SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question

A company is designing a new solution that uses Amazon S3 to store large amounts of archival data. The data must be retained for 7 years and then automatically deleted. Which S3 feature should they use?

⚠ Common exam trap

Many candidates confuse S3 Object Lock's retention period with automatic deletion, not realizing that Object Lock only prevents deletion during the retention window and requires a separate lifecycle rule to actually remove the objects afterward.

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

✓

S3 Lifecycle policies

S3 Lifecycle policies allow you to define rules that automatically expire objects after a specified period, such as 7 years. This directly meets the requirement to retain archival data for a fixed duration and then delete it without manual intervention.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

✗
S3 Replication
Why it's wrong here
Replication copies objects to another bucket or Region; it never schedules deletion, so the 7-year retention requirement goes unmet. It is tempting because it supports cross-Region durability and compliance copies, and would be correct where the goal is disaster recovery or latency reduction rather than lifecycle expiry.
✗
S3 Versioning
Why it's wrong here
Versioning retains multiple object versions indefinitely; it cannot expire them after 7 years, so data would persist beyond the required retention. It is tempting because it protects against accidental overwrites and deletions, and would be correct where the requirement is recoverability of prior object states, not scheduled deletion.
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S3 Object Lock
Why it's wrong here
Object Lock prevents deletion or overwriting for a fixed retention period, which is the opposite of automatic deletion after 7 years. It is tempting because it enforces WORM compliance, and would be correct where regulations demand immutability, not lifecycle expiry.
✓
S3 Lifecycle policies
Why this is correct
S3 Lifecycle policies automate object transitions and expiration, satisfying the seven-year retention constraint by permanently deleting objects once the rule's expiration threshold is reached. Unlike manual deletion or versioning alone, lifecycle rules run without intervention, ensuring archival data is removed automatically at the defined interval.

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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