- A
Move to Cool tier after 30 days, move to Archive tier after 365 days, delete after 2555 days
This matches the usage pattern: frequent access first 30 days (Hot), then occasional access for a year (Cool), then rare access (Archive) until deletion after 7 years.
- B
Move to Cool tier after 30 days, move to Archive tier after 365 days, delete after 7 years
Why wrong: Delete after 7 years is ambiguous because lifecycle management uses days; 7 years equals 2555 days. Using '7 years' is not a valid numeric value.
- C
Move to Cool tier after 30 days, move to Archive tier after 30 days, delete after 2555 days
Why wrong: Moving directly from Hot to Archive after 30 days ignores the occasional access period and increases retrieval costs for the occasional access during the first year.
- D
Move to Archive tier after 30 days, keep in Archive until deletion after 2555 days
Why wrong: This avoids the Cool tier and moves data to Archive too early. Frequent access for the first 30 days would incur high retrieval costs and slower performance during that period.
Quick Answer
The answer is to move to Cool tier after 30 days, move to Archive tier after 365 days, and delete after 2555 days. This Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management policy directly matches the access pattern: logs are hot for the first month, then only occasionally accessed for up to a year, after which they must be retained for seven years without any access. By transitioning data to progressively cheaper tiers—Cool for infrequent access and Archive for long-term retention—you minimize storage costs while meeting compliance requirements. On the AZ-305 exam, this scenario tests your ability to map business requirements to lifecycle rules, with a common trap being to delete too early or skip the Archive tier. Remember the mnemonic “30-365-2555” for the days: Cool at 30, Archive at 365, delete at 2555 (7 years).
AZ-305 Design data storage solutions Practice Question
This AZ-305 practice question tests your understanding of design data storage solutions. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company stores log data in Azure Blob Storage. The logs are accessed frequently for the first 30 days, then only occasionally for up to 1 year, and after that must be retained for 7 years for compliance purposes. The company wants to minimize storage costs by automatically moving data to cheaper tiers. Which Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management policy should they implement?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"first"Why it matters: Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
Clue:
"minimum / minimize"Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
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
Move to Cool tier after 30 days, move to Archive tier after 365 days, delete after 2555 days
Option A is correct because it aligns with the access patterns: move to Cool tier after 30 days (frequent access period), move to Archive tier after 365 days (occasional access period ends), and delete after 2555 days (7 years retention). This minimizes costs by transitioning data to progressively cheaper storage tiers and automatically deleting it when compliance retention expires.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Move to Cool tier after 30 days, move to Archive tier after 365 days, delete after 2555 days
Why this is correct
This matches the usage pattern: frequent access first 30 days (Hot), then occasional access for a year (Cool), then rare access (Archive) until deletion after 7 years.
Clue confirmation
The clue words "first", "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Move to Cool tier after 30 days, move to Archive tier after 365 days, delete after 7 years
Why it's wrong here
Delete after 7 years is ambiguous because lifecycle management uses days; 7 years equals 2555 days. Using '7 years' is not a valid numeric value.
- ✗
Move to Cool tier after 30 days, move to Archive tier after 30 days, delete after 2555 days
Why it's wrong here
Moving directly from Hot to Archive after 30 days ignores the occasional access period and increases retrieval costs for the occasional access during the first year.
- ✗
Move to Archive tier after 30 days, keep in Archive until deletion after 2555 days
Why it's wrong here
This avoids the Cool tier and moves data to Archive too early. Frequent access for the first 30 days would incur high retrieval costs and slower performance during that period.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may choose Option B thinking '7 years' is acceptable in the policy, but Azure requires the 'delete after' action to be specified in days (2555), not years, and they may overlook the early deletion penalty of the Archive tier when moving data too soon.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management policies evaluate rules based on the 'last modification date' of the blob. The Archive tier has a 180-day early deletion penalty (charged at the Archive rate for the remaining days), so moving data there too soon can incur unexpected costs. The Cool tier is optimal for data accessed less than once per month, while the Archive tier is for data accessed less than once per year, making the 30-day and 365-day thresholds appropriate for the described pattern.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
- →
Design data storage solutions — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
- →
Design data storage solutions practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
- →
All AZ-305 questions
999 questions across all exam domains
- →
Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert AZ-305 study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
- →
AZ-305 practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
Related practice questions
Related AZ-305 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions.
Design data storage solutions practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to Design data storage solutions.
Design business continuity solutions practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to Design business continuity solutions.
Design infrastructure solutions practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to Design infrastructure solutions.
SAA-C03 VPC practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC.
SAA-C03 S3 lifecycle policy questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 S3 lifecycle policy questions.
SAA-C03 RDS Multi-AZ questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 RDS Multi-AZ questions.
SAA-C03 IAM policy practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 IAM policy.
SAA-C03 Route 53 failover questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 Route 53 failover questions.
SAA-C03 CloudFront practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 CloudFront.
SAA-C03 NAT gateway questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 NAT gateway questions.
SAA-C03 VPC endpoint questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC endpoint questions.
Practice this exam
Start a free AZ-305 practice session
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-305 question test?
Design data storage solutions — This question tests Design data storage solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Move to Cool tier after 30 days, move to Archive tier after 365 days, delete after 2555 days — Option A is correct because it aligns with the access patterns: move to Cool tier after 30 days (frequent access period), move to Archive tier after 365 days (occasional access period ends), and delete after 2555 days (7 years retention). This minimizes costs by transitioning data to progressively cheaper storage tiers and automatically deleting it when compliance retention expires.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "first", "minimum / minimize". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
2 more ways this is tested on AZ-305
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. Refer to the exhibit. You are deploying an ARM template with the above parameters. After deployment, you need to ensure that the storage account automatically moves blobs that are not accessed for 30 days to the archive tier. What should you do?
medium- A.Enable soft delete for blobs.
- B.Change the 'accessTier' parameter value to 'Archive'.
- C.Change the 'replication' parameter value to 'GRS'.
- ✓ D.Add a lifecycle management policy rule to the storage account.
Why D: Option D is correct because Azure Storage lifecycle management policies allow you to automatically move blobs to cooler tiers (like Archive) based on age or last access time. By adding a rule with a filter for blobs not accessed in 30 days and an action to tier to Archive, you meet the requirement without manual intervention or changing the default access tier.
Variation 2. A company stores log data in Azure Blob Storage. Logs are accessed frequently for the first 30 days, then rarely accessed but must be retained for 7 years for compliance. They want to minimize storage costs. Which storage tier and lifecycle management rule should they use?
easy- A.Use the Cool tier for initial storage, and a lifecycle rule to move to Archive after 30 days.
- B.Use the Hot tier for initial storage, and a lifecycle rule to move to the Cool tier after 30 days, then to Archive after 7 years.
- ✓ C.Use the Hot tier for initial storage, and a lifecycle rule to move to Archive after 30 days.
- D.Use the Archive tier for initial storage, and a lifecycle rule to move to Hot for the first 30 days.
Why C: Option C is correct because the Hot tier is optimal for frequent access during the first 30 days, and a lifecycle rule moving directly to Archive after 30 days minimizes costs by immediately transitioning to the lowest-cost storage tier for long-term retention. The Archive tier is the most cost-effective for data that is rarely accessed and must be retained for 7 years, as it offers the lowest storage cost but higher retrieval latency and cost.
Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This AZ-305 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft 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 AZ-305 exam.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.