Cloud Digital Leader Scaling with Google Cloud operations Practice Question
A company wants to reduce its Google Cloud costs without reducing its workload capacity. The team identifies that several production VMs consistently use less than 30% of their allocated CPU and memory. What is the most straightforward cost optimization action?
⚠ Common exam trap
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that deleting under-utilized VMs is the simplest cost-saving action, but the question explicitly states workload capacity must be maintained, making right-sizing the correct approach.
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
✓
Right-size the VMs by migrating to smaller machine types that match actual CPU and memory consumption, reducing costs proportionally
Right-sizing VMs by migrating to smaller machine types that match actual CPU and memory consumption directly reduces the cost per hour while maintaining the same workload capacity. Since the VMs are consistently under-utilized, this approach eliminates wasted resources without affecting performance or availability.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Delete the under-utilized VMs since low utilization indicates they are no longer needed
Why it's wrong here
Low CPU or memory utilization does not indicate that a VM is unused; it indicates that the VM is over-provisioned relative to its actual workload. The application or service continues to run on that VM and requires a certain baseline of resources to operate correctly, so deleting the VM would cause an outage or service disruption. Instead of deletion, you should right-size by resizing to a smaller machine type that still meets the performance and capacity requirements, preserving workload availability while reducing cost.
- ✓
Right-size the VMs by migrating to smaller machine types that match actual CPU and memory consumption, reducing costs proportionally
Why this is correct
Right-sizing is the direct action. If VMs use 30% of their resources, a smaller machine type that provides the resources actually needed (with some headroom for spikes) costs significantly less. Active Assist proactively surfaces right-sizing recommendations with projected savings.
- ✗
Purchase Committed Use Discounts for the over-provisioned VMs to reduce their per-hour cost
Why it's wrong here
CUDs reduce the hourly rate but not the fact that you're paying for over-provisioned resources. You'd be committing to paying for idle capacity at a discount — better than full price, but right-sizing eliminates the idle capacity altogether.
- ✗
Enable sustained use discounts by ensuring VMs run continuously throughout the month
Why it's wrong here
Sustained Use Discounts apply automatically for VMs that run 25%+ of a month — they don't require any action. They also don't address the over-provisioning problem; they reduce the rate on the same over-sized machine.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Cloud Digital Transformation
Key term
Google Cloud
Google Cloud is a suite of cloud computing services offered by Google that provides infrastructure, platform, and software solutions over the internet.
Key term
Availability
Availability is the measure of how often a system or service is operational and accessible when needed, typically expressed as a percentage of uptime.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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