A media company uploads raw video thumbnails to an S3 bucket every hour. The application needs these thumbnails for active browsing for the first 7 days. After day 7, access becomes rare. Requirements: - Objects must remain available in S3 for at least 180 days total. - After day 7, the team can tolerate retrieval latency in the range of minutes to hours. - They want to minimize storage cost while keeping the ability to read objects (no application changes required). Which storage strategy is the most cost-optimized fit?

Use a bucket-level lifecycle rule to transition objects to S3 Standard-IA on day 7 and then expire them after day 180.

Standard-IA is cheaper than Standard, but it is typically more expensive than Glacier storage classes for infrequent access. Since retrieval latency can be minutes to hours after day 7, Glacier Flexible Retrieval is usually the more cost-optimized option.

Keep all objects in S3 Standard for 180 days, and enable S3 Intelligent-Tiering only if the bucket’s access frequency is above a threshold.

Keeping objects in Standard does not minimize storage cost, especially during the long period after day 7 when access is rare. Intelligent-Tiering is most useful when access patterns are unpredictable; here the stem states the pattern is predictable (frequent for 7 days, rare afterward), so targeted lifecycle transitions to Glacier are more direct and cost-optimized.

Use a lifecycle rule to transition objects to S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval after day 7 and expire them after day 180.

Glacier Instant Retrieval is optimized for faster restores (typically minutes) and is usually more expensive than Glacier Flexible Retrieval. Since the team can tolerate minutes to hours after day 7, Flexible Retrieval provides better cost optimization for the allowed latency.

What does this SAA-C03 question test?

Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Use a lifecycle rule to transition objects to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval after day 7 and expire them after day 180. — After day 7, access is rare and the team can tolerate minutes to hours retrieval latency. A lifecycle rule that transitions objects to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval on day 7 and expires them at day 180 reduces storage cost for the majority of the retention window while preserving the ability to read objects (via S3 GetObject, with longer restore latency). Standard-IA reduces cost versus Standard but usually costs more than Glacier tiers for infrequent access with acceptable restore delays. Intelligent-Tiering is designed for unpredictable access patterns and is not as cost-optimized as explicit lifecycle transitions when access behavior is known. Glacier Instant Retrieval is optimized for faster restores and generally costs more than Flexible Retrieval for the same retrieval-tolerance window.

What should I do if I get this SAA-C03 question wrong?

Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.