Storage & Logs

Optimize your S3 and CloudWatch costs by ensuring proper data lifecycle management and cleaning up hidden waste.

S3 Lifecycle Policy Audit

AWS Doctor scans every bucket in your account to check for an active Lifecycle Configuration.

Why it matters

Without a lifecycle policy, data remains in the (most expensive) Standard storage tier forever unless manually moved. A policy can automate:

• Transitioning old logs to IA (Infrequent Access) or Glacier.
• Automatically deleting temporary scratch data.
• Deleting old versions of objects.

S3 Incomplete Multipart Uploads

Identifies buckets that have abandoned multipart uploads.

What are Multipart Uploads?

When you upload a large file to S3, it’s broken into parts. If the upload is interrupted or fails, those parts remain in the bucket hidden from the standard object view.

The Problem

• Hidden Billing: You are charged for the storage used by these incomplete parts.
• Invisibility: They don’t show up in ls or standard console views.

AWS Doctor counts these hidden parts so you can take action.

Solution

Add a lifecycle rule to your bucket to “AbortIncompleteMultipartUpload” after 7 days.

CloudWatch Log Retention

AWS Doctor scans all your CloudWatch Log Groups to identify those with no retention policy set (“Never Expire”).

Why it matters

By default, CloudWatch Log Groups are created with an indefinite retention period.

• Compounding Costs: As your application runs, logs accumulate, and your monthly bill grows linearly.
• Storage Debt: Many developers create log groups for temporary services or debugging and never set a cleanup policy.

The Problem

• Cost Leakage: You pay for every GB stored in CloudWatch. Old, irrelevant logs can account for a significant portion of your monthly AWS bill.
• Compliance: Keeping logs indefinitely might violate data privacy regulations like GDPR or SOC2.

Solution

Set a Retention Period (e.g., 30, 90, or 365 days) for each Log Group based on your business and compliance needs.