An insurance startup needs to run a large-scale Monte Carlo simulation every weekend on Google Cloud. The workload can tolerate interruptions and will automatically restart if a virtual machine stops, but keeping compute costs as low as possible is critical and the company does not want a long-term commitment. Which Compute Engine option best meets these requirements?
Standard Compute Engine instances relying on sustained-use discounts
Cloud Functions triggered by events
One-year committed use discounts for regular Compute Engine instances
Preemptible VM instances (now offered as Spot VMs) are significantly discounted-often by 60-91 percent-because Google Cloud can terminate them at any time and always after 24 hours. They are recommended for batch or fault-tolerant jobs that can be restarted, exactly like the described weekend simulation. Standard instances with sustained-use discounts still run at on-demand prices until enough hours accrue, and they do not shut down automatically, so cost is higher for short, bursty jobs. Cloud Functions is a serverless platform designed for short event-driven code executions and cannot handle long-running simulations. Committed use discounts reduce price but require a one- or three-year contract, contradicting the company's desire to avoid long-term commitments. Therefore, choosing preemptible VM instances is the most cost-effective and appropriate solution.
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