Cloud Engineer Cloud Engineer Cost Optimization & Resource Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which Cloud Storage class is most cost-effective for data accessed less than once a year?
- Standard
- Nearline
- Coldline
- Archive (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Archive
Archive storage has the lowest storage cost but highest retrieval cost, designed for data accessed fewer than once per year such as long-term backups and disaster recovery.
Question 2: What is the primary benefit of using custom machine types in Compute Engine?
- They provide faster network performance
- They allow you to specify exact vCPU and memory ratios to avoid paying for unused resources (Correct answer)
- They qualify for automatic Committed Use Discounts
- They support GPUs by default
Correct answer: They allow you to specify exact vCPU and memory ratios to avoid paying for unused resources
Custom machine types let you choose the exact number of vCPUs and amount of memory your workload needs, avoiding the waste of over-provisioning with fixed predefined machine types.
Question 3: Which BigQuery feature eliminates the need to manage cluster sizing and charges only for data scanned?
- BigQuery Reservations (flat-rate pricing)
- BigQuery on-demand pricing (Correct answer)
- BigQuery BI Engine
- BigQuery Omni
Correct answer: BigQuery on-demand pricing
BigQuery on-demand pricing charges per TB of data scanned, with no infrastructure to manage, making it cost-efficient for variable or unpredictable query workloads.
Question 4: What GCP feature allows you to export detailed billing data to BigQuery for advanced cost analysis?
- Cloud Monitoring metrics export
- Cloud Billing data export to BigQuery (Correct answer)
- Pub/Sub billing notifications
- Cloud Logging sinks
Correct answer: Cloud Billing data export to BigQuery
Cloud Billing export to BigQuery streams all billing data (usage, cost, credits) into a BigQuery dataset for custom queries, dashboards, and cost allocation reports.
Question 5: A team deployed several test VMs that are now idle. Which GCP tool will proactively identify these idle VMs and suggest deleting them?
- Cloud Trace
- Cloud Billing cost table
- Google Cloud Recommender (idle VM recommendation) (Correct answer)
- Cloud Monitoring uptime checks
Correct answer: Google Cloud Recommender (idle VM recommendation)
Google Cloud Recommender provides idle VM recommendations by identifying instances with low CPU utilization over a rolling 14-day window and suggesting they be stopped or deleted.
Question 6: What is a GCP Commitment (CUD) applied to in terms of scope?
- A single VM instance
- A billing account across all projects
- A specific project
- A specific region and machine family (Correct answer)
Correct answer: A specific region and machine family
Committed Use Discounts are scoped to a specific region and machine family (e.g., N2 in us-central1), and the discount applies to any matching usage within that scope.
Cloud Engineer Cloud Engineer Cost Optimization & Resource Management 2
Which Cloud Storage class is most cost-effective for data accessed less than once a year?