What is the recommended approach for minimizing effort in storing user logs while ensuring compliance with a 3-year retention requirement?

The recommended approach for minimizing effort in storing user logs while ensuring compliance with a 3-year retention requirement is to store the logs in Cloud Logging as custom logs with a custom retention period.

Cloud Logging is a fully managed service that automatically scales and handles the underlying infrastructure, which minimizes management efforts. By utilizing custom logs, you can define specific retention policies aligned with your compliance needs. Setting a custom retention period directly within Cloud Logging allows for easier management of your logs, ensuring they remain available for the full duration required without needing additional manual processes or monitoring.

In contrast, other options may introduce additional management complexity or may not meet the retention requirement effectively. For instance, simply storing logs with bucket lock in Cloud Storage may ensure that they cannot be deleted until the retention period is satisfied, but managing logs and ensuring compliance will likely require more effort and oversight compared to using Cloud Logging with a tailored retention policy.