Cloud Digital Leader How Google Cloud Resources Are Managed Practice Question
A company needs to reduce costs on Compute Engine instances that run batch jobs for varying durations. They can tolerate interruptions and do not require a specific uptime guarantee. Which TWO instance types or purchasing options should they consider? (Choose 2)
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Spot VMs
Preemptible VMs can be terminated at any time but are significantly cheaper, suitable for fault-tolerant batch jobs. Spot VMs are similar to preemptible but with no maximum runtime and often lower price. Both are ideal for batch workloads that can handle interruptions.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Sole-tenant nodes
Why it's wrong here
Sole-tenant nodes do not reduce compute costs; they are dedicated physical servers that isolate your VM instances for compliance or licensing reasons. You pay a premium for the entire node even if it's underutilized, making them more expensive than regular instances, so they are unsuitable for a cost-reduction initiative.
- ✓
Spot VMs
Why this is correct
Spot VMs are the modern replacement for preemptible VMs, offering discounts of 60-91% without a maximum runtime cap. They can be terminated by Compute Engine at any time (with a 30-second warning) when capacity is needed, making them ideal for fault-tolerant and batch workloads that can be checkpointed and resumed, directly reducing costs.
- ✓
Preemptible VMs
Why this is correct
Preemptible VMs are the legacy version of Spot VMs, also offering steep discounts (60-91%) but with a hard 24-hour maximum lifetime. Because they are terminated after 24 hours or when capacity is reclaimed, they work well for short-lived batch jobs that can be restarted, but they are less flexible than Spot VMs for longer-running fault-tolerant tasks.
- ✗
Committed use discounts
Why it's wrong here
Committed use discounts (CUDs) require a contract to pay for a fixed amount of vCPUs, memory, or GPUs for 1 or 3 years in exchange for up to 70% off on-demand pricing. They are designed for predictable, steady-state workloads, not for batch jobs with varying durations, because you are committed to paying for resources you may not fully use, which does not align with intermittent cost savings.
- ✗
Sustained use discounts
Why it's wrong here
Sustained use discounts (SUDs) are automatically applied to instances that run for more than 25% of the month, increasing incrementally up to 30% off. However, batch jobs that are short-lived, sporadic, or terminated early may not accumulate enough monthly utilization to trigger the discount, so they provide unreliable savings for the described need.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Compute Options on Google Cloud
Key term
Compute Engine
Compute Engine is Google Cloud's Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering that lets you create and run virtual machines on Google's infrastructure.
Key term
Batch
Batch is a cloud computing service that runs large numbers of computing jobs as a group, or batch, without needing to manage individual servers.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This GCDL practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the GCDL exam.