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Difficulty: MediumPlanning Database Options and Persistent Disk Types

A company is planning the storage architecture for a self-managed relational database running on a Compute Engine virtual machine. The database workload requires SSD-level performance and lower latency than standard magnetic persistent disks, but the cloud engineering team wants a cost-effective option compared to high-performance SSD persistent disks (`pd-ssd`). The storage must persist independently of the VM instance lifecycle and provide standard zonal redundancy. Which storage option should the team select?

  1. Balanced persistent disk (`pd-balanced`)Answer
  2. B
    Local SSD attached to a Spot Compute Engine VM instance
  3. C
    Cloud Bigtable provisioned with a SSD storage cluster
  4. D
    Cloud Storage Coldline bucket mounted using Cloud Storage FUSE

Answer

Balanced persistent disk (`pd-balanced`) is the recommended storage type because it offers SSD-backed performance at a lower cost point than `pd-ssd`, while maintaining persistent zonal durability independent of VM instance lifecycle.
Balanced persistent disk (`pd-balanced`) is specifically designed to bridge the gap between standard magnetic persistent disks (`pd-standard`) and high-performance SSD disks (`pd-ssd`). It provides SSD performance suitable for standard relational databases at a lower price point while ensuring data persistence independent of the Compute Engine VM lifecycle.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze workload storage requirements
Identified the need for persistent, durable block storage suitable for a relational database with SSD performance, lower cost than `pd-ssd`, and independence from VM lifecycle.
Relational database engines require reliable block storage with consistent IOPS and data persistence across VM restarts.
2
Evaluate Google Cloud block storage and database options
Balanced persistent disks (`pd-balanced`) deliver a baseline of SSD performance tailored for standard database workloads at a lower price per gigabyte compared to `pd-ssd`.
Local SSDs are non-persistent/ephemeral, Cloud Bigtable is a NoSQL engine unsuited for relational databases, and Coldline object storage incurs severe latency and retrieval charges when used as active file storage.

Key Concept

Selecting persistent disk types based on database performance, durability, and cost constraints.
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Planning Database Options and Persistent Disk Types

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