Google ACE Planning and Configuring a Cloud Solution Practice Question
A company is migrating a legacy monolithic application to Google Cloud. The application has unpredictable traffic patterns and long-running connections. The team wants to minimize operational overhead and only pay for resources when the application is processing requests. Which compute option should they choose?
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
✓
Cloud Run
Cloud Run is a serverless compute platform that scales to zero when not in use, has a per-request billing model, and supports HTTP-triggered container workloads. It can handle long-running connections as long as they stay within the request timeout limit. Cloud Run minimizes operational overhead by eliminating server management and scaling automatically.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Autopilot cluster
Why it's wrong here
GKE Autopilot removes node management but still runs a Kubernetes control plane and bills per vCPU/GiB per pod, not per HTTP request. It can scale down to zero pods only if there is no traffic, but you remain responsible for configuring HPA and maintaining container images, and a single kept-alive pod incurs continuous charges. For a legacy application going serverless, Cloud Run's request-based billing and automatic scale-to-zero make it the superior cost choice for sporadic traffic.
- ✗
Compute Engine with managed instance groups and autoscaling
Why it's wrong here
Compute Engine with managed instance groups autoscales on utilization metrics but requires you to specify a minimum instance count, operate a health-checked fleet of VMs, and handle OS patching, startup scripts, and instance templates. Even a single idle VM keeps billing per second, so the unpredictable traffic pattern with long idle periods leaves you paying for unused capacity. Unlike Cloud Run, there is no per-request pricing model and no built-in scale-to-zero from HTTP traffic alone.
- ✗
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Standard cluster with node autoscaling
Why it's wrong here
GKE Standard gives you full control of the cluster but requires you to manage the control plane, nodes, and autoscaling policies, and you pay for the entire node pool even when pods are idle. Node autoscaling cannot shrink below one node, and each node is billed regardless of utilization, so a single request or a long idle period still incurs node-level costs. This operational overhead and idle-node billing make it harder to match the cost profile of a serverless platform for an unpredictable monolithic workload.
- ✓
Cloud Run
Why this is correct
Cloud Run runs stateless containers in a fully managed environment that scales from zero to the number of concurrent requests and bills only for the CPU, memory, and requests consumed during a request. There is no infrastructure to provision, no idle capacity to pay for, and the platform enforces a request deadline, making it ideal for an HTTP-driven legacy application with unpredictable traffic. Its per-request billing and automatic scaling mean you pay nothing when the service is not being called.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Google Cloud Platform Overview
Key term
Serverless
Serverless is a cloud computing model where the cloud provider manages the servers, and you only pay for the actual compute time your code uses, without having to worry about provisioning or maintaining infrastructure.
Key term
Container
A container is a lightweight, standalone software package that includes everything needed to run an application, such as code, runtime, system tools, and libraries.
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JA
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.