Cloud Digital Leader How Google Cloud Resources Are Managed Practice Question

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

• ✓

  Committed use discounts

  Why this is correct

  Committed use discounts require a contractual commitment of 1 or 3 years to a specific amount of vCPUs, memory, and other resources in a region. For stable, predictable workloads that run continuously, this commitment can reduce Compute Engine costs by up to 57%, making it the most cost-effective option among the choices. Unlike sustained use discounts, CUDs lock in a lower price regardless of actual monthly usage, but only if you are willing to commit to a fixed resource level.

• ✗

  Preemptible VMs

  Why it's wrong here

  Preemptible VMs, now also called Spot VMs, are short-lived compute instances that typically run for a maximum of 24 hours and can be terminated by Compute Engine at any time without notice. They are significantly cheaper, but they are designed for batch jobs or fault-tolerant workloads, not for stable, always-on production instances. Because the company's instances experience stable, predictable usage, preemptible VMs would introduce unacceptable risk of interruption.

• ✗

  Sole-tenant nodes

  Why it's wrong here

  Sole-tenant nodes are physical servers that are dedicated to a single customer, providing strong isolation for compliance, security, or existing server-bound license requirements. However, you pay for the entire node per hour regardless of how many instances you place on it, so the cost is usually higher than standard multi-tenant VMs. Sole-tenant nodes are not a cost-discount mechanism; they are an isolation feature, and thus they do not address the need to reduce spending on a stable workload.

• ✗

  Sustained use discounts

  Why it's wrong here

  Sustained use discounts (SUDs) are automatically applied to instances that run for more than 25% of a month, with the discount increasing for hours of usage beyond 25% and up to the full month. These discounts are easy to obtain since they require no commitment, but they are generally smaller than committed use discounts and are applied per machine type and region. For a stable workload, SUDs already apply automatically, but to achieve the maximum possible reduction in cost, a committed use discount would be the better choice.

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