Assess your understanding of AWS S3 with this focused quiz featuring easy-level questions on storage classes, security, versioning, lifecycle policies, and more. Ideal for candidates preparing for cloud storage interviews or brushing up on S3 fundamentals.
Which S3 storage class is optimized for data that is rarely accessed but requires immediate retrieval, such as backups or archives?
Explanation: Standard-IA is designed for infrequently accessed data that must remain immediately available when needed, making it ideal for backups and archives. Standard is best for frequent access, not rare use. Intelligent-Tiering automatically moves data between classes but is not specifically optimized for rare access. Glacier is meant for archival storage with retrieval times of minutes or hours, not immediate access.
Which S3 feature allows you to manage permissions with fine-grained access control at the object level?
Explanation: Bucket Policies allow setting precise permissions for different users or groups, even down to specific objects. Lifecycle Policies manage automatic transitions and deletions, not access. Object Lock is for retention and legal holds rather than permissions. Event Notifications alert users to changes but do not control access.
What happens when versioning is enabled on an S3 bucket and you upload two files with the same key?
Explanation: With versioning enabled, S3 keeps both versions and assigns a unique version ID to each, so users can retrieve any previous state. S3 never permanently overwrites objects in a versioned bucket. No error is triggered for duplicates. Older versions are not moved to colder storage unless a lifecycle policy is set to do so.
When you delete an object in a versioned S3 bucket, what is placed in the bucket by default?
Explanation: Deleting an object in a versioned bucket adds a delete marker, marking the object as deleted without removing its previous versions. No new empty object is created by default. 'Tombstone object' is not a correct term for this process. 'Lifecycle log entry' refers to logging, not deletion states.
Which option enables encryption of data at rest within S3 without requiring the user to manage encryption keys?
Explanation: SSE-S3 automatically encrypts data using keys managed by the storage service, so users do not need to handle keys themselves. Client-Side Encryption requires key management by users. SSE-C also requires customers to supply and manage their own encryption keys. Bucket Versioning is unrelated to encryption.
Which scenario best describes when S3 event notifications can be triggered?
Explanation: S3 event notifications can trigger on events like object deletions, allowing integration with automated workflows. While uploads and deletions trigger notifications, file downloads do not by default. Policy attachment and storage class creation are administrative actions, not object-specific events that trigger notifications.
Which action can be automated using an S3 lifecycle policy?
Explanation: Lifecycle policies automate transitions between storage classes, such as moving objects to colder storage after a set period. Blocking public access and changing permissions are handled by access controls, not lifecycle rules. Lifecycle policies do not allow direct modification of object data.
Why must an S3 bucket name be globally unique across all users?
Explanation: Globally unique bucket names prevent conflicts in the shared namespace, ensuring each bucket can be uniquely addressed. Accidental deletion is unrelated to naming rules. Versioning does not depend on bucket names being unique. Upload speeds are not affected by bucket naming.
What type of consistency does S3 provide for newly added objects?
Explanation: S3 provides strong read-after-write consistency for new object puts, meaning new data can be immediately retrieved after upload. Eventual consistency was previously used but is not the correct answer here. Cache consistency refers to data caching systems. Temporary consistency is not a standard term in this context.
Which setting allows you to use an S3 bucket to serve static website content publicly over HTTP?
Explanation: Activating static website hosting configures the bucket to serve files as web content over HTTP with index and error documents. Object lock is for retention, not web hosting. Multipart upload manages large files but is not web-related. Bucket logging records access requests but does not serve content.