Answer: Managed Instance Group with autoscaling

## Explanation **Correct Answer: A) Managed Instance Group with autoscaling** Managed Instance Groups (MIGs) with autoscaling are the optimal solution for this scenario because: 1. **Auto-scaling based on CPU**: MIGs support autoscaling policies that can scale VMs up or down based on CPU utilization metrics. 2. **Single binary application**: MIGs can deploy identical VM instances with the same application binary across all instances. 3. **Load balancing**: MIGs integrate with Google Cloud load balancers to distribute traffic across healthy instances. 4. **Health checking**: MIGs automatically replace unhealthy instances. 5. **Stateless scaling**: For a single binary application, MIGs provide the simplest scaling solution. **Why other options are incorrect**: - **B) Single VM with cron jobs**: A single VM cannot auto-scale and cron jobs don't provide dynamic scaling based on CPU utilization. - **C) Preemptible VM only**: Preemptible VMs are cost-effective but can be terminated at any time and don't provide auto-scaling capabilities. - **D) GKE cluster**: While GKE can auto-scale, it's designed for containerized applications, not single binary applications running directly on VMs. GKE would add unnecessary complexity for a simple binary application. **Key Takeaway**: For stateless applications that need to scale based on metrics like CPU utilization, Managed Instance Groups with autoscaling are the recommended Google Cloud solution.

Author: Rodrigo Sales