20+ practice questions focused on Design and plan a cloud solution architecture — one of the most tested topics on the Google Professional Cloud Architect exam. Each question includes a detailed explanation so you learn why the right answer is correct.
Start Design and plan a cloud solution architecture PracticeA financial services company is designing a multi-tier application on Google Cloud. The application must meet PCI DSS compliance, with data encrypted at rest and in transit. They plan to use Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL for transactional data and Cloud Storage for archival data. Which TWO actions should the architect take to meet compliance requirements?
Explanation: Option C is correct because enabling customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) on Cloud SQL and Cloud Storage gives the organization control over the key lifecycle via Cloud KMS, which PCI DSS auditors typically require for demonstrating ownership and rotation of encryption keys protecting cardholder data at rest. Option D is correct because VPC Service Controls creates a service perimeter around Cloud SQL and Cloud Storage APIs, preventing data exfiltration and unauthorized access from outside the trusted perimeter, which directly supports PCI DSS network and access-control requirements for in-transit protection. Options A, B, and E are not the right choices: client-side encryption (A) adds complexity and does not by itself satisfy the full scope of PCI DSS controls for managed services; relying solely on Google-managed default encryption (B) removes customer control over keys, which auditors often reject; and Cloud HSM with an externally generated key (E) is not required for Cloud SQL/Cloud Storage CMEK and is over-engineered for this scenario.
Refer to the exhibit. An architect created a VM instance using the above command. After the instance starts, the architect tries to access the nginx default page from the internet but gets a timeout. What is the most likely reason?
Explanation: The most likely reason for the timeout is that the VM was created without an external (public) IP address. Without an external IP, the VM is not directly reachable from the internet, even if nginx is running and firewall rules allow HTTP traffic. The timeout occurs because the internet has no route to the VM's private IP address.
A media streaming company is deploying a new video transcoding pipeline on Google Cloud. The pipeline receives raw video files uploaded to Cloud Storage, triggers a Cloud Function that submits transcoding jobs to a Compute Engine worker pool, and stores the transcoded output in another Cloud Storage bucket. The workers are managed by a managed instance group (MIG) running a custom container image. Currently, when there is a spike in uploads, the MIG takes 5-7 minutes to scale up new workers, causing processing delays. The architect needs to reduce the time to add new workers to under 2 minutes. The workers are stateless and the container image is about 2 GB. What should the architect do?
Explanation: Creating a custom Compute Engine image that includes the container runtime and pre-pulls the 2 GB container image eliminates the need to download the image during scale-up. This reduces the instance startup time from 5-7 minutes to under 2 minutes, as the container is already cached locally on the image, bypassing the network pull delay.
A financial services company is designing a multi-region disaster recovery architecture for a critical application. The application runs on Compute Engine with a stateful backend using Cloud Spanner. The Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is 1 hour, and the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is 15 minutes. What architecture meets these requirements cost-effectively?
Explanation: It uses Cloud Spanner's multi-region configuration, which provides synchronous replication across regions with automatic failover, meeting an RPO of 15 minutes (typically seconds) and an RTO of 1 hour. Active-active traffic load balancing with Compute Engine ensures that the application can immediately route traffic to the healthy region, minimizing downtime without the need for manual failover or backup/restore operations.
Match each Google Cloud service to its primary purpose.
Explanation: These are core networking services in GCP. Cloud VPC provides isolated virtual networks, Cloud Load Balancing distributes traffic, Cloud CDN caches content at the edge, and Cloud NAT enables outbound internet for private instances. Common confusion: mixing up VPC and Load Balancing definitions, or CDN and NAT.
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Practice all Design and plan a cloud solution architecture questions1. Baseline your knowledge
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2. Review every explanation
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3. Focus on exam traps
Design and plan a cloud solution architecture questions on the PCA frequently use trap wording. Look for subtle differences in answers that test your precision, not just general knowledge.
4. Reach 80% consistently
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