Google ACE Practice Question: Ensuring Successful Operation of a Cloud Solution
You have a Compute Engine VM that is running a critical application. You need to change its machine type from n1-standard-4 to n2-standard-8. What is the correct procedure?
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
✓
Stop the instance, then use gcloud compute instances set-machine-type, then start the instance
To change the machine type of a VM, you must stop the instance first, then use the gcloud compute instances set-machine-type command, and finally start the instance again.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Stop the instance, then use gcloud compute instances set-machine-type, then start the instance
Why this is correct
Stopping the instance first moves it to the TERMINATED state, where the underlying vCPU/memory allocation can be changed. The `gcloud compute instances set-machine-type` command only works on a stopped instance, so stopping, changing, then starting is the documented, supported path. This preserves the boot disk, persistent disks, static IP, and all instance metadata.
- ✗
Use gcloud compute instances update --machine-type n2-standard-8 while the instance is running
Why it's wrong here
The `gcloud compute instances update` command does not have a `--machine-type` flag; machine type changes are handled by the dedicated `set-machine-type` subcommand. Even if the flag existed, GCP does not allow resizing a running VM's machine type because the instance must be stopped first. Attempting this would result in an error and leave the instance unchanged.
- ✗
Delete the instance and create a new one with the desired machine type
Why it's wrong here
Deleting and recreating the instance will work but is needlessly destructive and wasteful. You would have to detach or preserve persistent disks, re-apply metadata, tags, service accounts, and IAM policies, and reassign static IPs. The supported `set-machine-type` workflow accomplishes the same change in minutes without deleting the instance or losing its configuration and state.
- ✗
Use gcloud compute instances resize --machine-type n2-standard-8 without stopping
Why it's wrong here
There is no `gcloud compute instances resize` command for VM machine types; `resize` is instead used for managed instance groups or persistent disks. The only way to change a machine type is `gcloud compute instances set-machine-type`, which requires the instance to be stopped first. Running the nonexistent `resize` command against a running instance would fail immediately and perform no change.
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Google Compute Engine
Key term
Machine type
A machine type defines the virtual hardware resources (vCPU, memory, and sometimes GPU) assigned to a virtual machine instance in a cloud computing environment.
Key term
Compute Engine
Compute Engine is Google Cloud's Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering that lets you create and run virtual machines on Google's infrastructure.
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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.