Design innovative, scalable, and highly available cloud database solutions →hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
PCDE Practice Question: Design innovative, scalable, and highly available cloud database solutions
A data engineer is migrating a legacy on-premises Oracle data warehouse to Google Cloud. The source schema uses star schemas and advanced Oracle features like materialized views. The target must support real-time data from streaming sources and run complex SQL joins over 50 TB of data with low latency. Which architecture is most appropriate?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common misconception is that AlloyDB or Cloud Spanner can handle large-scale analytics workloads, but the key differentiator is that BigQuery is purpose-built for serverless analytics with streaming ingestion, while the others are primarily transactional databases with limited analytical capabilities at this scale.
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
✓
Migrate to BigQuery and use streaming inserts for real-time data.
BigQuery is the most appropriate target because it supports real-time streaming inserts, can handle complex SQL joins over 50 TB of data with low latency via its columnar storage and distributed query engine, and can replace Oracle materialized views with logical views or scheduled queries. It also natively integrates with streaming sources like Pub/Sub, making it ideal for the real-time data requirement.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Migrate to AlloyDB and use columnar engine for analytics.
Why it's wrong here
AlloyDB is for HTAP, but not typically used as a 50 TB data warehouse.
- ✗
Migrate to Cloud Spanner and use its analytics interface.
Why it's wrong here
Spanner is transactional; not optimized for complex analytical queries on 50 TB.
- ✓
Migrate to BigQuery and use streaming inserts for real-time data.
Why this is correct
BigQuery is a data warehouse that supports streaming and complex queries.
- ✗
Migrate to Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL and use read replicas for analytics.
Why it's wrong here
Cloud SQL is not designed for large-scale data warehousing.
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