Cloud Digital Leader Google Cloud Products and Services Practice Test 5 — 15 Questions

Question 1

An engineer is troubleshooting a Cloud SQL instance that is running out of memory. They want to reduce memory usage without changing the machine type. Which action would help?

Accepted Answer

Reduce the max_connections flag. In Cloud SQL, each database connection consumes memory for session state, buffers, and per-connection overhead. Reducing the max_connections flag lowers the maximum number of simultaneous connections, directly reducing the memory footprint of the database instance without changing the machine type. This is the most direct lever for memory reduction in this scenario.

Answer

Enable automatic storage increase

Answer

Add a read replica

Answer

Switch from InnoDB to MyISAM

Question 2

A company wants to use a pre-trained model to extract text from scanned invoices. They need a fully managed API that can be called via REST. Which Google Cloud service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Document AI. Document AI is a fully managed service for document processing, including OCR and extraction from invoices. Vision AI is for general image analysis. Natural Language AI handles text sentiment/entities. Vertex AI is a platform for custom models, not pre-built API for invoices.

Answer

Vision AI

Answer

Natural Language AI

Answer

Vertex AI

Question 3

A data analytics team wants to analyze large datasets using SQL and create dashboards with minimal latency. They need a serverless data warehouse and a BI tool. Which two services should they use? (Choose exactly 2.)

Accepted Answer

Looker. BigQuery is a serverless data warehouse for SQL analytics. Looker is a BI platform integrated with BigQuery for dashboards. Dataflow is for data processing, not storage. Cloud Storage is for object storage, not SQL analytics. Looker Studio is free but less feature-rich for enterprise needs.

Answer

Dataflow

Answer

Looker Studio

Answer

Cloud Storage

Question 4

A company runs a batch processing job every hour using Cloud Dataflow. They notice increasing costs and want to optimize. Which three actions would reduce cost? (Choose exactly 3.)

Accepted Answer

Use preemptible VMs for worker nodes. Option A is correct because Dataflow batch jobs can run on preemptible VMs (now called Spot VMs), which cost substantially less than standard Compute Engine instances; Dataflow handles preemption by rescheduling work, making this a standard cost optimization for batch pipelines. Option D is correct because capping the autoscaling maximum number of workers prevents the job from over-provisioning workers during demand spikes, directly limiting the compute cost incurred per run. Option E is correct because Flexible Resource Scheduling (FlexRS) in batch mode uses a mix of preemptible and standard VMs with a delayed, lower-cost scheduling window, reducing the effective cost of batch processing. Option B is not appropriate because a batch Dataflow job terminates on its own when the pipeline finishes, so there is no running job to shut down between hourly runs. Option C is incorrect because switching from batch to streaming keeps workers running continuously and typically increases cost, the opposite of the goal.

Answer

Shut down the Dataflow job between runs

Answer

Switch from batch to streaming mode

Question 5

A startup wants to deploy a containerised web application that scales automatically from zero to handle traffic spikes and charges only for the resources used during request processing. They want to avoid managing servers or Kubernetes clusters. Which compute service should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Run. Cloud Run is a serverless compute platform that runs containers, scales to zero when not in use, and charges for resources used during request processing. It fits the description perfectly.

Answer

Compute Engine

Answer

Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)

Answer

App Engine Standard

Question 6

An engineer is deploying a globally distributed application that requires strong consistency across multiple continents with a 99.999% uptime SLA. The data model is relational with SQL queries. Which database service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Spanner. Cloud Spanner is the only Google Cloud database that provides globally distributed, strongly consistent relational data with a 99.999% SLA.

Answer

Firestore in multi-region mode

Answer

Cloud SQL with cross-region replication

Answer

Bigtable with replication

Question 7

A company runs batch processing jobs on scheduled intervals. They want to minimise costs by using short-lived compute capacity that can be interrupted but offers significant discounts. Which type of Compute Engine VM should they use?

Accepted Answer

Preemptible VMs. Preemptible VMs are short-lived Compute Engine instances that offer up to 60-91% discounts compared to standard VMs but can be terminated by Google at any time with a 30-second notice. They are ideal for batch processing jobs that are fault-tolerant and can be interrupted, matching the requirement to minimize costs with interruptible capacity.

Answer

E2 high-memory VMs

Answer

Sole-tenant nodes

Answer

Confidential VMs

Question 8

Which Google Cloud service provides a serverless data warehouse for running SQL queries on petabyte-scale data with no need to manage infrastructure?

Accepted Answer

BigQuery. BigQuery is a fully managed, serverless data warehouse that supports SQL queries on massive datasets.

Answer

Cloud SQL

Answer

Dataflow

Answer

Pub/Sub

Question 9

A developer needs to trigger a serverless function whenever a new file is uploaded to a Cloud Storage bucket. The function will process the file and store results in Firestore. Which Google Cloud service should they use for the function?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Functions. Cloud Functions is an event-driven serverless compute service that can be triggered by Cloud Storage events.

Answer

App Engine

Answer

Compute Engine

Answer

Cloud Run

Question 10

An organisation must store archival data that is accessed less than once a year. They need the lowest storage cost and can tolerate a retrieval time of several hours. Which Cloud Storage class should they use?

Accepted Answer

Archive. Archive is the correct choice because it is Google Cloud's lowest-cost storage class, designed for data accessed less than once a year. It offers the cheapest per-GB storage price and a minimum storage duration of 365 days, with retrieval times typically ranging from milliseconds to hours depending on the access method. The organisation's requirement for the lowest cost and tolerance for several hours of retrieval time aligns perfectly with Archive's cost-performance profile.

Answer

Coldline

Answer

Nearline

Answer

Standard

Question 11

A data science team needs to train a custom machine learning model using their own data. They want a unified platform that manages the entire ML lifecycle, including data preparation, training, tuning, and deployment. Which service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Vertex AI. Vertex AI is Google Cloud's unified ML platform that covers the full lifecycle from data to deployment.

Answer

AutoML

Answer

AI Platform

Answer

Cloud Functions

Question 12

A company uses Google Workspace for email, documents, and meetings. They want to leverage an AI assistant that can help draft emails, create slides, and summarise meeting notes. Which product provides this functionality?

Accepted Answer

Gemini for Workspace. Gemini for Workspace is an AI assistant integrated into Google Workspace applications like Gmail, Docs, Slides, and Meet. It can help draft emails, create slides, and summarise meeting notes, directly leveraging the context of the user's Workspace data.

Answer

Vertex AI

Answer

Cloud Natural Language

Answer

Dialogflow

Question 13

An engineer needs to distribute incoming HTTP traffic across multiple backend VM instances in different regions, with automatic failover and SSL termination. Which load balancing product should they use?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Load Balancing. Cloud Load Balancing is Google Cloud's fully managed, software-defined load balancing service that supports global anycast IPs, cross-region backend distribution, automatic failover via health checks, and SSL/TLS termination at the load balancer. It handles HTTP(S) traffic across VM instances in multiple regions with a single global IP, which matches every requirement in the scenario.

Answer

Cloud CDN

Answer

Cloud NAT

Answer

Cloud Armor

Question 14

A company wants to migrate its on-premises Oracle database to Google Cloud. They need PostgreSQL compatibility with high performance for transaction processing and built-in support for AI-driven optimisations. Which database service should they choose?

Accepted Answer

AlloyDB. AlloyDB is Google Cloud's fully managed PostgreSQL-compatible database designed for high-performance transactional workloads, with built-in AI-driven optimizations such as adaptive indexing and automatic query tuning. It offers superior performance compared to standard Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL while maintaining full PostgreSQL compatibility.

Answer

Cloud Spanner

Answer

Bigtable

Answer

Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL

Question 15

Which Google Cloud service is used for monitoring and alerting on the performance and health of cloud resources?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Monitoring. Cloud Monitoring is Google Cloud's service for collecting metrics, creating dashboards, and configuring alerts on the performance and health of cloud resources. It integrates with services like Compute Engine, GKE, and Cloud Run to provide visibility and proactive notifications. This directly matches the requirement for monitoring and alerting.

Answer

Cloud Logging

Answer

Cloud Profiler

Answer

Cloud Trace