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AWS S3 archival storage classes and restore retrieval times

Contributors netapp-tonacki

BlueXP backup and recovery supports two S3 archival storage classes and most regions.

Supported S3 archival storage classes for BlueXP backup and recovery

When backup files are initially created they're stored in S3 Standard storage. This tier is optimized for storing data that's infrequently accessed; but that also allows you to access it immediately. After 30 days the backups transition to the S3 Standard-Infrequent Access storage class to save on costs.

If your source clusters are running ONTAP 9.10.1 or greater, you can choose to tier backups to either S3 Glacier or S3 Glacier Deep Archive storage after a certain number of days (typically more than 30 days) for further cost optimization. Data in these tiers can't be accessed immediately when needed, and will require a higher retrieval cost, so you need to consider how often you may need to restore data from these archived backup files. See the section about restoring data from archival storage.

  • If you select no archive tier in your first backup policy when activating BlueXP backup and recovery, then S3 Glacier will be your only archive option for future policies.

  • If you select S3 Glacier in your first backup policy, then you can change to the S3 Glacier Deep Archive tier for future backup policies for that cluster.

  • If you select S3 Glacier Deep Archive in your first backup policy, then that tier will be the only archive tier available for future backup policies for that cluster.

Note that when you configure BlueXP backup and recovery with this type of lifecycle rule, you must not configure any lifecycle rules when setting up the bucket in your AWS account.

Restoring data from archival storage

While storing older backup files in archival storage is much less expensive than Standard or Standard-IA storage, accessing data from a backup file in archive storage for restore operations will take a longer amount of time and will cost more money.

How much does it cost to restore data from Amazon S3 Glacier and Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive?

There are 3 restore priorities you can choose when retrieving data from Amazon S3 Glacier, and 2 restore priorities when retrieving data from Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive. S3 Glacier Deep Archive costs less than S3 Glacier:

Archive Tier Restore Priority & Cost

High

Standard

Low

S3 Glacier

Fastest retrieval, highest cost

Slower retrieval, lower cost

Slowest retrieval, lowest cost

S3 Glacier Deep Archive

Faster retrieval, higher cost

Slower retrieval, lowest cost

Each method has a different per-GB retrieval fee and per-request fee. For detailed S3 Glacier pricing by AWS Region, visit the Amazon S3 pricing page.

How long will it take to restore my objects archived in Amazon S3 Glacier?

There are 2 parts that make up the total restore time:

  • Retrieval time: The time to retrieve the backup file from archive and place it in Standard storage. This is sometimes called the "rehydration" time. The retrieval time is different depending on the restore priority you choose.

    Archive Tier Restore Priority & Retrieval Time

    High

    Standard

    Low

    S3 Glacier

    3-5 minutes

    3-5 hours

    5-12 hours

    S3 Glacier Deep Archive

    12 hours

    48 hours

  • Restore time: The time to restore the data from the backup file in Standard storage. This time is no different than the typical restore operation directly from Standard storage - when not using an archival tier.

For more information about Amazon S3 Glacier and S3 Glacier Deep Archive retrieval options, refer to the Amazon FAQ about these storage classes.