AWS S3 Storage Classes

Amazon S3 provides a variety of storage classes that allow you to optimize cost and performance based on your data’s access patterns. Each storage class has its own characteristics in terms of availability, durability, retrieval speed, and pricing. Below are the main S3 storage classes:

1. S3 Standard

• Purpose: General-purpose storage for frequently accessed data.
• Key Features:
• Designed for data that is frequently accessed.
• Durability: 99.999999999% (11 nines).
• Availability: 99.99% availability over a given year.
• Ideal for dynamic content, websites, big data analytics, and mobile and gaming applications.
• Use Cases: Frequently accessed data, active web content, or mobile apps.

2. S3 Intelligent-Tiering

• Purpose: Automatically moves data between two access tiers (frequent and infrequent) based on changing access patterns, optimizing cost.
• Key Features:
• Ideal for datasets with unpredictable access patterns.
• No retrieval fee when accessing data.
• Data is automatically moved between tiers (frequent and infrequent access).
• Durability: 99.999999999% (11 nines).
• Availability: 99.9% for the frequent access tier, 99% for the infrequent access tier.
• Use Cases: Data with unpredictable access patterns, such as machine learning data sets or user-generated content.

3. S3 Standard-IA (Infrequent Access)

• Purpose: Designed for data that is accessed less frequently but still requires rapid retrieval.
• Key Features:
• Lower cost compared to S3 Standard.
• Retrieval charges apply when accessing the data.
• Durability: 99.999999999% (11 nines).
• Availability: 99.9%.
• Suitable for long-term storage with occasional access needs.
• Use Cases: Backup data, disaster recovery files, or long-term archival storage that may be needed quickly.

4. S3 One Zone-IA

• Purpose: Cost-efficient storage for infrequently accessed data, stored in a single Availability Zone.
• Key Features:
• Lower cost than S3 Standard-IA as data is stored in a single Availability Zone (less redundancy).
• Best suited for data that can be easily recreated or doesn’t require cross-AZ replication.
• Durability: 99.999999999% (11 nines), but lower availability due to single AZ.
• Availability: 99.5%.
• Use Cases: Secondary backups, data that can be recreated if lost, or data stored for compliance purposes in a single location.

5. S3 Glacier

• Purpose: Low-cost storage designed for data archiving. Retrieval times range from minutes to hours.
• Key Features:
• Ideal for long-term archives where data retrieval is rare.
• Durability: 99.999999999% (11 nines).
• Data retrieval options: expedited (1-5 minutes), standard (3-5 hours), and bulk (5-12 hours).
• Cheapest option for long-term archival, but data access is slow.
• Use Cases: Regulatory archives, backups that don’t need immediate access, or any long-term cold storage.

6. S3 Glacier Deep Archive

• Purpose: Amazon’s lowest-cost storage class designed for data that is rarely accessed, with retrieval times of up to 48 hours.
• Key Features:
• The lowest-cost option in S3, ideal for data accessed once or twice a year.
• Durability: 99.999999999% (11 nines).
• Retrieval times are between 12 to 48 hours.
• Data is only accessible for compliance purposes or infrequent audits.
• Use Cases: Extremely long-term archival storage, such as financial or medical records, or records kept for legal or compliance reasons.

7. S3 Outposts

• Purpose: S3 storage brought to your on-premises Outposts environment to meet local data residency needs.
• Key Features:
• Stores data locally within the customer’s own environment using AWS Outposts hardware.
• Useful for workloads that require low-latency access to data in on-premises systems.
• Same APIs and S3 features as used in AWS regions but within an on-premises infrastructure.
• Use Cases: Workloads that require on-premises data residency or low-latency storage, such as medical or financial data.

8. S3 on AWS Snow Family

• Purpose: This option allows customers to store and transfer data in remote, disconnected environments using AWS Snow Family devices.
• Key Features:
• Supports highly secure physical data transfer in environments where network connectivity is limited.
• Data stored on Snowball or Snowmobile can be uploaded to S3 once the device is returned to AWS.
• Use Cases: Transporting massive amounts of data from remote locations, disaster recovery, or large-scale data migrations.

Summary of S3 Storage Classes

Choosing the Right Storage Class

When deciding which storage class to use, consider:

• Access Patterns: How often will the data be accessed?
• Durability & Availability: How critical is data availability and durability for your use case?
• Cost: Optimize costs by choosing classes that match your data’s access frequency and retention needs.