CV0-004 Cloud Architecture and Design Practice Question
A cloud architect is designing a solution to store and retrieve large volumes of unstructured data for a media company. The data must be highly durable, available, and accessible from multiple AWS Regions with low latency. The company also wants to minimize costs for data that is infrequently accessed but must be retained for years. Which AWS service and feature combination should the architect use?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse block or file storage services with object storage for global, multi-region access, or overlooking the need for a lifecycle policy to reduce costs for infrequently accessed data.
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 with Cross-Region Replication and S3 Lifecycle policies to transition to S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Amazon S3 with Cross-Region Replication and lifecycle policies to S3 Glacier Deep Archive provides a durable, highly available, and globally accessible solution for unstructured data. Cross-Region Replication ensures low-latency access from multiple regions, while lifecycle policies automatically transition infrequently accessed data to a low-cost archival storage class. The other services are either block or file storage and do not offer the same global accessibility and cost-effective archival.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon FSx for Lustre with data repository integration
Why it's wrong here
Amazon FSx for Lustre is a high-performance file system for compute-intensive workloads, not a general-purpose object store for multi-region access. It can integrate with S3 for data repository tasks, but it does not provide cross-region replication or low-latency access from multiple regions. It is also not cost-effective for long-term archival of infrequently accessed data.
- ✓
Amazon S3 with Cross-Region Replication and S3 Lifecycle policies to transition to S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Why this is correct
Amazon S3 provides high durability and availability for unstructured data. Cross-Region Replication automatically replicates objects to another region, enabling low-latency access from multiple regions. S3 Lifecycle policies can transition infrequently accessed data to S3 Glacier Deep Archive for long-term retention at low cost. This combination meets all requirements.
- ✗
Amazon EBS with snapshots copied to multiple regions
Why it's wrong here
Amazon EBS provides block storage for EC2 instances, not a shared, multi-region accessible object store. Snapshots can be copied across regions, but they are not directly accessible for low-latency reads from multiple regions. EBS is not designed for storing large volumes of unstructured data accessible from anywhere, so it does not meet the requirements.
- ✗
Amazon EFS with replication to multiple regions
Why it's wrong here
Amazon EFS is a file storage service for Linux workloads, primarily within a single region. While it supports replication to another region, it is not designed for global low-latency access from multiple regions. EFS is also more expensive than S3 for long-term archival storage, and it does not have a deep archive tier, so it fails the cost and accessibility requirements.
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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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
This CV0-004 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 CV0-004 exam.