The administrator should resolve the compliance failure within Objects by modifying the existing bucket WORM (Write-Once Read-Many) policy from one year to three years. WORM is a feature that prevents anyone from modifying or deleting data in a bucket while the policy is active. WORM policies help comply with strict data retention regulations that mandate how long specific data must be stored. The administrator can extend the WORM retention period for a bucket at any time, but cannot reduce it or delete it. By extending the WORM policy from one year to three years, the administrator can ensure that data in the bucket is retained for the required duration and not deleted prematurely. References: Nutanix Objects User Guide, page 17; Nutanix Objects Solution Guide, page 9
Nutanix Objects, part of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), supports several policies for data retention and management:
WORM (Write Once, Read Many) : Prevents objects from being modified or deleted for a specified period.
Versioning : Retains multiple versions of an object, with a policy to expire non-current versions after a specified time.
Lifecycle Policy : Deletes objects (or versions) after a specified time (e.g., “Expire current objects after X years”).
The bucket in question has:
A WORM policy of one year (objects cannot be modified/deleted for one year).
A versioning policy of one year (non-current versions are deleted after one year).
A lifecycle policy of three years (current objects are deleted after three years).
The compliance failure indicates that data expected to be retained for three years was deleted prematurely, meaning some data was deleted before the three-year mark.
Analysis of Policies and Issue:
The lifecycle policy of three years means the current version of an object is deleted after three years, which aligns with the retention requirement.
The WORM policy of one year ensures that objects cannot be deleted or modified for one year, after which they can be deleted (unless protected by another policy).
The versioning policy of one year means that non-current versions of an object are deleted after one year. Since versioning is enabled, every time an object is updated, a new version is created, and the previous version becomes a non-current version. With a versioning policy of one year, these non-current versions are deleted after one year, which is likely causing the compliance failure—data (past versions) that should be retained for three years is being deleted after only one year.
Analysis of Options:
Option A (Modify the existing bucket versioning policy from one year to three years) : Correct. The versioning policy determines how long non-current versions are retained. Since the compliance requirement is to retain data for three years, and the lifecycle policy already ensures the current version is kept for three years, the versioning policy should be updated to retain non-current versions for three years as well. This prevents premature deletion of past versions, resolving the compliance failure.
Option B (Modify the existing bucket WORM policy from one year to three years) : Incorrect. The WORM policy prevents deletion or modification of objects for the specified period (one year). Extending it to three years would prevent manual deletion for a longer period, but it does not address the issue of non-current versions being deleted by the versioning policy after one year. The lifecycle and versioning policies are the primary mechanisms for automatic deletion, and WORM does not override them once the WORM period expires.
Option C (Create a tiering policy to store deleted data on cold storage for three years) : Incorrect. Tiering policies in Nutanix Objects move data to cold storage (e.g., AWS S3, Azure Blob) for cost optimization, but they do not apply to deleted data. Once data is deleted (e.g., by the versioning policy), it cannot be tiered. This option does not address the root cause of premature deletion.
Why Option A?
The compliance failure is due to non-current versions being deleted after one year (per the versioning policy), while the requirement is to retain all data for three years. By extending the versioning policy to three years, non-current versions will be retained for the full three-year period, aligning with the lifecycle policy for the current version and resolving the compliance issue.
Exact Extract from Nutanix Documentation :
From the Nutanix Objects Administration Guide (available on the Nutanix Portal):
“When versioning is enabled, the versioning policy determines how long non-current versions of an object are retained before deletion. For example, a versioning policy of one year will delete non-current versions after one year. To meet compliance requirements, ensure that the versioning policy aligns with the desired retention period for all versions of an object, in conjunction with the lifecycle policy for current objects.”
[:, Nutanix Objects Administration Guide, Version 4.0, Section: “Versioning and Lifecycle Policies” (Nutanix Portal)., Nutanix Certified Professional - Unified Storage (NCP-US) Study Guide, Section: “Nutanix Objects Data Retention”., , ]
