Google Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer — Question 89

You have a large 5-TB AVRO file stored in a Cloud Storage bucket. Your analysts are proficient only in SQL and need access to the data stored in this file. You want to find a cost-effective way to complete their request as soon as possible. What should you do?

Answer options

• A. Load data in Cloud Datastore and run a SQL query against it.
• B. Create a BigQuery table and load data in BigQuery. Run a SQL query on this table and drop this table after you complete your request.
• C. Create external tables in BigQuery that point to Cloud Storage buckets and run a SQL query on these external tables to complete your request.
• D. Create a Hadoop cluster and copy the AVRO file to NDFS by compressing it. Load the file in a hive table and provide access to your analysts so that they can run SQL queries.

Correct answer: C

Explanation

The correct answer is C because creating external tables in BigQuery allows analysts to run SQL queries directly on the data in Cloud Storage without needing to load it, which is both cost-effective and efficient. Option A is incorrect because Cloud Datastore is not designed for large analytical queries like SQL. Option B is not the best choice since loading large data into BigQuery incurs costs and time, and the table would have to be dropped afterward. Option D involves unnecessary complexity and costs related to setting up a Hadoop cluster.