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 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?
⚠ Common exam trap
AWS often tests the distinction between retrieval time and cost, leading candidates to choose S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval (Option D) because it is a 'Glacier' tier, but they overlook that Deep Archive is cheaper and still meets the 12-hour retrieval requirement.
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 Glacier Deep Archive after 30 days.
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.
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.
Why it's wrong here
Not cost-optimized for rare access; retrieval is fast but cost is higher.
- ✗
Transition to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days.
Why it's wrong here
Intended for infrequent access but retrieval is instant; Deep Archive is cheaper.
- ✓
Transition to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 30 days.
Why this is correct
Cost-effective for rarely accessed data with 12-hour retrieval.
- ✗
Transition to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval after 30 days.
Why it's wrong here
More expensive than Deep Archive and retrieval time is still within minutes.
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 |
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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.