PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Question
A company has an SAP HANA database running on an EC2 instance with EBS volumes. The operations team needs to ensure that database backups are stored in Amazon S3 and are automatically deleted after 90 days. What is the most efficient way to achieve this?
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
✓
Configure an S3 Lifecycle policy to expire objects after 90 days.
S3 Lifecycle policies can automatically expire objects after a specified number of days, meeting the requirement for automated deletion after 90 days. Option A is incorrect because S3 Object Lock prevents deletion or modification, not automates it. Option B is incorrect because versioning alone does not delete objects; manual deletion would be needed. Option C is incorrect because a script is less efficient than a built-in lifecycle policy.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use S3 Object Lock with a retention period of 90 days.
Why it's wrong here
Object Lock prevents deletion, it does not automate it.
- ✗
Enable S3 Versioning and delete old versions manually.
Why it's wrong here
Versioning alone does not automate deletion.
- ✗
Write a script that runs daily to list backups older than 90 days and delete them.
Why it's wrong here
Scripts require maintenance and are less efficient than native S3 features.
- ✓
Configure an S3 Lifecycle policy to expire objects after 90 days.
Why this is correct
Lifecycle policies automate deletion without custom code.
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 PAS-C01 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 PAS-C01 exam.