Domain 4 of 4 · Chapter 2 of 4

Cost-Optimized Storage

Unlock the complete study guide + 1,040 practice questions across 16 full exams.

Bundled into the existing AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate premium course — no separate purchase.

Included in this chapter:

  • Lifecycle policy authoring patterns (multi-tier transitions)
  • Intelligent-Tiering monitoring fee math: when it pays off
  • Cross-class minimum charge pitfalls
  • Worked example: 50 GB daily backup retained 7 years. Class comparison
  • Snapshot Archive vs custom AMI cold storage

S3 storage classes

Class$/GB-mo (us-east-1)Retrieval feeMin storage daysMin billable object sizeFirst-byte latencyUse when
Standard$0.023NoneNoneNonemsActive data, unknown access pattern
Intelligent-Tiering$0.023 → $0.00099None (auto-tiers)None128 KBms (frequent/IA), minutes (archive)Unpredictable access; let AWS optimize
Standard-IA$0.0125$0.01/GB30 days128 KBmsKnown IA pattern; ≥1 month between reads
One Zone-IA$0.01$0.01/GB30 days128 KBmsReproducible secondary copies in single AZ
Glacier Instant Retrieval$0.004$0.03/GB90 days128 KBmsQuarterly access with millisecond retrieval
Glacier Flexible Retrieval$0.0036$0.01-0.03/GB90 days40 KBMinutes (Expedited) to 12h (Bulk, free)Archived data with periodic retrieval
Glacier Deep Archive$0.00099$0.0025-0.02/GB180 days40 KB12h (Standard) / 48h (Bulk)Long-term compliance retention
Cheat sheet

Cheat sheet

  • Pick a storage class by access pattern, not data volume
  • Known schedule → Lifecycle; unknown access pattern → Intelligent-Tiering
  • Before tiering down, check minimum object size and minimum storage duration
  • IA bills a 128 KB minimum per object: tiny files cost MORE in IA
  • Cold tiers charge a minimum storage duration even if you delete early
  • Choose the Glacier retrieval tier by RTO, not just price
  • Intelligent-Tiering trades a small monitoring fee for zero retrieval fees
  • EFS lifecycle mirrors S3 tiering with EFS-specific tier names
  • Archive snapshots older than 90 days you rarely restore; keep recent ones standard
  • Use S3 Storage Lens to find storage waste across accounts
  • EFS throughput: Bursting shrinks as data tiers down; Archive needs Elastic
  • Pick a Storage Gateway mode by where primary data must live
  • Athena bills per TB scanned: partition and use columnar formats
  • Glacier transitions can fire at 0 days, IA only after 30, and minimum-storage charges still apply

Unlock with Premium — includes all practice exams and the complete study guide.

Also tested in

References

  1. Amazon S3 storage classes
  2. Amazon S3 pricing
  3. Amazon EBS snapshot archive
  4. Amazon EFS lifecycle management
  5. Managing the lifecycle of objects (S3 lifecycle)
  6. S3 Intelligent-Tiering
  7. Restoring archived S3 objects (retrieval tiers)
  8. S3 Storage Lens
  9. https://aws.amazon.com/athena/pricing/
  10. S3 Lifecycle transition general considerations
  11. S3 Intelligent-Tiering
  12. S3 Glacier storage classes
  13. Amazon EBS Snapshots Archive (AWS Blog) Blog