QuestionQ296

Analyzing and optimizing technical and business processes

Your product team is developing a critical, customer-facing application on Google Cloud. The development team wants to use Spanner for its database to benefit from its horizontal scalability and low operational overhead. However, the FinOps team is concerned about Spanner's direct monthly cost and has proposed using a self-managed PostgreSQL database on Compute Engine VMs instead.

You need to resolve this conflict and ensure the project proceeds with an architecturally sound database selection that balances technical requirements and financial constraints. What should you do?

  • A Provide the development team with a reference architecture for deploying a highly available PostgreSQL cluster on a regional managed instance group (MIG).
  • B Suggest using Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL as a compromise to get a managed service at a lower cost than Spanner.
  • C Develop a total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis that includes operational overhead, and present it in a workshop to facilitate a decision.
  • D Cite the reliability and performance optimization pillars of the Google Cloud Well-Architected Framework to formally justify the use of Spanner.
Explanation

A total cost of ownership analysis compares more than direct database charges: it accounts for compute, storage, network, one-time costs, and continuing operational expenses. This enables a fact-based workshop decision that weighs Spanner's managed scalability and operational benefits against the cost and operational burden of a self-managed PostgreSQL deployment.

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