A financial services organization stores transaction audit files in a Cloud Storage bucket with Object Versioning enabled. The files are written under the prefix audit-logs/ and follow specific access patterns: Files are accessed frequently during the first 30 days after creation. Files are accessed roughly once a month between 30 and 90 days. Files are accessed once a quarter between 90 and 365 days. Files must be permanently deleted after 365 days. To optimize costs, any overwritten or deleted noncurrent object versions under the audit-logs/ prefix should be permanently removed 14 days after becoming noncurrent. Which Object Lifecycle Management (OLM) configuration meets these requirements with the least operational overhead?

Configure Object Lifecycle Management rules with prefix condition `audit-logs/` to transition storage to Nearline at age 30, transition to Coldline at age 90, delete live objects at age 365, and delete noncurrent versions using `daysSinceNoncurrentTime: 14`.: What Object Lifecycle Management (OLM) is Cloud Storage Object Lifecycle Management (OLM) allows administrators to define declarative rules consisting of actions (such as SetStorageClass and Delete) coupled with specific conditions (such as Age, MatchesPrefix, IsLive, and DaysSinceNoncurrentTime). Cloud Storage automatically inspects objects within the bucket and executes the configured actions asynchronously without requiring external compute infrastructure. How it meets the requirements Storage Class Transitions: Setting an action to SetStorageClass with target Nearline at Age: 30 aligns with monthly access patterns. Setting an action to SetStorageClass with target Coldline at Age: 90 matches quarterly access requirements. Prefix Filtering: Applying the MatchesPrefix: audit-logs/ condition ensures that only audit log objects are affected by these policies. Object Retention and Deletion: Setting a Delete action with Age: 365 purges live logs after one year. Noncurrent Version Management: Using the condition DaysSinceNoncurrentTime: 14 (or IsLive: false with noncurrent age) ensures that superseded or deleted log versions are permanently removed 14 days after becoming noncurrent, preventing unbounded storage accumulation in version-enabled buckets. Key advantages of this approach Zero Management Overhead: Fully managed and native to Google Cloud Storage without requiring external scripts, timers, or virtual machines. Granular Cost Optimization: Automatically shifts data to lower-cost storage tiers based on proven access cadence (Nearline for monthly, Coldline for quarterly). Automated Hygiene: Cleans up noncurrent object versions created by bucket versioning policies automatically. Why this is optimal Native lifecycle policies execute directly within the storage control plane, providing predictable lifecycle transitions and deletions while strictly honoring prefix constraints and version states.

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Cloud Storage Olm Rules Prefix Versioning Transitions

Section: Data retention and data lifecycle management

A financial services organization stores transaction audit files in a Cloud Storage bucket with Object Versioning enabled. The files are written under the prefix audit-logs/ and follow specific access patterns:

Files are accessed frequently during the first 30 days after creation.
Files are accessed roughly once a month between 30 and 90 days.
Files are accessed once a quarter between 90 and 365 days.
Files must be permanently deleted after 365 days.
To optimize costs, any overwritten or deleted noncurrent object versions under the audit-logs/ prefix should be permanently removed 14 days after becoming noncurrent.

Which Object Lifecycle Management (OLM) configuration meets these requirements with the least operational overhead?

Deploy a Cloud Function triggered by Cloud Storage Pub/Sub notifications on object creation that calculates retention timestamps and invokes the Cloud Storage API to rewrite storage classes and delete noncurrent versions.

Enable bucket-level Autoclass with a 365-day Bucket Lock retention policy, and schedule a daily Cloud Run job to identify and delete noncurrent object versions.

Configure Object Lifecycle Management rules with prefix condition audit-logs/ to transition storage to Nearline at age 30, transition to Coldline at age 90, delete live objects at age 365, and delete noncurrent versions using daysSinceNoncurrentTime: 14.

Configure Object Lifecycle Management rules to transition objects directly to Archive storage at age 30, and apply an IAM Deny policy on the bucket to prevent access to noncurrent versions older than 14 days.

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Cloud Storage Olm Rules Prefix Versioning Transitions

Section: Data retention and data lifecycle management

Files are accessed frequently during the first 30 days after creation.
Files are accessed roughly once a month between 30 and 90 days.
Files are accessed once a quarter between 90 and 365 days.
Files must be permanently deleted after 365 days.
To optimize costs, any overwritten or deleted noncurrent object versions under the audit-logs/ prefix should be permanently removed 14 days after becoming noncurrent.

Which Object Lifecycle Management (OLM) configuration meets these requirements with the least operational overhead?

Enable bucket-level Autoclass with a 365-day Bucket Lock retention policy, and schedule a daily Cloud Run job to identify and delete noncurrent object versions.

Explanations

What Object Lifecycle Management (OLM) is

Cloud Storage Object Lifecycle Management (OLM) allows administrators to define declarative rules consisting of actions (such as SetStorageClass and Delete) coupled with specific conditions (such as Age, MatchesPrefix, IsLive, and DaysSinceNoncurrentTime). Cloud Storage automatically inspects objects within the bucket and executes the configured actions asynchronously without requiring external compute infrastructure.

How it meets the requirements

Storage Class Transitions:
- Setting an action to SetStorageClass with target Nearline at Age: 30 aligns with monthly access patterns.
- Setting an action to SetStorageClass with target Coldline at Age: 90 matches quarterly access requirements.
Prefix Filtering: Applying the MatchesPrefix: audit-logs/ condition ensures that only audit log objects are affected by these policies.
Object Retention and Deletion: Setting a Delete action with Age: 365 purges live logs after one year.
Noncurrent Version Management: Using the condition DaysSinceNoncurrentTime: 14 (or IsLive: false with noncurrent age) ensures that superseded or deleted log versions are permanently removed 14 days after becoming noncurrent, preventing unbounded storage accumulation in version-enabled buckets.

Key advantages of this approach

Zero Management Overhead: Fully managed and native to Google Cloud Storage without requiring external scripts, timers, or virtual machines.
Granular Cost Optimization: Automatically shifts data to lower-cost storage tiers based on proven access cadence (Nearline for monthly, Coldline for quarterly).
Automated Hygiene: Cleans up noncurrent object versions created by bucket versioning policies automatically.

Why this is optimal

Native lifecycle policies execute directly within the storage control plane, providing predictable lifecycle transitions and deletions while strictly honoring prefix constraints and version states.

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Professional Cloud Architect

Cloud Storage Olm Rules Prefix Versioning Transitions

Professional Cloud Architect

Cloud Storage Olm Rules Prefix Versioning Transitions

What Object Lifecycle Management (OLM) is

How it meets the requirements

Key advantages of this approach

Why this is optimal

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