The correct answer is to transition objects to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days and then to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 1 year. This lifecycle policy optimizes storage costs while meeting the compliance retention requirement of 7 years because S3 Standard-IA provides immediate retrieval for the first 30 days of frequent access, and S3 Glacier Deep Archive offers the lowest-cost long-term storage with retrieval within 12 hours, satisfying the rare-access retrieval window. On the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of balancing cost, durability, and retrieval speed across S3 storage classes, often appearing as a trap where candidates mistakenly choose S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval (which has slower retrieval times) or S3 One Zone-IA (which lacks the durability needed for compliance logs). A key memory tip is "30 days Standard-IA, then Deep Archive for the long haul"—remember that Deep Archive is the only class guaranteeing retrieval within 12 hours at the lowest cost for 7-year retention.
DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data store management. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company stores its application logs in an Amazon S3 bucket. The logs are accessed frequently for the first 30 days, after which they are rarely accessed but must be retained for 7 years for compliance. The company wants to optimize storage costs while maintaining immediate retrieval availability for the first 30 days and the ability to retrieve logs within 12 hours after that. Which lifecycle policy should the data engineer configure?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "first"
Why it matters: Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Transition objects to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days and then to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 1 year.
Option B is correct because S3 Standard-IA is for infrequently accessed data but with immediate retrieval; after 30 days, transition to S3 Glacier Deep Archive for long-term retention with retrieval within 12 hours. Option A is incorrect because S3 One Zone-IA is not durable enough for compliance. Option C is incorrect because S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval has retrieval times of minutes to hours, not up to 12 hours; Deep Archive is cheaper. Option D is incorrect because deleting after 30 days violates retention requirement.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Delete objects after 30 days to minimize storage costs.
Why it's wrong here
Deleting after 30 days violates the 7-year retention requirement.
✓
Transition objects to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days and then to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 1 year.
Why this is correct
Standard-IA provides immediate retrieval for the first 30 days, then Deep Archive for cost-effective long-term retention.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "first" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Transition objects to S3 One Zone-IA after 30 days and delete after 7 years.
Why it's wrong here
One Zone-IA does not provide the durability required for compliance data.
✗
Transition objects to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval after 30 days and delete after 7 years.
Why it's wrong here
Glacier Flexible Retrieval is more expensive than Deep Archive and retrieval times are longer than needed.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which DEA-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Data Store Management — This question tests Data Store Management — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Transition objects to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days and then to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 1 year. — Option B is correct because S3 Standard-IA is for infrequently accessed data but with immediate retrieval; after 30 days, transition to S3 Glacier Deep Archive for long-term retention with retrieval within 12 hours. Option A is incorrect because S3 One Zone-IA is not durable enough for compliance. Option C is incorrect because S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval has retrieval times of minutes to hours, not up to 12 hours; Deep Archive is cheaper. Option D is incorrect because deleting after 30 days violates retention requirement.
What should I do if I get this DEA-C01 question wrong?
Identify which DEA-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "first". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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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: Option C is correct because 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.
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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
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