Google ACE Practice Question: Ensuring Successful Operation of a Cloud Solution
Your team manages a Compute Engine instance group that runs a stateless web application. You need to ensure that instances are automatically repaired if they fail health checks, and that the group scales based on CPU utilization. Which type of instance group should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that any instance group can autoheal, when in fact only managed instance groups provide that capability.
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
✓
Managed instance group
A managed instance group (MIG) is designed to automate the lifecycle of identical instances. It uses an instance template to create instances and can be configured with autohealing based on health checks, as well as autoscaling based on metrics like CPU utilization. This makes it the ideal choice for a stateless web application that requires automatic repair and scaling.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Regional managed instance group
Why it's wrong here
A regional managed instance group is a type of managed instance group that spreads instances across multiple zones for higher availability. It does support autohealing and autoscaling, but the question does not specify a need for multi-zone redundancy. The more general managed instance group is sufficient and directly addresses the core requirements without implying additional complexity.
- ✗
Instance group with autoscaling only
Why it's wrong here
This is not a distinct Google Cloud resource; autoscaling is a feature that can be enabled on managed instance groups. An unmanaged instance group cannot autoscale. The phrasing suggests a group that only scales but does not autoheal, which would not meet the requirement for automatic repair. Thus, it is not a valid or complete solution.
- ✗
Unmanaged instance group
Why it's wrong here
An unmanaged instance group is simply a collection of existing Compute Engine instances that you manage individually. It does not provide autohealing or autoscaling capabilities. While you can use it for load balancing, it lacks the automated lifecycle management needed to repair failed instances or scale based on CPU, so it does not satisfy the scenario.
- ✓
Managed instance group
Why this is correct
A managed instance group (MIG) automatically creates and manages instances based on an instance template. It supports autohealing by recreating instances that fail health checks, and it can autoscale based on CPU utilization or other metrics. This directly meets the requirement for automatic repair and scaling, making it the correct choice for the stateless web application.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Cloud Storage Classes and Lifecycle Rules
Key term
Managed instance group
A managed instance group is a collection of identical virtual machine instances that are automatically managed as a single unit to ensure high availability and scalability.
Key term
Instance template
An instance template is a reusable configuration blueprint that defines the virtual machine settings, such as machine type, boot disk image, and network, for creating identical VM instances in Google Cloud Platform.
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 and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Google Cloud exam blueprint
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.