Question #1786
A media company is archiving high-resolution video footage. The volume of data generated daily has increased significantly, requiring immediate access to recent files with low latency. The entire archive is rarely accessed after the first week, but the company needs to maintain all data for long-term compliance. All data currently resides on-premises, and the company wants to transition to a cost-effective cloud solution without upfront infrastructure investments.
Which storage solution should a solutions architect recommend to meet these requirements?
Use AWS DataSync with a scheduled task to transfer data to Amazon S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval for archival storage.
Deploy an AWS Storage Gateway file gateway integrated with Amazon S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA) for storing the entire dataset.
Deploy an AWS Storage Gateway volume gateway with cached volumes, using Amazon S3 as the backend storage. Migrate the dataset to the gateway.
Establish an AWS Direct Connect connection and migrate all data to an Amazon FSx for Lustre file system for high-performance access.
Explanation
Option C is correct because:
- Cached Volumes: Provide low-latency access to frequently used (recent) data via on-premises cache, satisfying the immediate access requirement.
- Amazon S3 Backend: Stores all data cost-effectively and enables lifecycle policies to transition older data (after 7 days) to S3 Standard-IA or Glacier for long-term compliance.
- No Upfront Costs: AWS Storage Gateway operates on a pay-as-you-go model, avoiding upfront infrastructure investments.
Other options fail because:
- A: S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval introduces retrieval delays, unsuitable for low-latency access to recent data.
- B: S3 Standard-IA lacks lifecycle automation for long-term archival and incurs costs if data is deleted before 30 days.
- D: FSx for Lustre is expensive for archival and overkill for rarely accessed data.
Key Points: Use Storage Gateway cached volumes for hybrid storage with lifecycle policies to balance performance, cost, and compliance.
Answer
The correct answer is: C