SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is designing a cost-effective solution to store and serve large media files (e.g., videos) to users globally. The files are frequently accessed initially but become rarely accessed after 30 days. The company needs millisecond retrieval for the first 30 days and can tolerate retrieval times of minutes after that. What storage solution should the company use?
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
✓
Amazon S3 Standard-IA for first 30 days, then transition to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval.
S3 Standard-IA is cost-effective for infrequent access but still provides millisecond retrieval for the first 30 days, and transition to Glacier after 30 days. Option A is too expensive. Option C provides millisecond retrieval but is expensive. Option D is for archival only.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon S3 Standard for all files, with lifecycle policy to delete after 30 days.
Why it's wrong here
S3 Standard is expensive for long-term storage of rarely accessed files.
- ✓
Amazon S3 Standard-IA for first 30 days, then transition to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval.
Why this is correct
Standard-IA provides low cost with millisecond retrieval; Glacier is cheap for archival.
- ✗
Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering with automatic tiering.
Why it's wrong here
Intelligent-Tiering is good but may not be as cost-effective as explicit lifecycle for known access patterns.
- ✗
Amazon S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval for all files.
Why it's wrong here
Glacier Instant Retrieval is more expensive than Standard-IA for frequent access initially.
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 |
Go deeper
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on SAP-C02
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 company wants to design a cost-effective solution to store infrequently accessed log files for 7 years. The logs are generated daily and must be available for retrieval within 24 hours. Which Amazon S3 storage class should be used?
easy- A.S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access
- B.S3 Intelligent-Tiering
- ✓ C.S3 Glacier Deep Archive
- D.S3 Standard
Why C: Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive is the most cost-effective storage class for infrequently accessed data that must be retained for 7 years, with retrieval times of up to 12 hours (within the 24-hour requirement). It offers the lowest storage cost among S3 classes, making it ideal for long-term archival of log files that are rarely accessed.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SAP-C02 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 SAP-C02 exam.