Google ACE Timed Practice Test 4 — 10 Questions

Question 1

A team has a Docker container image locally and wants to push it to Google Artifact Registry. They've already authenticated Docker with GCP. The registry host is 'us-central1-docker.pkg.dev'. Which commands correctly tag and push the image?

Accepted Answer

docker tag myimage us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/myproject/myrepo/myimage:v1 && docker push us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/myproject/myrepo/myimage:v1. Option A is correct because it uses the standard Docker CLI workflow: first tagging the local image with the full Artifact Registry path (including the registry host, project, repository, and image name with tag), then pushing it. Since the team has already authenticated Docker with GCP, the `docker push` command will authenticate via the Docker credential helper and upload the image to the specified Artifact Registry repository.

Answer

gcloud artifacts docker push myimage --location=us-central1 --repository=myrepo

Answer

docker push gcr.io/myproject/myimage:v1

Answer

gcloud container images push myimage:v1 --region=us-central1

Question 2

A compliance requirement mandates that all VM-to-VM traffic within a GCP project must be encrypted in transit, even for internal VPC traffic. Which feature enforces this for Compute Engine?

Accepted Answer

Mutual TLS (mTLS) enforced at the application layer between VMs. Mutual TLS (mTLS) is the correct answer because it enforces encryption in transit for all VM-to-VM traffic within a GCP project, including internal VPC traffic, by requiring both sides to present certificates and establishing a TLS-encrypted session. GCP's internal mTLS feature, when enabled on a VPC network, automatically encrypts traffic between Compute Engine VMs using TLS 1.2 or higher, regardless of the application layer, ensuring compliance with encryption mandates without requiring application changes.

Answer

Shielded VMs with Secure Boot enabled

Answer

VPC firewall rules denying all non-encrypted traffic

Answer

Enabling VPC Flow Logs on all subnets

Question 3

A cost-conscious team notices their GKE cluster's node pools have consistently high memory utilization (>90%) while CPU remains at 30%. Pods are occasionally OOMKilled. What should they do to balance resource efficiency and stability?

Accepted Answer

Switch node pool machine type to a memory-optimized series (e.g., m2-ultramem) and ensure Pod memory requests are accurate. Option A is correct because the team has a memory-bound workload (high memory utilization, low CPU, OOMKills). Switching to a memory-optimized machine series (e.g., m2-ultramem) provides a higher memory-to-CPU ratio, directly addressing the memory pressure. Ensuring accurate Pod memory requests allows the scheduler to place Pods efficiently and prevents overcommitment, balancing resource efficiency with stability.

Answer

Increase CPU limits for all Pods to use the available CPU capacity

Answer

Enable vertical pod autoscaling (VPA) set to Recreate mode as the only change

Answer

Reduce the number of replica Pods to lower memory consumption

Question 4

A security team discovers that a service account key was accidentally committed to a public GitHub repository 48 hours ago. What should be the immediate steps to remediate this incident?

Accepted Answer

Delete the leaked key immediately, audit Cloud Audit Logs for unauthorized activity using the key, then create a new key or switch to keyless authentication. Option B is correct because the immediate priority is to revoke the compromised key's access by deleting it, which invalidates it instantly. Auditing Cloud Audit Logs is essential to detect any unauthorized usage that occurred during the 48-hour exposure window. Finally, creating a new key or switching to keyless authentication (e.g., workload identity federation) restores secure access without relying on long-lived static credentials.

Answer

Rotate the service account key to generate a new one, keeping the old key active briefly for transition

Answer

Change the service account's display name and email to invalidate the leaked key

Answer

Remove all IAM roles from the service account to deny all actions until the investigation completes

Question 5

A GCP project uses labels extensively for cost attribution across teams. A finance team member needs to add a 'cost-center' label to an existing Compute Engine VM. Which gcloud command applies the label?

Accepted Answer

gcloud compute instances add-labels my-vm --labels=cost-center=finance-ops --zone=us-central1-a. Option B is correct because the `gcloud compute instances add-labels` command is the specific gcloud command designed to add labels to an existing Compute Engine VM. It requires the `--labels` flag with key-value pairs and the `--zone` flag to specify the VM's location, which is necessary for the API call to succeed.

Answer

gcloud compute instances update my-vm --add-label=cost-center=finance-ops

Answer

gcloud label add --resource=my-vm --key=cost-center --value=finance-ops

Answer

gcloud compute instances set-labels my-vm --labels=cost-center=finance-ops

Question 6

A team is deploying a Cloud Function that requires a private environment variable containing an API key. They want the key stored securely and automatically injected at runtime. Which approach follows GCP best practices?

Accepted Answer

Store the key in Secret Manager and reference it as a secret environment variable in the function deployment. Option C is correct because Secret Manager is the GCP-native service designed to securely store API keys and other sensitive data. By referencing a secret as an environment variable in the Cloud Function deployment configuration, the key is automatically decrypted and injected at runtime without exposing it in source code or configuration files. This follows the principle of least privilege and ensures the secret is encrypted at rest and in transit.

Answer

Hardcode the API key in the function source code

Answer

Pass the API key as a plain-text environment variable in the function configuration

Answer

Store the API key in a Cloud Storage bucket and download it at function startup

Question 7

A team's Cloud Storage bucket containing backups has been accidentally made publicly readable. A monitoring alert fires. What is the fastest way to remove public access?

Accepted Answer

Remove the 'allUsers' IAM binding from the bucket using the Console or gcloud/gsutil. Removing the `allUsers` and `allAuthenticatedUsers` IAM bindings from the bucket removes public access. Alternatively, enabling 'Uniform bucket-level access' and removing the public policy achieves the same. For speed, `gsutil iam ch -d allUsers:objectViewer gs://[BUCKET]` or using the Console's Permissions tab is fastest.

Answer

Delete the bucket and recreate it with correct permissions

Answer

Enable VPC Service Controls around Cloud Storage to block all external access

Answer

Apply a Cloud Armor policy to Cloud Storage to block external IPs

Question 8

A team runs a Kubernetes Deployment with 3 replicas behind a Service. They want to expose it externally with HTTPS and route traffic based on URL paths (/api → backend service, / → frontend service). Which Kubernetes resource handles path-based routing at Layer 7?

Accepted Answer

A Kubernetes Ingress resource with path rules. A Kubernetes Ingress resource is the native API object designed for Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS) routing, including path-based routing. It allows you to define rules that map URL paths (e.g., /api, /) to different backend Services, and it typically works with an Ingress controller (e.g., NGINX, HAProxy) that terminates TLS and performs the routing. This directly meets the requirement for external HTTPS exposure and path-based traffic splitting.

Answer

A LoadBalancer Service with path routing rules

Answer

A NodePort Service with iptables path routing rules

Answer

Multiple ClusterIP Services with DNS SRV records for path routing

Question 9

A team's GCP project is approaching its monthly budget. They want to receive an email alert when spending reaches 80% and 100% of the $500 monthly budget. Which GCP feature sends these budget alerts?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Billing budget with alert thresholds set at 80% and 100%. Option C is correct because Cloud Billing budgets are the native GCP feature designed to monitor spending against a budget and send email alerts when actual or forecasted costs exceed user-defined thresholds (e.g., 80% and 100% of $500). This feature is configured directly in the Cloud Console or via the Billing API and automatically triggers notifications without requiring custom code or additional services.

Answer

Cloud Monitoring alerting policy on the billing/cost metric

Answer

A Cloud Scheduler job that queries the Billing API and sends an email when cost exceeds thresholds

Answer

Cloud Logging alert on billing cost log entries

Question 10

A developer accidentally grants the Owner role to a test service account on the production project. The team wants to remove only this specific IAM binding without affecting other members' access. Which gcloud command achieves this?

Accepted Answer

gcloud projects remove-iam-policy-binding [PROJECT] --member=serviceAccount:[SA_EMAIL] --role=roles/owner. Option B is correct because `gcloud projects remove-iam-policy-binding` is the precise command to remove a single IAM binding (member-role pair) from a project's policy without affecting other bindings. It takes the project ID, member (service account email), and role as parameters, ensuring only the specified binding is removed. This command modifies the existing policy by removing only that specific entry, leaving all other IAM bindings intact.

Answer

gcloud projects set-iam-policy [PROJECT] --member=serviceAccount:[SA] --role=roles/owner

Answer

gcloud iam remove-binding --project=[PROJECT] --member=[SA] --role=owner

Answer

gcloud projects delete-member [PROJECT] --member=serviceAccount:[SA_EMAIL]