Google PCA Practice Question: Managing and Provisioning a Solution Infrastructure
A company runs a batch processing workload on Compute Engine instances that read from Cloud Storage and write results to BigQuery. The instances are launched via a managed instance group (MIG) and each job takes about 30 minutes. The company wants to reduce costs without sacrificing performance. What is the most cost-effective way to provision these instances?
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
✓
Use preemptible VMs
Preemptible VMs are up to 80% cheaper than regular VMs and are ideal for batch workloads that can tolerate interruptions. The job can be designed to checkpoint progress and restart on a new VM if preempted. Regular VMs are more expensive, sole-tenant nodes are for isolation requirements, and CUDs offer discounts for committed use but may not be as cost-effective for short-lived batch jobs.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use sole-tenant nodes
Why it's wrong here
Sole-tenant nodes are for hardware isolation and are more expensive.
- ✗
Use standard (on-demand) VMs
Why it's wrong here
On-demand VMs are more expensive than preemptible VMs for batch workloads.
- ✓
Use preemptible VMs
Why this is correct
Preemptible VMs provide significant cost savings for fault-tolerant batch jobs.
- ✗
Use committed use discounts (CUDs) with 1-year commitment
Why it's wrong here
CUDs require a commitment; if the workload is not constant, preemptible VMs are more cost-effective.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to Google Cloud Platform
Key term
Managed instance group
A managed instance group is a collection of identical virtual machine instances that are automatically managed as a single unit to ensure high availability and scalability.
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 PCA 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 PCA exam.