Google ACE Planning and Configuring a Cloud Solution Practice Question
A company wants to migrate an on-premises PostgreSQL database to Google Cloud. They require automated backups, point-in-time recovery, and a 99.95% availability SLA. Which service 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 SQL for PostgreSQL
Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL provides automated backups, point-in-time recovery (PITR), and a 99.95% SLA for single-zone instances. It is fully managed, reducing operational overhead.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Compute Engine with self-managed PostgreSQL
Why it's wrong here
Running PostgreSQL on Compute Engine places the burden of installation, patching, replication, and backups entirely on your team. You must build your own automated backup and point-in-time recovery (PITR) workflow, and operational best practices are manual. Google provides no managed SLA for the database itself; any 99.95% uptime requirement would depend solely on your architecture and maintenance procedures.
- ✓
Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL
Why this is correct
Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL is the managed relational database service natively compatible with PostgreSQL, so your existing schema, queries, and tools carry over. It automates daily backups with transaction log-based PITR by default, offers high availability via a regional failover replica, and carries a 99.95% SLA for the Standard and Enterprise editions. This directly satisfies the stated requirements without requiring you to operate the database infrastructure.
- ✗
Cloud SQL for MySQL
Why it's wrong here
Cloud SQL for MySQL runs a different database engine, so it does not meet the explicit requirement to migrate an existing PostgreSQL database. While Cloud SQL provides managed backups and PITR, choosing MySQL would force you to rewrite schema, SQL queries, stored procedures, and application integrations, with risks of subtle behavioral incompatibilities. The engine name alone makes this option wrong regardless of backup or SLA features.
- ✗
Cloud Spanner
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Spanner is a horizontally scalable, globally distributed relational database that offers strong consistency and a very high SLA, but it is designed for multi-region or sharded workloads. For a simple PostgreSQL migration, Spanner introduces unnecessary operational complexity, a different SQL dialect, and significantly higher cost per vCPU and storage. Its architecture and pricing are overkill for a single-source on-premises migration that Cloud SQL can handle.
Go deeper
Related to this question
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Google Cloud Platform Overview
Key term
Service
A service is a software component or system that performs a specific function and is available to be used by other programs or users over a network.
Key term
Cloud SQL
Cloud SQL is a fully managed relational database service that lets you set up, maintain, and scale SQL databases (like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server) in the cloud without managing the underlying infrastructure.
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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.