Google ACE Planning and Configuring a Cloud Solution Practice Question
An organization has a VPC with private instances that need outbound internet access for software updates. The instances have no external IP addresses. Which Google Cloud service should be configured?
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 NAT
To enable outbound internet access for private VM instances that have no external IP addresses, you configure Cloud NAT. Cloud NAT uses a NAT gateway to provide source network address translation (SNAT) so that instances can reach the internet for updates while remaining unreachable from the internet.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
VPC firewall rules
Why it's wrong here
VPC firewall rules control which traffic is permitted, but they cannot translate a private source address to a routable one, so instances without external IPs still cannot reach the internet. They are tempting because egress rules are a prerequisite for outbound flows. Cloud NAT supplies the missing address translation.
- ✓
Cloud NAT
Why this is correct
Cloud NAT provides outbound internet connectivity for private instances lacking external IP addresses, translating their internal addresses to a shared external one. It satisfies the stem's constraint of no external IPs while enabling software update downloads without inbound exposure.
- ✗
Cloud Load Balancing
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Load Balancing distributes inbound traffic across backends and does not provide outbound address translation for private instances. It is tempting because load balancers are commonly paired with NAT in reference architectures. Outbound internet access from instances lacking external IPs requires Cloud NAT to translate source addresses.
- ✗
Cloud VPN
Why it's wrong here
Cloud VPN provides encrypted connectivity between on-premises networks and a VPC, not address translation for private instances. It is tempting because VPNs do solve private-to-external connectivity, but only for site-to-site or client tunnels. Outbound internet access without external IPs requires Cloud NAT, which performs the source address translation.
Visual reference
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
GCP Organization Policies
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
Organization
An Organization is a top-level container in Google Cloud that represents your company or entities and serves as the root node for all your cloud resources, policies, and access control.
About these practice questions
This ACE question is part of Courseiva's 775-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.