Google Cloud Digital LeaderInfrastructure modernization with Google CloudMedium
A large research institution needs to process massive genomic datasets, often petabytes in size, for complex bioinformatics analysis. These analyses are typically batch jobs that run for several hours to days and require significant computational power, but they are not real-time. The institution wants to minimize costs by paying only for the resources they consume during processing. Which Google Cloud compute service is most appropriate for this workload?
- ACompute Engine with preemptible VMs
- BApp Engine Flexible Environment
- CCloud Functions
- DGoogle Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Autopilot
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Compute Engine with preemptible VMs
Compute Engine with preemptible VMs is ideal for fault-tolerant batch jobs that require significant compute power but can tolerate interruptions, offering substantial cost savings for workloads like large-scale genomic data processing.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. App Engine Flexible Environment is a PaaS for web applications, not typically optimized for large-scale, long-running batch compute jobs with specific VM configurations.
- C. Cloud Functions are for short-lived, event-driven tasks, not long-running petabyte-scale batch processing.
- D. GKE Autopilot manages Kubernetes clusters, but for cost-sensitive, interruptible batch jobs, preemptible VMs on Compute Engine offer a more direct and cost-effective solution.
Preemptible VMs
Low-cost Compute Engine virtual machines that can be terminated by Google Cloud if resources are needed elsewhere, making them suitable for fault-tolerant batch jobs.
- Up to 80% cheaper than standard VMs
- Maximum run time of 24 hours
- Automatically terminate if resources are scarce (preempted)
Memory trick: Preemptible VMs: cheap, powerful, but can vanish like a cloud.