Professional Cloud ArchitectAnalyze and optimize technical and business processesEasy
A media streaming company uses Compute Engine instances for its video transcoding pipeline. The workload consists of many independent, short-lived tasks that can be interrupted and restarted without significant data loss. The company wants to significantly reduce compute costs while maintaining high throughput. Which Compute Engine instance type should they primarily utilize for this workload?
- APreemptible VMs (PVMs).
- BConfidential VMs.
- CStandard Compute Engine instances.
- DSole-tenant nodes.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Preemptible VMs (PVMs).
Preemptible VMs (PVMs) are significantly cheaper than standard VMs and are ideal for fault-tolerant, batch jobs that can handle preemption. Video transcoding tasks, being independent and restartable, fit this profile perfectly, allowing the company to reduce compute costs while maintaining high throughput.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Confidential VMs provide advanced data encryption in use, which is a security feature, not a cost-optimization strategy for interruptible workloads.
- C. Standard Compute Engine instances offer sustained performance and are not subject to preemption, but they are significantly more expensive than PVMs, which goes against the goal of significantly reducing compute costs for interruptible workloads.
- D. Sole-tenant nodes provide dedicated physical servers, offering isolation and specific licensing benefits, but they are generally more expensive and not intended for cost optimization of interruptible batch workloads.
Preemptible VMs (PVMs)
Preemptible VMs are Compute Engine instances that run at a much lower price than standard VMs but can be preempted (terminated) by Compute Engine if resources are needed elsewhere.
- Up to 80% cheaper than standard VMs.
- Ideal for fault-tolerant, batch, or stateless workloads.
- Instances are guaranteed to run for at least 30 seconds after preemption notification.
- Maximum run time of 24 hours, but can be preempted sooner.
Memory trick: Preemptible's the way, for tasks that can wait, save big today!