Optimize Storage Costs with S3 Intelligent-Tiering

SAA-C03 By islever Editorial Last updated

Design cost-optimized storage solutions.

Short answer

A Create an Amazon S3 bucket that uses an Intelligent-Tiering lifecycle policy to store and retrieve files cost-effectively.

Question

A company recently migrated its application to AWS. The application runs on Amazon EC2 Linux instances in an Auto Scaling group across multiple Availability Zones. The application stores data in an Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) file system that uses EFS Standard-Infrequent Access storage. The application indexes the company's files. The index is stored in an Amazon RDS database. The company needs to optimize storage costs with some application and services changes. Which solution will meet these requirements MOST cost-effectively?
  1. Create an Amazon S3 bucket that uses an Intelligent-Tiering lifecycle policy. Copy all files to the S3 bucket. Update the application to use Amazon S3 API to store and retrieve files. Correct Answer
  2. Deploy Amazon FSx for Windows File Server file shares. Update the application to use CIFS protocol to store and retrieve files.
  3. Deploy Amazon FSx for OpenZFS file system shares. Update the application to use the new mount point to store and retrieve files.
  4. Create an Amazon S3 bucket that uses S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval. Copy all files to the S3 bucket. Update the application to use Amazon S3 API to store and retrieve files as standard retrievals.

Key Takeaways

The core concept is identifying that S3 Intelligent-Tiering offers automatic cost optimization without retrieval latency penalties, unlike S3 Glacier which has significant retrieval times.

This question evaluates the ability to design cost-optimized storage solutions by migrating from EFS to Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering for infrequent access data.

Common mistake: Many learners incorrectly choose S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval (Option D), failing to recognize that standard retrievals can take several hours, which violates application performance requirements.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

Option A is the most cost-effective solution because Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering automatically moves data between access tiers based on usage patterns. Since the application stores files using an index and accesses them, but the storage is currently 'Infrequent Access', Intelligent-Tiering ensures you never pay for unnecessary frequent access storage while maintaining millisecond-level retrieval speeds required by the application. This aligns perfectly with the requirement to optimize costs with some application changes.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Option D (S3 Glacier) is incorrect because although it is cheaper for storage, standard retrievals can take up to 12 hours. The application indexes files and likely needs timely access, making this unacceptable. Option B (FSx for Windows) and Option C (FSx for OpenZFS) are high-performance file systems designed for specific workloads (Windows apps or big data analysis) and are significantly more expensive than S3 for general object storage cost optimization.

Community Comment Notes

Community consensus strongly supports Option A. Users highlighted that Glacier's 12-hour retrieval time (as noted by user sandordini and Johnoppong101) makes it unsuitable for active applications. Others pointed out that FSx solutions are over-engineered and costly for this scenario, confirming that S3 Intelligent-Tiering is the best balance of cost and performance.

Official Reference

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/intelligent-tiering-overview.html

This link opens the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Exam Strategy

Always check retrieval latency requirements when considering S3 Glacier. If the application needs immediate access to files, Glacier is rarely the correct answer regardless of storage cost savings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why not use S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval?

Glacier has retrieval times ranging from minutes to 12 hours, which would break the application's ability to index and serve files in a timely manner.

Is EFS Standard-IA more expensive than S3 Intelligent-Tiering?

Yes, generally S3 is cheaper for object storage. Intelligent-Tiering adds further savings by automating tier movement based on actual access patterns.

More SAA-C03 FAQ →

Community Votes

A
100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer A. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 9 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 9

  1. xBUGx 👍 6 Answered A
    i go with A since there is no other better options
  2. sandordini 👍 5 Answered A
    B, C, D off. B - Windows C - OpenZFS Costs ~ NFS Costs *3 (optimized mainly for high-performance Data analysis) D - Glacier Standard retrieval: 12 Hrs
  3. Scheldon 👍 3 Answered A
    AnswerA https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/intelligent-tiering-overview.html
  4. MatAlves 👍 2 Answered A
    Since the company is ok with "some application and services changes", then A is definitely the most cost-effective option. D can take up to few hours to complete retrievals.
  5. Johnoppong101 👍 2 Answered A
    EFS Infrequent access -> milliseconds retrieval time, can`t replace with 12hrs for Glacier.
Show 4 more comments
  1. KennethNg923 👍 2 Answered A
    optimize storage costs with some application and services changes -> Intelligent Tiering
  2. mk168898 👍 2 Answered A
    Chose A because optimise storage costs => s3 bucket intelligent tiering
  3. Kenneth99 👍 3
    should be A?
  4. TruthWS 👍 2
    A is correct

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