Question

Difficulty: HardEstimating GCP Costs with the Pricing Calculator

An organization is using the Google Cloud Pricing Calculator to build a monthly cost estimate for an enterprise financial reporting architecture. The workload consists of 24/7 database virtual machines, hourly batch analytics running on Compute Engine Spot VMs, and audit log files stored in Standard Cloud Storage that transition to Coldline Storage after 30 days. Which two statements accurately describe how cost rules and discount mechanics should be accounted for in the pricing calculator? (Select TWO.)

  1. Sustained Use Discounts (SUDs) are automatically calculated for eligible 24/7 Compute Engine instances, whereas Committed Use Discounts (CUDs) must be manually selected with a 1-year or 3-year commitment term.Answer
  2. Estimates for storage costs must factor in minimum storage duration fees if Coldline Storage objects are deleted, overwritten, or moved before 90 days.Answer
  3. C
    Spot VM instances automatically accumulate Sustained Use Discounts (SUDs) in the calculator when total batch worker runtime exceeds 25% of the billing month.
  4. D
    Transitioning log objects to Coldline Storage eliminates data retrieval charges when reading reports for annual auditing.

Answer

The correct statements are that Sustained Use Discounts are automatically applied to eligible 24/7 instances while Committed Use Discounts require explicit contract selection, and that Coldline Storage incurs minimum duration penalties if data is removed or overwritten before 90 days.
Sustained Use Discounts are automatically applied by the Google Cloud Pricing Calculator to eligible vCPUs and memory running for more than 25% of a month, while Committed Use Discounts must be manually specified for 1-year or 3-year periods. Furthermore, Coldline Storage carries a minimum retention policy of 90 days; deleting or modifying data before this period results in early deletion fee charges.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Evaluate Compute Engine discount mechanics in the GCP Pricing Calculator.
Sustained Use Discounts (SUDs) apply automatically for sustained usage on supported machine types, whereas Committed Use Discounts (CUDs) require selecting a 1-year or 3-year term commitment. Spot VMs receive fixed low pricing and cannot stack SUDs or CUDs.
Accurate cost modeling requires knowing which discounts are calculated automatically versus those requiring contractual selection or specific instance types.
2
Analyze Cloud Storage lifecycle transition pricing rules.
Coldline Storage has lower base storage costs per GB/month but incurs data retrieval fees per GB read and enforces a 90-day minimum storage duration commitment.
Moving objects to colder tiers reduces passive storage pricing but introduces retrieval costs and early deletion penalties if objects are accessed or removed within 90 days.

Key Concept

Estimating GCP Costs with the Pricing Calculator
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