S3 Lifecycle Optimization

Why This Matters

Most S3 data follows the 80/20 rule - 80% of stored data is accessed infrequently after 90 days. Without lifecycle policies, you're paying premium Standard S3 pricing for cold data that could be stored much cheaper.

Storage class pricing comparison:

• Standard S3: ~$0.023/GB/month
• Standard IA: ~$0.0125/GB/month (45% savings)
• Glacier: ~$0.004/GB/month (83% savings)

How to Identify Lifecycle Opportunities

AWS Saver flags buckets for lifecycle optimization when they meet these criteria:

1. Bucket size above 1GB (minimum threshold for meaningful savings)
2. Objects aged over 90 days present in Standard storage
3. No existing lifecycle configuration or incomplete policies
4. Estimated monthly savings above $5 (focuses on impactful optimizations)

How to Fix S3 Lifecycle Issues

Step 1: Check which buckets lack lifecycle policies

aws s3api list-buckets --query 'Buckets[].Name' | while read bucket; do
  aws s3api get-bucket-lifecycle-configuration --bucket $bucket 2>/dev/null || echo "$bucket: No lifecycle policy"
done

Step 2: Identify objects older than 90 days

aws s3api list-objects-v2 \
  --bucket your-bucket-name \
  --query 'Contents[?LastModified<=`$(date -u -d "90 days ago" +%Y-%m-%d)`].Key'

Step 3: Create lifecycle policy file (lifecycle.json)

{
  "Rules": [{
    "ID": "OptimizeStorage",
    "Status": "Enabled",
    "Transitions": [
      {"Days": 90, "StorageClass": "STANDARD_IA"},
      {"Days": 365, "StorageClass": "GLACIER"}
    ]
  }]
}

Step 4: Apply lifecycle policy to bucket

aws s3api put-bucket-lifecycle-configuration \
  --bucket your-bucket-name \
  --lifecycle-configuration file://lifecycle.json

Prevention Tips

Set default lifecycle policies: Configure lifecycle rules during bucket creation for all new projects.

Monitor access patterns: Use S3 Analytics to understand actual access patterns before setting transition rules.

Review retention requirements: Ensure lifecycle policies comply with your data retention and compliance requirements.

Automate with CloudFormation: Include lifecycle policies in infrastructure-as-code templates.

Automation Available

Skip the manual work. AWS Saver automatically identifies S3 lifecycle optimization opportunities using the same above 1GB and over 90 days criteria.

✅ Lifecycle policy detection - Scans all buckets for missing or incomplete policies

✅ Object age analysis - Identifies buckets with objects aged over 90 days in Standard storage

✅ Cost impact calculation - Shows potential monthly savings from IA/Glacier transitions

✅ Incomplete upload cleanup - Detects failed multipart uploads wasting storage costs