Preemptible and Spot VMs in GCP - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ service_behavior

intermediate

Behavior of Preemptible VMs on GCP

What happens to a Google Cloud preemptible VM when Google needs the resources back?

A The VM is terminated with a 30-second preemption notice and cannot be restarted.

B The VM is stopped and can be restarted later manually.

C The VM is paused and resumes automatically when resources are free.

D The VM is migrated live to another host without downtime.

💡 Hint

Think about how preemptible VMs are designed for cost savings but with limited availability.

Preemptible VMs are terminated with a 30-second preemption notice when Google reclaims resources. They cannot be restarted and are meant for fault-tolerant workloads.

❓ Architecture

intermediate

Best Use Case for Spot VMs

Which workload is best suited to run on Google Cloud Spot VMs?

A A critical database server requiring high availability.

B A web server handling live user traffic with low latency needs.

C A stateful application storing user session data.

D Batch processing jobs that can be restarted if interrupted.

💡 Hint

Consider the interruption nature of Spot VMs and which workloads tolerate it.

Spot VMs are ideal for batch jobs that can be restarted because they may be interrupted when resources are reclaimed.

❓ security

advanced

Security Implications of Using Preemptible VMs

Which security risk is most relevant when using preemptible VMs in Google Cloud?

A Increased risk of VM hijacking due to longer uptime.

B Data loss due to unexpected VM termination without shutdown.

C Exposure to network attacks because preemptible VMs bypass firewalls.

D Automatic disabling of encryption on preemptible VM disks.

💡 Hint

Think about what happens when a preemptible VM is stopped abruptly.

Because preemptible VMs can be terminated with only a 30-second warning, unsaved data in memory or local disks may be lost, posing a data loss risk.

✅ Best Practice

advanced

Handling Spot VM Interruptions Gracefully

What is the best practice to handle interruptions of Spot VMs in Google Cloud?

A Use a shutdown script to save state and shut down cleanly on interruption notice.

B Disable automatic updates to prevent VM restarts during Spot interruptions.

C Manually monitor VM status and restart interrupted VMs yourself.

D Ignore interruptions since Spot VMs never send warnings before termination.

💡 Hint

Spot VMs provide a short warning before termination. How can you use that?

Spot VMs send a 30-second termination notice. Using a shutdown script to save state allows graceful handling of interruptions.

🧠 Conceptual

expert

Difference Between Preemptible and Spot VMs

Which statement correctly describes a key difference between Google Cloud Preemptible VMs and Spot VMs?

A Spot VMs cannot be used with managed instance groups; Preemptible VMs can.

B Spot VMs are always cheaper than Preemptible VMs and never get interrupted.

C Preemptible VMs have a fixed maximum runtime of 24 hours; Spot VMs do not have a fixed maximum runtime.

D Preemptible VMs support live migration; Spot VMs do not.

💡 Hint

Consider runtime limits and interruption behavior differences.

Preemptible VMs have a maximum runtime of 24 hours and are terminated after that. Spot VMs do not have this fixed limit but can be interrupted anytime.