AWS SAA-C03AWS Certified Solutions Architect — Associate

Correct: C. Transition to S3 Standard-IA on day 8, expire on day 90.

Why: S3 Standard-IA costs roughly $0.0125/GB/month versus Standard's $0.023/GB/month, making it the right tier for the 'rarely accessed' window between days 8 and 90. Objects are never accessed after day 90, so a Lifecycle expiration on day 90 deletes them immediately — no need to pay for a Glacier transition for data that will be immediately deleted. S3 Standard-IA has a 30-day minimum storage duration charge, but transitioning on day 8 still saves money compared to remaining in Standard for the full 90-day period. Option A skips Standard-IA for the days 8–90 window where data is merely rarely (not never) accessed and applies Glacier Instant Retrieval unnecessarily early; Glacier retrieval fees would apply to any rare access event. Option B delays the Standard-IA transition to day 30, wasting 22 days of Standard pricing, and delays deletion to day 180, charging for 90 extra days of Glacier storage. Option D uses Intelligent-Tiering, whose per-object monitoring fee ($0.0025 per 1,000 objects/month) makes it less optimal when the access pattern is already fully known.