Automating CloudTrail Log Archival and Deletion with S3 Lifecycle
A company is required to retain CloudTrail logs for 7 years for compliance. Which solution meets this requirement with the LEAST operational overhead?
Quick Answer
The answer is to configure an S3 Lifecycle policy that transitions CloudTrail logs to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 90 days and expires them after 7 years. This solution meets the compliance requirement with the least operational overhead because S3 Lifecycle policies automate both the cost-effective archival and eventual deletion of objects entirely within the S3 service, requiring no custom scripts, manual oversight, or additional AWS services. On the AWS Certified Security Specialty SCS-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of balancing retention compliance with operational efficiency, often appearing as a trap where candidates might over-engineer with Lambda or AWS Batch when a native S3 policy suffices. The key distinction is that lifecycle policies handle both the transition to cold storage (like Glacier Deep Archive) and the final expiration date, making them the fully automated, zero-touch answer. Memory tip: think “Lifecycle = set it and forget it” — the policy handles the entire timeline from warm to cold to gone.
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates think CloudTrail itself manages log retention (Option B) or that CloudWatch Logs is the simplest option (Option A), but AWS explicitly requires you to manage retention at the destination, and S3 Lifecycle policies are the native, automated, and lowest-overhead solution for long-term archival and deletion.
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 transition logs to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 90 days and expire after 7 years.
It uses an S3 Lifecycle policy to automatically transition CloudTrail logs to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 90 days (reducing storage costs) and then expire (delete) the objects after 7 years, meeting the retention requirement with zero ongoing operational effort. This is the least operational overhead solution as it is fully automated within S3, requiring no custom code, manual intervention, or additional services.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Store logs in CloudWatch Logs with a retention period of 7 years.
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch Logs retention max is 10 years but costs more for long-term cold storage.
- ✗
Configure CloudTrail to automatically delete logs older than 7 years.
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail does not delete logs; it delivers to S3.
- ✗
Use an AWS Lambda function to delete logs older than 7 years.
Why it's wrong here
This adds operational overhead.
- ✓
Configure an S3 Lifecycle policy to transition logs to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 90 days and expire after 7 years.
Why this is correct
Lifecycle policies automate retention and minimize costs.
- ✗
Export logs to AWS Snowball for offline archival.
Why it's wrong here
Snowball is not designed for long-term retention.
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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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on SCS-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company has a requirement to retain AWS CloudTrail logs for 7 years for compliance. The logs are stored in an S3 bucket. The company wants to reduce storage costs by automatically moving older logs to a cheaper storage class. Which solution should the company implement?
medium- A.Use S3 Intelligent-Tiering to automatically move logs to the most cost-effective access tier.
- ✓ B.Configure an S3 Lifecycle policy to transition objects from S3 Standard to S3 Glacier after a specified number of days.
- C.Move logs to S3 Standard-IA after 30 days.
- D.Use S3 Batch Operations to manually copy logs to S3 Glacier.
Why B: An S3 Lifecycle policy can automatically transition CloudTrail logs from S3 Standard to S3 Glacier after a specified number of days, meeting the 7-year retention requirement while reducing storage costs. S3 Glacier is designed for long-term archival at low cost, and lifecycle rules can be configured to transition objects directly or through intermediate classes like S3 Standard-IA. S3 Intelligent-Tiering (Option A) also automatically optimizes costs and supports archival tiers, but it works based on access patterns, not fixed age-based rules, and incurs per-object monitoring fees. For compliance-driven, age-based retention, a Lifecycle policy is the more direct and cost-effective solution.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SCS-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 SCS-C02 exam.