AWS lifecycle rule permanently delete noncurrent versions of objects not working

Question

I have versioning enabled in my bucket. Rule Json configuration is attached

1- I created one test bucket and uploaded 2 images. Then, I manually converted my images to Standard-IA, so now the standard versions of those images are there.

2- I created a lifecycle rule to permanently delete noncurrent versions with 1 day on this setting: "Days after objects become noncurrent".

Now, almost 2 days have passed, but my noncurrent (standard) images are still in the bucket.

This is my configuration

`
{
    "Rules": [
        {
            "ID": "Delete Standard noncurrent version",
            "Filter": {},
            "Status": "Enabled",
            "NoncurrentVersionExpiration": {
                "NoncurrentDays": 1
            }
        }
    ]
}`

**Life cycle creation and modification time**

June 13, 2024, 04:22:13 (UTC+05:00) => June 12 11:22:13 (UTC)

June 13, 2024, 05:29:54 (UTC+05:00)  => June 12 12:29:54 (UTC)

**This is the images code**

```
{
    "Versions": [
        {
            "ETag": "\"5f3ac6647fa7685f7c392dde0a8d6467\"",
            "Size": 4070,
            "StorageClass": "STANDARD_IA",
            "Key": "38292/1718231083_666a202b8c45e.jpeg",
            "VersionId": ".ESO54M9LW0wBjMf91Or6fWEICflccXF",
            "IsLatest": true,
            "LastModified": "2024-06-12T22:25:18+00:00",
            "Owner": {
                "DisplayName": "hidden",
                "ID": "6d793b79e5e1fff5177dd4354ebac0be08e867bfe506bb260fd376c171d2afed"
            }
        },
        {
            "ETag": "\"5f3ac6647fa7685f7c392dde0a8d6467\"",
            "Size": 4070,
            "StorageClass": "STANDARD",
            "Key": "38292/1718231083_666a202b8c45e.jpeg",
            "VersionId": "vp0BMmf3m5XZkx4kys3QrC6r66GWTy2b",
            "IsLatest": false,
            "LastModified": "2024-06-12T22:24:46+00:00",
            "Owner": {
                "DisplayName": "hidden",
                "ID": "6d793b79e5e1fff5177dd4354ebac0be08e867bfe506bb260fd376c171d2afed"
            }
        }
		]
```

Please guide me if I'm doing anything wrong.

Leo K · Answer

Your lifecycle rule looks correct. The rule executes once per day, starting at midnight UTC, and it can take a variable amount of time after starting to complete. The 1 day after expiration rule means literally 24 hours after the exact timestamp when the objects expired, so if you deleted or overwrote them at 14:00 UTC, for example, they would only be 10 hours old at midnight UTC the following day. They would only meet the deletion condition one day later at midnight UTC.

If you're sure the objects in the Standard class are non-current versions (meaning you only see them in the console when you switch the "Show versions" option on), I suggest you wait one more day and check around 18:00 UTC to see if the previous versions are gone. The deletion process isn't instantaneous, so they won't be gone at 0:01 UTC yet.

Leo K · Answer

Your configuration looks correct to me. The rules for applying lifecycle rules are explained in detail on this page in S3's documentation: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/intro-lifecycle-rules.html#intro-lifecycle-rules-number-of-days

The first object in the Standard storage class became a non-current version on 2024-06-12T22:25:18+00:00 when it was superseded by the new object with the same key and in the Standard-IA class. The lifecycle rule would calculate the time for permanent deletion by first adding 24 hours to the time the object became non-current, which would be 2024-06-13T22:25:18+00:00, and rounding the result up to the next day at midnight UTC. That would make 2024-06-14T00:00:00+00:00 the time for the previous version to be deleted permanently.

That time has already passed, so the previous object version should be deleted by now, but as I pointed out earlier, it's not an instantaneous operation but may take a variable time to execute. For billing purposes, the object should be considered as deleted at 2024-06-14T00:00:00+00:00, however.

I suggest you wait until tomorrow evening to check that the previous object version has disappeared. Your configuration and test scenario appear quite correct.

AWS lifecycle rule permanently delete noncurrent versions of objects not working

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