Professional Data EngineerEnsuring solution qualityHard
A global marketing analytics team uses BigQuery for ad-hoc analysis and reporting. They frequently run complex queries that scan petabytes of data, leading to high unpredictable costs under the on-demand pricing model. The team needs to optimize costs while ensuring sufficient compute capacity for their analytical workloads, which have fluctuating peak demands. They want to avoid large, fixed monthly commitments if possible. Which BigQuery pricing model and feature combination offers the best balance of cost predictability, flexibility, and performance for this scenario?
- AAnnual commitment Flat-Rate pricing
- BBigQuery BI Engine with on-demand pricing
- CFlex Slots with Flat-Rate pricing
- DOn-demand pricing with query cost limits
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Flex Slots with Flat-Rate pricing
Flex Slots, part of Flat-Rate pricing, offer hourly commitments, providing more flexibility than annual commitments while still giving cost predictability and dedicated compute capacity. This allows the team to provision slots for peak demand periods and release them when not needed, balancing cost optimization with performance without the unpredictable costs of on-demand or the long-term commitment of annual flat-rate.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Annual commitment Flat-Rate pricing offers predictability but lacks the flexibility needed for fluctuating peak demands by requiring a long-term, fixed commitment.
- B. BI Engine accelerates interactive queries but doesn't address the overall cost predictability or scalable compute capacity for petabyte-scale ad-hoc analysis.
- D. On-demand pricing is unpredictable, and query cost limits only stop queries, not optimize the underlying cost or provide performance guarantees.
BigQuery Flex Slots
An hourly commitment option for BigQuery Flat-Rate pricing that allows users to purchase dedicated compute capacity (slots) on an hourly basis.
- Offers more flexibility than annual/monthly commitments.
- Provides cost predictability and dedicated performance for peak loads.
- Ideal for fluctuating workloads or testing Flat-Rate pricing.
Memory trick: Flex For Fluctuating Futures.