Professional Data EngineerDesigning data processing systemsEasy

A financial institution is migrating its on-premises data warehouse to Google Cloud. The existing data warehouse contains petabytes of sensitive customer and transaction data that must comply with strict regulatory requirements for data residency, encryption, and access control. The institution needs to perform complex analytical queries on this data while ensuring cost-effectiveness and scalability. Which Google Cloud service is most appropriate for this data warehousing requirement?

  1. ACloud Bigtable
  2. BCloud Spanner
  3. CCloud SQL
  4. DBigQuery
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: D. BigQuery

BigQuery is a fully managed, serverless, and highly scalable data warehouse designed for petabyte-scale analytical queries. It offers robust security features, including encryption at rest and in transit, and granular access control, making it suitable for sensitive financial data and regulatory compliance.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. Cloud Bigtable is a NoSQL wide-column store designed for high-throughput, low-latency operational data, not for complex analytical queries on petabytes of structured data.
  • B. Cloud Spanner is a globally distributed, strong-consistent relational database, but it's optimized for transactional workloads requiring global consistency, not primarily for cost-effective petabyte-scale analytical warehousing.
  • C. Cloud SQL is a relational database primarily for transactional workloads, not petabyte-scale analytical warehousing.

BigQuery for Data Warehousing

A serverless, highly scalable, and cost-effective enterprise data warehouse designed for petabyte-scale analytics, offering robust security and compliance features.

  • Fully managed and serverless.
  • Scales automatically to petabytes.
  • Optimized for analytical queries (OLAP).
  • Strong security features (encryption, IAM, data residency controls).

Memory trick: For a huge data vault, you need a Big Query to find treasures, with strong locks and guards.

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