1. Creating an S3 Bucket & Uploading an Object

  1. We created an S3 bucket named "s3-storage-classes-demos-2022" in any AWS region.
  2. Uploaded a file (coffee.jpg) to the bucket.
  3. Examined the storage class options available for the object.

2. Overview of S3 Storage Classes

AWS provides multiple storage classes designed for different use cases, balancing cost, availability, and durability.

Storage Class AZs Used Use Case Minimum Storage Duration
Standard 3+ AZs Frequently accessed data No minimum
Intelligent-Tiering 3+ AZs Unknown access patterns (auto-tiering) No minimum
Standard-IA (Infrequent Access) 3+ AZs Infrequently accessed, but low-latency 30 days
One-Zone-IA 1 AZ Infrequent access, but less critical data 30 days
Glacier Instant Retrieval 3+ AZs Archive storage, but immediate access 90 days
Glacier Flexible Retrieval 3+ AZs Archive with retrieval times of minutes to hours 90 days
Glacier Deep Archive 3+ AZs Long-term archival storage (retrieval takes hours) 180 days

🔹 Reduced Redundancy Storage (RRS) is deprecated and should not be used.

3. Changing an Object's Storage Class

AWS allows manual changes to an object’s storage class:

  1. Navigate to the object in S3.
  2. Go to Properties and scroll down to Storage Class.
  3. Select a new storage class (e.g., One-Zone-IA).
  4. Save the changes.

We successfully changed coffee.jpg from Standard-IA → One-Zone-IA → Glacier Instant Retrieval.

🔹 Changing to a Glacier tier means objects are archived and require restore requests before accessing them.

4. Automating Storage Class Transitions with Lifecycle Rules