S3 storage classes and lifecycle rules
Choosing storage tiers. This post digs into the topic, drawing on recent discussion from Hacker News, Reddit, and the wider community.
The conversation that prompted this post is linked in the sources. I have tried to capture the substance of the discussion rather than just summarize it, because the comments are usually where the real insight lives.
What happened
Backups are not disaster recovery. Test your restores or you do not have backups.
Serverless is great until it isn't. Cold starts, concurrency limits, and vendor lock-in are real costs that show up at scale.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
Observability is the difference between knowing something is broken and knowing why. Invest in it before you need it.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
Observability is the difference between knowing something is broken and knowing why. Invest in it before you need it.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
Multi-region is not multi-cloud. Running in two AWS regions is redundancy. Running on AWS and GCP is strategy, and it is expensive.
Observability is the difference between knowing something is broken and knowing why. Invest in it before you need it.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
Why it matters
Multi-region is not multi-cloud. Running in two AWS regions is redundancy. Running on AWS and GCP is strategy, and it is expensive.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Backups are not disaster recovery. Test your restores or you do not have backups.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
Networking is where cloud bills hide. Data transfer charges between regions and out to the internet add up fast.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
Autoscaling is not a substitute for capacity planning. It reacts to load; it does not predict it.
Reserved instances and savings plans reward commitment. If your workload is stable, not using them is leaving money on the table.
Reserved instances and savings plans reward commitment. If your workload is stable, not using them is leaving money on the table.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.
Practical takeaways
- Backups are not disaster recovery.
- Serverless is great until it isn't.
- Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility.
- Backups are not disaster recovery.
- Reserved instances and savings plans reward commitment.
- Autoscaling is not a substitute for capacity planning.
- Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility.
- Serverless is great until it isn't.
- Serverless is great until it isn't.
- Tagging is boring and essential.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
Multi-region is not multi-cloud. Running in two AWS regions is redundancy. Running on AWS and GCP is strategy, and it is expensive.
Backups are not disaster recovery. Test your restores or you do not have backups.
Reserved instances and savings plans reward commitment. If your workload is stable, not using them is leaving money on the table.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
Tagging is boring and essential. Without consistent tags, cost attribution is guesswork.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
Observability is the difference between knowing something is broken and knowing why. Invest in it before you need it.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Autoscaling is not a substitute for capacity planning. It reacts to load; it does not predict it.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
Multi-region is not multi-cloud. Running in two AWS regions is redundancy. Running on AWS and GCP is strategy, and it is expensive.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
Sources
This post is informed by discussion on aws.amazon.com and related threads on Hacker News and Reddit. Primary source: https://aws.amazon.com/s3/storage-classes/.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
Networking is where cloud bills hide. Data transfer charges between regions and out to the internet add up fast.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.
Multi-region is not multi-cloud. Running in two AWS regions is redundancy. Running on AWS and GCP is strategy, and it is expensive.
Backups are not disaster recovery. Test your restores or you do not have backups.
Multi-region is not multi-cloud. Running in two AWS regions is redundancy. Running on AWS and GCP is strategy, and it is expensive.
Autoscaling is not a substitute for capacity planning. It reacts to load; it does not predict it.
Autoscaling is not a substitute for capacity planning. It reacts to load; it does not predict it.
Networking is where cloud bills hide. Data transfer charges between regions and out to the internet add up fast.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
Tagging is boring and essential. Without consistent tags, cost attribution is guesswork.
Observability is the difference between knowing something is broken and knowing why. Invest in it before you need it.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
Serverless is great until it isn't. Cold starts, concurrency limits, and vendor lock-in are real costs that show up at scale.
Reserved instances and savings plans reward commitment. If your workload is stable, not using them is leaving money on the table.
Tagging is boring and essential. Without consistent tags, cost attribution is guesswork.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
Reserved instances and savings plans reward commitment. If your workload is stable, not using them is leaving money on the table.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
Backups are not disaster recovery. Test your restores or you do not have backups.
Autoscaling is not a substitute for capacity planning. It reacts to load; it does not predict it.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
Tagging is boring and essential. Without consistent tags, cost attribution is guesswork.
Tagging is boring and essential. Without consistent tags, cost attribution is guesswork.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
Reserved instances and savings plans reward commitment. If your workload is stable, not using them is leaving money on the table.
Reserved instances and savings plans reward commitment. If your workload is stable, not using them is leaving money on the table.
Observability is the difference between knowing something is broken and knowing why. Invest in it before you need it.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
Networking is where cloud bills hide. Data transfer charges between regions and out to the internet add up fast.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
Backups are not disaster recovery. Test your restores or you do not have backups.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
Reserved instances and savings plans reward commitment. If your workload is stable, not using them is leaving money on the table.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
Autoscaling is not a substitute for capacity planning. It reacts to load; it does not predict it.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
Networking is where cloud bills hide. Data transfer charges between regions and out to the internet add up fast.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.