Google ACE Planning and Configuring a Cloud Solution Practice Question

A company wants to store event logs from multiple applications in a centralized location for future analysis. The logs are written frequently (thousands per second) and need to be retained for 90 days. The data is write-once, read-rarely. Which storage class and lifecycle rule combination is most cost-effective?

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

✓

Set default storage class to Coldline and use lifecycle rule to delete after 90 days

For write-once, read-rarely data, Coldline storage class is cost-effective for data accessed less than once per 90 days. Set a lifecycle rule to delete objects after 90 days. Alternatively, use Standard for the first 30 days then move to Coldline, but the question asks for a combination. The simplest is to set the default storage class to Coldline and a lifecycle rule to delete at 90 days.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

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

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Set default storage class to Archive and use lifecycle rule to delete after 90 days
Why it's wrong here
Archive storage class is intended for long-term, cold data with a minimum storage duration of 365 days. Applying an Archive lifecycle rule that deletes objects after 90 days triggers an early deletion fee equal to the storage cost of the remaining 275 days, making this option more expensive than Coldline and defeating the purpose of low-cost archival storage.
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Set default storage class to Standard and use lifecycle rule to delete after 90 days
Why it's wrong here
Standard storage class is optimized for frequently accessed, hot data and has no minimum storage duration, but it carries the highest per-GiB storage price among Google Cloud Storage classes. Keeping event logs for only 90 days does not justify the Standard premium; a colder class like Coldline provides the same 90-day lifecycle deletion at a significantly lower storage cost, so Standard is cost-inefficient for this use case.
✓
Set default storage class to Coldline and use lifecycle rule to delete after 90 days
Why this is correct
Coldline storage is designed for data that is expected to be accessed at most once per 90 days, making it a perfect match for a 90-day retention period. The lower per-GiB storage price compared to Standard and Nearline, combined with lifecycle deletion at 90 days, minimizes cost without incurring early deletion fees (Coldline has a 90-day minimum storage duration). This directly satisfies the requirement to store event logs for 90 days and then delete them.
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Set default storage class to Nearline and use lifecycle rule to delete after 90 days
Why it's wrong here
Nearline storage is optimized for data accessed less than once per 30 days, and it has a 30-day minimum storage duration. Although Nearline is cheaper than Standard, its per-GiB storage price is higher than Coldline's, so for a 90-day retention window, Coldline yields lower total storage cost. Nearline would be a reasonable choice for shorter retention (e.g., 30 days), but for 90 days, choosing Nearline over Coldline leaves cost savings unrealized.

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

Google ACE Planning and Configuring a Cloud Solution Practice Question

Why each option matters

Option-by-option breakdown

AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison

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