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, not deletion.
- ✗
S3 Versioning
Why it's wrong here
Versioning keeps multiple versions, not automatic deletion.
- ✗
S3 Object Lock
Why it's wrong here
Object Lock prevents deletion or modification, not automatic deletion.
- ✓
S3 Lifecycle policies
Why this is correct
Lifecycle policies can automatically delete objects after a set period.
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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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.