PDE Maintaining and Automating Data Workloads Practice Question
A company uses BigQuery flat-rate pricing with 500 slots purchased as a committed use discount. During peak hours, they need additional capacity but do not want to buy more committed slots. They have a secondary project used for ad-hoc queries by analysts. How can they provide burst capacity to the primary project during peak times without increasing committed spend?
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
✓
Create flex slots in the secondary project, create a reservation in the secondary project, and assign the reservation to the primary project.
Flex slots provide temporary capacity without long-term commitment. By creating flex slots in a secondary project and assigning the reservation to the primary project, burst capacity is added during peak times without increasing committed spend. Option B is incorrect because autoscaling can be used with committed use reservations, but it does not provide capacity beyond the purchased slots without incurring additional costs; autoscaling on committed use still uses flex pricing. Option C is incorrect because upgrading to Enterprise Plus does not inherently provide burst capacity without additional slots. Option D is incorrect because purchasing additional committed use slots increases committed spend.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create flex slots in the secondary project, create a reservation in the secondary project, and assign the reservation to the primary project.
Why this is correct
Correct. Flex slots are designed for temporary capacity. Creating them in a secondary project and assigning the reservation to the primary project provides burst capacity without committing to additional long-term slots.
- ✗
Enable autoscaling slot management in the primary project's reservation, allowing slots to scale up based on demand.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Autoscaling can be used with committed use reservations to scale slots up to a maximum, but it still requires base committed slots. It does not provide purely temporary capacity without commitment, unlike flex slots.
- ✗
Upgrade the primary project's edition to Enterprise Plus to allow bursting.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Upgrading to Enterprise Plus changes pricing and features but does not directly provide burst capacity without additional spend.
- ✗
Purchase additional committed use slots in the primary project and apply them to the reservation.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Purchasing additional committed use slots increases committed spend, which is what the company wants to avoid.
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