A healthcare analytics company needs to migrate 500 TB of static medical imaging data from… — Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect

A healthcare analytics company needs to migrate 500 TB of static medical imaging data from an on-premises storage system to a Cloud Storage bucket in Google Cloud. The company has a dedicated outbound network link of only 20 Mbps and must complete the initial bulk transfer within two weeks. Which Google Cloud solution should the Cloud Architect recommend?

Transfer ApplianceAnswer
B
Storage Transfer Service
C
Dedicated Interconnect
D
VPC Service Controls

Answer

Transfer Appliance is the optimal solution because it enables physical, offline data migration of 500 TB without depending on the limited 20 Mbps network connection.

Transfer Appliance is a physical storage appliance provided by Google Cloud for offline data migration. When available network bandwidth is low (e.g., 20 Mbps) and the dataset size is large (500 TB), online transfer methods are unfeasible. Ordering a Transfer Appliance allows data to be copied locally at high speeds and physically shipped to Google Cloud for fast ingestion.

Step-by-Step Solution

Calculate required network transfer time for 500 TB over 20 Mbps

Network transfer time equals approximately

500 \text{ TB} / 20 \text{ Mbps} \approx 200,000,000 \text{ seconds} \approx 2,314 \text{ days}

, which vastly exceeds the 2-week requirement.

Evaluating bandwidth limitations proves that an online network transfer is mathematically unfeasible.

Select an offline data migration strategy

Google Cloud Transfer Appliance provides a physical storage device shipped to the data center to copy data locally and physically ship it to a Google upload facility.

Offline shipping bypasses network bandwidth constraints entirely, enabling completion within days.

Key Concept

Selecting offline vs. online data transfer mechanisms based on dataset size and network bandwidth constraints.

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