A company wants to reduce costs for a batch analytics job that runs nightly for 4 hours on Compute Engine VMs. The job is fault-tolerant and can handle instance restarts. Which Compute Engine VM pricing model is MOST cost-effective?
Trap 1: 3-year committed use discount (CUD)
Similar to 1-year CUD, a 3-year commitment is too long and inflexible for a batch job that runs only 4 hours per day.
Trap 2: 1-year committed use discount (CUD)
CUDs require a 1-year commitment, which is not flexible for a nightly 4-hour job. They also require consistent usage to be cost-effective.
Trap 3: Sustained use discounts
Sustained use discounts apply automatically but require running a VM for a significant portion of the month. A nightly 4-hour job may not benefit fully.
- A
3-year committed use discount (CUD)
Why wrong: Similar to 1-year CUD, a 3-year commitment is too long and inflexible for a batch job that runs only 4 hours per day.
- B
1-year committed use discount (CUD)
Why wrong: CUDs require a 1-year commitment, which is not flexible for a nightly 4-hour job. They also require consistent usage to be cost-effective.
- C
Sustained use discounts
Why wrong: Sustained use discounts apply automatically but require running a VM for a significant portion of the month. A nightly 4-hour job may not benefit fully.
- D
Preemptible VMs
Preemptible VMs offer the maximum discount (approx. 60-80%) and are designed for fault-tolerant, batch workloads that can be interrupted and restarted.