# Missing Intelligent-Tiering on EFS Lifecycle Policy

Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/missing-intelligent-tiering-on-efs-lifecycle-policy

[Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) 

# Missing Intelligent-Tiering on EFS Lifecycle Policy

## Explanation

EFS offers lifecycle policies that transition files from the Standard tier to Infrequent Access (IA) based on inactivity, significantly reducing storage costs for cold data. When this feature is not enabled, infrequently accessed files remain in the more expensive Standard tier indefinitely. This often occurs when the file system is initially provisioned for performance but long-term access patterns are not reevaluated.

## Relevant Billing Model

Billed per GB-month based on storage class (e.g., Standard, Infrequent Access); access and metadata requests may incur additional charges

## Detection

- Review if lifecycle management is disabled or not set to transition files after an appropriate period of inactivity

- Evaluate the proportion of files that are infrequently accessed yet stored in the Standard tier

- Check whether the file system is used by workloads with predictable cold data patterns (e.g., logs, archive, ML input files)

- Determine if storage costs are dominated by data that has not been accessed in weeks or months

- Confirm whether business requirements permit longer access latencies for cold data

## Remediation

- Enable EFS lifecycle management with a transition period (e.g., 7, 14, 30 days) aligned to actual data access patterns

- Monitor and periodically review access logs or file activity metrics to refine lifecycle timing

- If access latency is not a concern, consider more aggressive transitions to IA for archival-type data

## Relevant Documentation

[AWS EFS Lifecycle Management](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/efs/latest/ug/lifecycle-management.html)

[Submit Feedback](https://hub.pointfive.co/inefficiencies/missing-intelligent-tiering-on-efs-lifecycle-policy)

## At a glance

Reference

CER-0190

Cloud provider

AWS

Service

AWS EFS

Category

[Storage](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/service-category/storage)

Inefficiency type

Suboptimal Lifecycle Configuration

## Contributed by

- Charles Haile 

### Charles Haile

Procurement and FinOps Manager @ Insurity

[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-haile-730a3676/)

---
Source: the public page above. Product screenshots and illustrative interfaces are examples, not live customer data.