AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) — Question 242

A company needs to export its database once a day to Amazon S3 for other teams to access. The exported object size varies between 2 GB and 5 GB. The S3 access pattern for the data is variable and changes rapidly. The data must be immediately available and must remain accessible for up to 3 months. The company needs the most cost-effective solution that will not increase retrieval time.

Which S3 storage class should the company use to meet these requirements?

Answer options

• A. S3 Intelligent-Tiering
• B. S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval
• C. S3 Standard
• D. S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA)

Correct answer: A

Explanation

S3 Intelligent-Tiering is the best choice because it automatically moves data between frequent and infrequent access tiers based on changing access patterns, while still ensuring immediate availability. S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval is not suitable since it is designed for long-term archival storage and retrieval may not be instantaneous. S3 Standard is more expensive for data that may not be accessed frequently, and S3 Standard-IA is not ideal as it incurs retrieval fees and is meant for data that is less frequently accessed.