Changing IA tier to Intelligent tiering on S3 bucket doesn't apply archive for old objects

Question

We have 2 buckets that where moved to Intelligent tiering storage class.
I'll give some background and numbers for clarification and the question will be after that.
I'll number the buckets 1 and 2.

1. From IA tier to Int. tiering - 80% of the objects where not accessed in the past year.
2. From Standard Storage to Int. tiering with Deep Archive - 100% of the objects where not accessed in the past year.

So from the above facts I was expecting that:
1. ~20% will go to Friquent access and ~80% will go to Infrequent Access or Archive Instant Access tiers.
2. ~100% will go directly to Deep Archive Access Tier

So a week after the change already passed and I assume all transitions are done to Intelligent tiering and the reality is that:

1. ~4% "StandardStorage", ~96% "IntelligentTieringFAStorage"
2. ~90% "IntelligentTieringFAStorag", ~10% "StandardStorage"

The names of the tiers in the last list and the percents are taken form the S3 bucket metrics.

Q1: So I assume "IntelligentTieringFAStorag" means Intelligent tiering Frequest Access storage. Am I right?  
As most of this objects where not accessed for a long time, I assumed they will directly go to the cheeper tiers.  
Q2: Looks like I was wrong, or do they need more time to do this?  
Q3: Does the change of the tier to Int. tiering marked the objects as "accessed" and this means I have to wait 90-180 days more?  
Q4: Is there a way to force the objects to go to the archive tiers, without paying again for the tier change (there are a lot of objects in this buckets).

The main reason for this change was cost optimisation, but by now, I have only increased my bill :)

Accepted Answer

Q1: So I assume "IntelligentTieringFAStorag" means Intelligent tiering Frequent Access storage. Am I right?

YES

As most of this objects where not accessed for a long time, I assumed they will directly go to the cheeper tiers.

Not really. Monitoring of the objects only happens once they are moved to the Frequent Tier of the Intelligent Tiering Storage class. Once the object is in the "IntelligentTieringFAStorag", then the monitoring starts, and then 30, 60, 90, and 180 day thing applies.

Q2: Looks like I was wrong, or do they need more time to do this?

Above answer should clear this as well. I hope so:)

Q3: Does the change of the tier to Int. tiering marked the objects as "accessed" and this means I have to wait 90-180 days more?

NO. Once the object is in the frequent tier, and if not accessed for 30 days, it moves to Infrequent tier and so on. Transitioning of the objects doesn't count as "accessed".

Q4: Is there a way to force the objects to go to the archive tiers, without paying again for the tier change (there are a lot of objects in this buckets).

Not in case of intelligent tiering storage class. The transition is automatic and cannot be enforced. If it's a requirement, then you can use Glacier and Deep Glacier storage classes.

I hope the above answers your question. If not, do let me know.

Changing IA tier to Intelligent tiering on S3 bucket doesn't apply archive for old objects

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