) thinking it balances retrieval speed and cost, but it is not designed for frequent access and does not archive data, only deletes it after 365 days.
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
✓
Transition to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days, then to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 365 days.
It transitions data to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days (when frequent access drops), then to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 365 days for archival, minimizing cost while meeting all access patterns. Standard-IA offers lower storage cost than Standard for infrequent access, and Glacier Deep Archive is the cheapest storage class for long-term archival.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Transition to S3 One Zone-IA after 30 days, then to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 365 days.
Why it's wrong here
One Zone-IA is not durable enough for a data lake.
- ✗
Transition to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval after 90 days.
Why it's wrong here
Transitioning to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval after 90 days leaves data in a retrievable state, failing the requirement to archive after 1 year — no subsequent lifecycle rule moves objects to S3 Glacier Deep Archive or S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval for long-term archival. This option is tempting because Glacier Flexible Retrieval is designed for rarely accessed data with retrieval times of minutes, making it a natural fit for the “rarely accessed after 90 days” phase, and would be correct if the scenario required only infrequent access without a final archive step.
- ✗
Transition to S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval after 30 days, then expire after 365 days.
Why it's wrong here
Glacier Instant Retrieval is for data accessed quarterly, not annually, and costs more.
- ✓
Transition to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days, then to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 365 days.
Why this is correct
Standard-IA is cost-effective for infrequent access, and Deep Archive is the cheapest archival tier.
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 |
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on DEA-C01
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A data engineer is designing a data lake on Amazon S3. The data is accessed frequently for the first 30 days, then rarely after that. The engineer needs to minimize storage costs while ensuring data is available within minutes for the first 30 days and can be retrieved within 12 hours after that. Which lifecycle policy should be applied?
medium- A.Transition to S3 One Zone-IA after 30 days.
- B.Transition to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days.
- ✓ C.Transition to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 30 days.
- D.Transition to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval after 30 days.
Why C: S3 Glacier Deep Archive offers the lowest storage cost for data that is rarely accessed after 30 days, and its retrieval time (within 12 hours) matches the requirement. The lifecycle policy transitions objects from S3 Standard (or S3 Intelligent-Tiering) to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 30 days, minimizing costs while meeting the 12-hour retrieval window.
Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.