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Google ACE Practice Question: Deploying a microservices application on Google…

A company is deploying a microservices application on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). They want to expose their services to the internet using a single external IP address and route traffic based on the request path. Which resource should they use?

⚠ Common exam trap

Test-takers frequently confuse a Service of type LoadBalancer with an Ingress, thinking that a LoadBalancer can also provide path-based routing, but a LoadBalancer operates at layer 4 (TCP/UDP) and cannot inspect HTTP paths, whereas Ingress operates at layer 7 and is specifically designed for such routing.

Answer choices

Why each option matters

Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.

Correct answer & explanation

✓

An Ingress resource

An Ingress resource is the correct choice because it provides HTTP(S) layer 7 routing, allowing you to expose multiple services behind a single external IP address and route traffic based on request paths (e.g., /api to one service, /web to another). This meets the requirement of using one external IP and path-based routing, which a Service alone cannot achieve.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

  • ✓

    An Ingress resource

    Why this is correct

    An Ingress resource is the Kubernetes API object that manages external HTTP(S) access to services, providing L7 load balancing with path-based and host-based routing. In GKE, it integrates with Google Cloud Load Balancing to expose all microservices through a single external IP address, forwarding requests to the appropriate backend Service based on the URL path. This makes it the correct choice for routing traffic to multiple microservices without creating separate external IPs.

  • ✗

    A Service of type NodePort

    Why it's wrong here

    A Service of type NodePort exposes each microservice on a static port on every node's IP address, such as 10.0.0.5:30000, rather than providing a single external IP. While it does expose the service externally, clients would need to know the IP addresses of all nodes or use an external load balancer in front, defeating the purpose of a unified endpoint. It also does not support path-based routing between different microservices, so it cannot serve as the single entry point for the entire application.

  • ✗

    A Service of type LoadBalancer for each microservice

    Why it's wrong here

    A Service of type LoadBalancer for each microservice would create a separate Google Cloud Load Balancer and a unique external IP address for every service. This approach is inefficient and expensive, and it scatters the application's endpoints across many IPs, requiring clients to manage multiple URLs. Moreover, it completely lacks the path-based routing needed to direct a single request to different microservices based on the URL.

  • ✗

    A Network Endpoint Group (NEG)

    Why it's wrong here

    A Network Endpoint Group (NEG) is a GCP configuration object that represents a collection of endpoints, such as pods or VM instances, and is used as a backend for a Google Cloud load balancer. It is not a Kubernetes resource that provides routing or external access; rather, it serves as a target for a load balancer's backend service. Without an Ingress or a load balancer rule referencing the NEG, it does not expose or route traffic to the microservices at all.

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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security

Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva

This ACE practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the ACE exam.