Object Lifecycle

ELI5 — The Vibe Check

Object lifecycle policies automatically manage your cloud storage objects as they age. New files stay in fast storage, after 30 days they move to cheaper storage, after a year they go to archive, and after 7 years they're deleted. It's like spring cleaning that happens automatically — your storage bill thanks you.

Real Talk

Object lifecycle management is a cloud storage feature that automatically transitions objects between storage classes or deletes them based on rules tied to age, access patterns, or tags. AWS S3, GCP Cloud Storage, and Azure Blob Storage all support lifecycle policies. Common transitions: Standard → Infrequent Access → Glacier → Delete.

Show Me The Code

# S3 lifecycle policy (AWS CLI)
aws s3api put-bucket-lifecycle-configuration \
  --bucket my-bucket \
  --lifecycle-configuration '{
    "Rules": [{
      "ID": "ArchiveOldLogs",
      "Status": "Enabled",
      "Filter": {"Prefix": "logs/"},
      "Transitions": [
        {"Days": 30, "StorageClass": "STANDARD_IA"},
        {"Days": 90, "StorageClass": "GLACIER"}
      ],
      "Expiration": {"Days": 365}
    }]
  }'

When You'll Hear This

"Set up a lifecycle policy to move logs to Glacier after 90 days." / "Object lifecycle rules cut our S3 bill by 60%."