Google PCA Practice Question: Analysing and Optimising Technical and Business Processes
A company runs batch analytics workloads each night on Compute Engine VMs. The workloads are fault-tolerant and can be interrupted. The finance team wants to reduce compute costs. Which Compute Engine pricing model should they use?
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 offer the deepest discount (up to 91% off regular pricing) and are perfect for batch, fault-tolerant workloads that can be interrupted. Committed use discounts are for long-term, steady-state usage; sustained use discounts are automatic but smaller; and sole-tenant nodes are for isolation, not cost savings.
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 (1-year or 3-year)
Why it's wrong here
Committed use discounts are for predictable, steady-state workloads, not interruptible batch jobs.
- ✓
Preemptible VMs
Why this is correct
Preemptible VMs are ideal for fault-tolerant batch workloads because they cost much less and can be interrupted.
- ✗
Sustained use discounts
Why it's wrong here
Sustained use discounts are automatic but provide smaller discounts than preemptible VMs.
- ✗
Sole-tenant nodes
Why it's wrong here
Sole-tenant nodes are for compliance or licensing needs, not cost optimization.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Google Cloud Compute Options Overview
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.
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.
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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.