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.

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Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Why it's wrong here
Glacier Deep Archive retrieval takes hours, so Athena queries and SageMaker training cannot access data immediately. It is tempting because it offers the lowest storage cost per gigabyte; it would be correct for long-term compliance archives where data is retained but essentially never read.
✓
Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering
Why this is correct
S3 Intelligent-Tiering automatically moves objects between frequent and infrequent access tiers based on changing access patterns, with no retrieval fees. It serves Athena queries and SageMaker training reads immediately while cutting storage cost for cold data.
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Amazon S3 Standard
Why it's wrong here
S3 Standard charges full-rate storage with no infrequent-access discount, so it fails the cost-minimisation requirement despite millisecond retrieval. It is tempting because it genuinely serves Athena queries and SageMaker training directly; it would be correct where data is accessed constantly and retrieval charges must be avoided entirely.
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Amazon S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access
Why it's wrong here
One Zone-IA stores objects in a single availability zone, so an AZ failure makes the data lake unavailable, and Athena and SageMaker require the resilience of replicated storage. It is tempting because it cuts storage costs for infrequent access; it would suit reproducible, non-critical data where zone loss is tolerable.

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

SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question

Why each option matters

Option-by-option breakdown

AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison

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