Which is a key benefit of using OCI Autonomous Data Warehouse?

A key benefit of using OCI Autonomous Data Warehouse is the ability to scale both CPU and storage without experiencing any downtime. This feature is essential for businesses that need to adjust their resources dynamically to meet varying workloads, especially during peak times when data processing demands increase. The seamless scaling capability allows organizations to maintain performance standards and optimize cost efficiency by adjusting resource allocation according to their specific needs, all while ensuring continuous availability of their data warehouse environment.

The other options either do not capture the scalable nature of the service or indicate features that are not aligned with the principles of an autonomous database. For example, maintaining root-level access to the underlying operating systems goes against the autonomous model, which is designed to relieve administrative burden and enhance security by abstracting the infrastructure management. Similarly, not requiring a username and password conflicts with established security practices that are essential for protecting data. Finally, while applying database patches can improve security and performance, the focus on auto-scaling represents a core strength of the Autonomous Data Warehouse in optimizing resource management.