A monthly batch job runs ~30 hours, can run offline, and must restart if interrupted. You want to migrate to the cloud and minimize cost. What should you do?

The correct option is to migrate the workload to a Compute Engine VM and start/stop the instance as needed. This approach directly addresses the requirements for minimizing cost and handling a long-running, interruptible batch job. By stopping the instance when the job is not running, you only pay for the compute resources during the 30 hours of execution, significantly reducing costs compared to a continuously running VM. The ability to restart if interrupted is inherent in a batch job design, where checkpoints or retry mechanisms are typically implemented. Preemptible VMs (both standalone and in GKE) are designed for fault-tolerant workloads that can handle sudden termination. While they offer significant cost savings, their 24-hour maximum run time makes them unsuitable for a 30-hour job. Creating an instance template with Preemptible VMs in a managed instance group is also not appropriate due to the 24-hour preemption limit and the job's duration.