You are managing a small Cloud SQL instance for developers to do testing. The instance is not critical and has a recovery point objective (RPO) of several days. You want to minimize ongoing costs…

Question

Options

• ATake no backups, and turn off transaction log retention.
• BTake one manual backup per day, and turn off transaction log retention.
• CTurn on automated backup, and turn off transaction log retention.
• DTurn on automated backup, and turn on transaction log retention.

• A
  3% (1)
• B
  16% (5)
• C
  71% (22)
• D
  10% (3)

Explanation

For a non-critical instance with an RPO of several days, the goal is minimal cost with adequate protection. Automated backups (rather than manual) reduce operational overhead - they run on a schedule without human intervention. Turning OFF transaction log retention is appropriate here because transaction logs enable PITR (Point-in-Time Recovery), which allows recovery to any second within the retention window. Since the RPO is several days (not hours or minutes), PITR is not needed, and storing transaction logs wastes storage and money. Option A (no backups at all) is too risky even for non-critical environments. Option B (manual backups) increases operational burden unnecessarily. Option D (automated backup + transaction log retention) pays for PITR capability that this instance's RPO doesn't require.

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