SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is designing a new data lake on AWS. The data lake must support SQL queries using Amazon Athena and also allow Amazon SageMaker to access training data. The solution must minimize storage costs for infrequently accessed data while providing immediate access when needed. Which storage tier should be used for the data lake?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates might choose S3 Standard for its immediate access or S3 Glacier Deep Archive for lowest cost, overlooking that S3 Intelligent-Tiering provides both cost optimization for infrequent access and immediate retrieval via the Archive Instant Access tier.
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 Intelligent-Tiering
Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering is the correct choice because it automatically moves data between access tiers (frequent, infrequent, and archive instant access) based on changing access patterns, optimizing storage costs without compromising performance. This meets the requirement for infrequently accessed data to be cost-effective while still providing immediate access for Athena queries and SageMaker training, as data in the archive instant access tier can be retrieved within milliseconds.
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 Glacier Deep Archive
Why it's wrong here
Requires restore time, not immediately accessible.
- ✓
Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering
Why this is correct
Automatically optimizes cost by moving data between tiers.
- ✗
Amazon S3 Standard
Why it's wrong here
More expensive for infrequently accessed data.
- ✗
Amazon S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access
Why it's wrong here
Less durable and not recommended for critical data.
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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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.