A SaaS company uses an S3 bucket for database backups created daily. Backups are rarely restored; the company’s documented RTO is 24 hours, and the compliance policy requires backups be kept for 90 days. The team currently stores all backups in S3 Standard, which is costly.
Which single lifecycle policy change is most cost-optimized while still meeting the 24-hour RTO and 90-day retention?
Answer choices
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
Add a lifecycle rule to transition backups older than 1 day to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval, and keep them until day 90.
Glacier Flexible Retrieval is intended for backups with infrequent access and supports restores within an RTO measured in hours.
Add a lifecycle rule to transition backups older than 1 day to S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval, and keep them until day 90.
Instant Retrieval can meet the RTO but usually costs more than Flexible Retrieval for infrequent backups.
Add a lifecycle rule to transition backups older than 1 day to S3 Glacier Deep Archive, and keep them until day 90 with no restore configuration.
Deep Archive restore times are typically longer and may conflict with a strict 24-hour RTO expectation.
Add a lifecycle rule to transition backups older than 1 day to S3 One Zone-IA, and delete them after 7 days.
One Zone-IA reduces cost but deletion after 7 days breaks the required 90-day retention.
Common exam trap
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.
Technical deep dive
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.
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Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
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FAQ
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
The correct answer is: Add a lifecycle rule to transition backups older than 1 day to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval, and keep them until day 90. — For infrequently accessed daily backups with a 24-hour RTO and a 90-day retention requirement, transitioning older objects to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval is the most cost-optimized choice that still meets restore expectations. Flexible Retrieval is designed for backup and archive scenarios where retrieval can occur in hours rather than seconds. Keeping the objects through day 90 via the lifecycle rule maintains compliance retention. Choosing Instant Retrieval is likely unnecessarily expensive because it targets faster retrieval at higher storage/restore costs. Deep Archive typically implies longer restore timelines than a 24-hour RTO, and deleting early violates retention. Why others are wrong: Instant Retrieval can meet the RTO but is usually not the best cost because it offers faster retrieval than necessary. Deep Archive may not reliably meet a 24-hour RTO due to longer restore windows. One Zone-IA reduces cost, but deleting after 7 days violates the explicit 90-day retention policy, which the question prioritizes.
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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