Cloud Digital Leader Google Cloud Products and Services Practice Question
An organisation needs to run a batch analytics job every night that processes terabytes of data stored in Cloud Storage. The job is expected to run for 3 hours and can tolerate interruptions. The compute resources should be as cost-effective as possible. Which Compute Engine VM type should be used?
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
✓
Preemptible VMs
Preemptible VMs are significantly cheaper than standard VMs and are ideal for batch jobs that can tolerate interruptions. They can be preempted at any time but can be restarted. Standard VMs are for long-running, fault-intolerant workloads. Sole-tenant nodes are for compliance, not cost savings. Custom machine types allow tailoring resources but do not inherently save cost like preemptible VMs.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Standard (on-demand) VMs
Why it's wrong here
On-demand VMs are billed at the full list price per second and provide a guaranteed, uninterrupted instance. For a nightly batch analytics job that is fault-tolerant by design, paying for this high-availability guarantee is wasteful. The same compute capacity is available from preemptible VMs at a significantly lower cost, making on-demand VMs an uneconomical choice for this use case.
- ✗
Custom machine types
Why it's wrong here
Custom machine types allow you to fine-tune the vCPU and memory allocation, which can help eliminate over-provisioning and reduce cost through right-sizing. However, these instances still run at standard on-demand rates and receive no discount for interruptibility. While resource flexibility is useful, custom machine types do not address the need for low-cost, interruptible compute that preemptible VMs offer.
- ✓
Preemptible VMs
Why this is correct
Preemptible VMs offer up to an 80% discount compared to on-demand instances but may be terminated by Compute Engine at any time, with a maximum runtime of 24 hours. Since the nightly analytics job is batch-oriented and fault-tolerant, it can handle these interruptions via restart or checkpointing, making preemptible VMs the most cost-effective and appropriate choice. This aligns the compute pricing model with the workload's tolerance for interruption.
- ✗
Sole-tenant nodes
Why it's wrong here
Sole-tenant nodes dedicate entire physical servers to your project, providing hardware isolation that is required for certain licensing, compliance, or regulatory scenarios. They do not inherently reduce compute costs and often entail a higher price than regular on-demand VMs. Since the organisation's primary concern is cost-effectiveness for an interruptible nightly job, sole-tenant nodes introduce unnecessary expense and complexity without any benefit.
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Key term
Data
Data is raw, unprocessed information, like numbers, words, or measurements, that can be stored, processed, and analyzed by computers.
Key term
General Data Protection Regulation
A European Union law that gives individuals control over their personal data and sets strict rules for how organizations collect, store, and process that data.
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