Google ACE Deploying and implementing a cloud solution Practice Question
This ACE practice question tests your understanding of deploying and implementing a cloud solution. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company runs a big data processing pipeline on a Dataproc cluster. To reduce costs, they use a primary cluster with one master node (standard) and 20 worker nodes all using preemptible VMs. Recently, jobs running during peak business hours are failing with 'Task failed' errors. You notice that many preemptible VMs are reclaimed during the middle of these jobs. The jobs are long-running MapReduce tasks that write intermediate results to the cluster's HDFS. What should you do to improve job reliability without significantly increasing costs?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "primary"
Why it matters: Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Enable graceful decommissioning for the preemptible instances.
Option A is correct because enabling graceful decommissioning for preemptible instances allows YARN to handle node loss more gracefully. When a preemptible VM is reclaimed, YARN can wait for running containers to finish before shutting down the node, reducing task failures. This improves job reliability without adding cost, as it leverages existing preemptible VMs more effectively.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
Enable graceful decommissioning for the preemptible instances.
Why this is correct
Allows Dataproc to handle preemptions gracefully by moving tasks before shutdown.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "primary" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Increase the number of preemptible worker nodes to 40.
Why it's wrong here
More nodes increase chance of preemption but don't handle graceful shutdown.
✗
Use a higher preemptible instance type (e.g., n1-highmem-2 instead of n1-standard-2).
Why it's wrong here
Instance type does not affect preemption behavior.
✗
Switch to standard worker nodes with committed use discounts.
Why it's wrong here
Standard nodes are more reliable but increase costs substantially.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that simply adding more preemptible nodes or upgrading instance types will solve reliability issues, when the real solution is to configure graceful decommissioning to handle preemption gracefully.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Graceful decommissioning in Dataproc works by setting the `yarn.resourcemanager.nodes.exclude-on-timeout` property and configuring a decommissioning timeout (e.g., `yarn.resourcemanager.nodemanager-graceful-decommission-timeout-secs`). When a preemptible VM is reclaimed, YARN marks the node as decommissioning and waits for running containers to complete within the timeout, then shuts down the node. This prevents intermediate data loss in HDFS because containers writing to HDFS can finish before the node is removed, which is critical for MapReduce jobs that rely on intermediate data stored locally.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this ACE question in full detail.
Deploying and implementing a cloud solution — This question tests Deploying and implementing a cloud solution — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Enable graceful decommissioning for the preemptible instances. — Option A is correct because enabling graceful decommissioning for preemptible instances allows YARN to handle node loss more gracefully. When a preemptible VM is reclaimed, YARN can wait for running containers to finish before shutting down the node, reducing task failures. This improves job reliability without adding cost, as it leverages existing preemptible VMs more effectively.
What should I do if I get this ACE question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "primary". Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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