Cloud Digital Leader Google Cloud Products and Services — 30 Questions

Question 1

A company needs to store petabytes of time-series IoT sensor data and query it with single-digit millisecond latency at millions of reads per second. The data has a simple key-value structure with timestamps. Which Google Cloud database is MOST appropriate?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Bigtable. Cloud Bigtable is designed for petabyte-scale, low-latency, high-throughput NoSQL storage for time-series, IoT, and financial data. It scales horizontally by adding nodes.

Answer

Cloud Spanner

Answer

BigQuery

Answer

Firestore

Question 2

A developer wants to deploy a containerized web application that can automatically scale to zero when there are no requests, and charges only for resources used during request processing. Which Google Cloud compute service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Run. Cloud Run is a serverless container platform that scales to zero and charges per request. Google Kubernetes Engine and Compute Engine require running instances, and App Engine Standard is a platform as a service but not container-based.

Answer

Compute Engine

Answer

Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)

Answer

App Engine Standard Environment

Question 3

An organization needs to run a batch process every night that analyzes terabytes of data from Cloud Storage and writes results back to BigQuery. The job is not time-sensitive and can be preempted. Which compute approach is most cost-effective?

Accepted Answer

Compute Engine with preemptible VMs. Preemptible VMs on Compute Engine offer the lowest cost for fault-tolerant batch workloads because they are up to 80% cheaper than regular VMs but can be terminated at any time. Cloud Run has a request timeout limit and is not ideal for long-running batch jobs. GKE with preemptible nodes is also cost-effective but requires Kubernetes expertise and is more complex than simply using preemptible VMs. Cloud Functions has a timeout limit.

Answer

Cloud Functions with background trigger

Answer

Google Kubernetes Engine with standard nodes

Answer

Cloud Run with manual scaling

Question 4

Which Google Cloud service provides a fully managed, scalable data warehouse for running SQL queries on petabyte-scale data and supports BI tools like Looker?

Accepted Answer

BigQuery. BigQuery is a serverless data warehouse that scales to petabytes and uses SQL for analytics. Cloud SQL is for OLTP, Cloud Storage is object storage, and Dataflow is for data processing pipelines.

Answer

Cloud SQL

Answer

Cloud Storage

Answer

Dataflow

Question 5

A company wants to migrate its on-premises PostgreSQL database to Google Cloud with minimal application changes. They need high availability and want to leverage AI-powered optimizations for performance. Which service should they choose?

Accepted Answer

AlloyDB. AlloyDB is a fully managed PostgreSQL-compatible database optimized for demanding workloads, with high availability and AI-powered performance features. Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL also supports HA but lacks the AI optimizations. Cloud Spanner is not PostgreSQL-compatible. Bigtable is NoSQL.

Answer

Bigtable

Answer

Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL

Answer

Cloud Spanner

Question 6

A developer needs to run a small piece of Python code that processes a message from Pub/Sub and stores the result in Firestore. The code runs infrequently (a few hundred times per day) and takes less than a second to execute. Which compute service is most cost-effective and simple to manage?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Functions. Cloud Functions is serverless and event-driven, ideal for infrequent short-lived tasks triggered by Pub/Sub. It scales to zero and charges only per invocation. App Engine and Cloud Run require a container or runtime, and Compute Engine requires a running VM.

Answer

Cloud Run

Answer

Compute Engine with preemptible VM

Answer

App Engine Standard Environment

Question 7

What is the primary purpose of Google Cloud Armor?

Accepted Answer

To protect applications from DDoS attacks and application-level threats. Cloud Armor is a web application firewall (WAF) that provides DDoS protection and security rules to protect applications distributed across Google Cloud. Cloud CDN accelerates content, Cloud NAT provides outbound internet access, and VPC is for virtual networking.

Answer

To accelerate content delivery globally

Answer

To provide outbound internet connectivity to private instances

Answer

To manage virtual private cloud networking

Question 8

A data engineer needs to process a continuous stream of clickstream events from a website, perform real-time aggregations (e.g., counts per page per minute), and write the results to BigQuery for dashboarding. Which combination of services should they use?

Accepted Answer

Pub/Sub, Dataflow, BigQuery. Pub/Sub ingests the stream, Dataflow processes real-time aggregations using Apache Beam, and BigQuery stores results. Cloud Functions is not suitable for streaming aggregations. Cloud Storage is for batch, not real-time. Cloud SQL is not for streaming analytics.

Answer

Pub/Sub, Cloud Functions, Cloud SQL

Answer

Cloud Storage, Dataflow, Cloud SQL

Answer

Pub/Sub, Cloud Functions, BigQuery

Question 9

A company is running a stateful web application on Compute Engine with a SQL database. They want to use Cloud Load Balancing to distribute traffic across multiple instances in different zones. The application stores session state locally on each VM. Users report that after being directed to a different instance, their session is lost. What is the most suitable solution to maintain session persistence?

Accepted Answer

Enable session affinity (sticky sessions) on the load balancer. Cloud Load Balancing supports session affinity (sticky sessions) based on client IP or HTTP cookie, which directs a user to the same backend instance. Moving session state to a central database (Cloud SQL) or Memorystore also works but changes the application. Enabling HTTP cookies is a client-side solution not reliable. Using a header-based approach is less common.

Answer

Store session state in Cloud SQL and share across instances

Answer

Configure Cloud CDN to cache session data

Answer

Use a global load balancer with HTTP cookies to track sessions

Question 10

Which Google Cloud service provides a fully managed, scalable NoSQL document database suitable for mobile and web applications with real-time data synchronization?

Accepted Answer

Firestore. Firestore is a document database with real-time syncing and offline support. Bigtable is wide-column, Cloud SQL is relational, and Memorystore is a cache.

Answer

Cloud Bigtable

Answer

Cloud SQL

Answer

Memorystore

Question 11

A team is developing a machine learning model using TensorFlow. They want to train the model on a large dataset stored in Cloud Storage, using GPUs, and then deploy the trained model for online predictions with autoscaling. Which GCP service should they use for the entire workflow?

Accepted Answer

Vertex AI. Vertex AI is a unified ML platform that provides training (with GPU support), model management, and deployment for online predictions with autoscaling. Cloud Functions, AI Platform (now part of Vertex AI), and Compute Engine are not unified end-to-end.

Answer

AI Platform (legacy)

Answer

Cloud Functions

Answer

Compute Engine with pre-installed ML frameworks

Question 12

A company wants to set up a hybrid cloud connection between its on-premises data center and Google Cloud VPC with a dedicated, high-bandwidth, low-latency link. Which service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Interconnect. Cloud Interconnect provides dedicated physical connections between on-premises and Google Cloud. HA VPN is a low-cost alternative but uses the public internet and offers lower bandwidth. Cloud CDN is for content delivery. Cloud NAT is for outbound connectivity.

Answer

Cloud VPN

Answer

Cloud CDN

Answer

Cloud NAT

Question 13

A company runs a critical application on Compute Engine. They need a backup and disaster recovery strategy that includes automated backups and the ability to restore in a different region. Which TWO services should they use together? (Select 2)

Accepted Answer

Persistent Disk snapshots. Persistent Disk snapshots can be used for automated backups. Cloud Storage can store these snapshots in a different region for DR. Cloud SQL is not relevant if the application runs on Compute Engine. Cloud Run is a compute service, not backup. Dataflow is processing.

Answer

Cloud Run

Answer

Dataflow

Answer

Cloud SQL

Question 14

A developer wants to build a CI/CD pipeline that automatically builds a Docker container from a GitHub repository, stores the image securely, and deploys it to Cloud Run. Which THREE services should they integrate? (Select 3)

Accepted Answer

Cloud Build. Cloud Build builds the Docker image, Artifact Registry stores the image, and Cloud Run deploys it. Cloud Storage is for object storage, not container images. Cloud Build triggers can be used with GitHub, but the question asks for services that are part of the pipeline; Cloud Source Repositories is a code repository, not required if using GitHub.

Answer

Cloud Storage

Answer

Cloud Source Repositories

Question 15

A company stores sensitive data in Cloud Storage. They want to restrict access to only users from the company's corporate network (IP range 203.0.113.0/24) and ensure data is encrypted at rest using a customer-managed key. Which TWO configurations are required? (Select 2)

Accepted Answer

Set a bucket policy with an IP address condition. Cloud Storage bucket-level access control with IP-based conditions can restrict access to a specific IP range. CMEK requires Cloud KMS to create and manage the key. Cloud Armor is for HTTP(S) load balancing, not Cloud Storage. VPC Service Controls provide perimeter security but are not IP-based. Cloud NAT is for outbound connectivity.

Answer

Configure Cloud Armor with IP allowlist

Answer

Enable VPC Service Controls

Answer

Configure Cloud NAT

Question 16

A company needs to store petabytes of time-series IoT sensor data and query it with single-digit millisecond latency at millions of reads per second. The data has a simple key-value structure with timestamps. Which Google Cloud database is MOST appropriate?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Bigtable. Cloud Bigtable is designed for exactly this use case — petabyte-scale, low-latency (single-digit ms), high-throughput NoSQL storage for time-series, IoT, and financial data. It scales horizontally by adding nodes. BigQuery is optimised for analytics (seconds-to-minutes latency), Cloud SQL is for OLTP (limited to tens of thousands of QPS), and Firestore is for document data with hierarchical structure.

Answer

Firestore

Answer

BigQuery

Answer

Cloud Spanner

Question 17

A developer wants to deploy a containerized application that can scale down to zero when not in use and charges only for the resources consumed during request processing. Which Google Cloud compute service should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Run. Cloud Run is a serverless container platform that automatically scales to zero and charges per request, making it ideal for intermittent workloads. Compute Engine and GKE require always-on infrastructure. App Engine Flexible also requires at least one instance running.

Answer

Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)

Answer

Compute Engine

Answer

App Engine Flexible Environment

Question 18

A large enterprise is migrating its on-premises data center to Google Cloud. They need a dedicated, low-latency, and highly available connection between their on-premises network and their VPC. Which networking service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Interconnect. Cloud Interconnect provides dedicated, high-bandwidth, low-latency connections with SLAs. Cloud VPN is over the public internet and may not meet strict latency/availability requirements. Load Balancing and CDN are not for connectivity to on-premises.

Answer

Cloud CDN

Answer

Cloud VPN

Answer

Cloud Load Balancing

Question 19

A data engineering team wants to process continuous streams of real-time events from millions of devices, perform transformations, and load the results into BigQuery for analysis. They need a fully managed, serverless solution. Which service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Dataflow. Dataflow is a fully managed, serverless service for stream and batch data processing, with built-in connectors to Pub/Sub and BigQuery. Pub/Sub is for ingestion only, not processing. Cloud Functions is not designed for high-throughput streaming. Dataproc is a managed Hadoop/Spark service, not serverless.

Answer

Dataproc

Answer

Cloud Pub/Sub

Answer

Cloud Functions

Question 20

A startup is building a mobile app and needs to store user profiles and preferences. The data is hierarchical and the app requires real-time synchronization across devices. Which Google Cloud database should they use?

Accepted Answer

Firestore. Firestore is a NoSQL document database designed for mobile apps, with real-time sync and offline support. Cloud SQL and Spanner are relational, not ideal for hierarchical data. Bigtable is for time-series/analytics, not mobile app data.

Answer

Cloud Spanner

Answer

Cloud Bigtable

Answer

Cloud SQL