Cloud Digital Leader Why Cloud Technology Can Transform Business Practice Question
A company wants to run containerized applications on Google Cloud without managing the underlying infrastructure. Which service should they use?
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
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is the managed Kubernetes service that abstracts node management, but it still requires some cluster management. Cloud Run is serverless and fully manages infrastructure, so it is the best choice for zero infrastructure management.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Cloud Run
Why this is correct
Cloud Run is the correct choice because it runs containerized applications on a fully managed serverless platform. You simply deploy a standard OCI container image, and Cloud Run automatically handles provisioning, scaling (including scaling to zero), and load balancing with no infrastructure to manage. It abstracts away all underlying compute and cluster operations, making it the simplest way to run stateless containers in production on Google Cloud.
- ✗
App Engine Flexible Environment
Why it's wrong here
App Engine Flexible Environment does run custom containers, but it is not fully serverless like Cloud Run. It requires you to configure a custom runtime, specify instances, and manage automatic scaling settings, and it uses VMs underneath that can cause longer cold starts. While it abstracts some infrastructure, it still demands more configuration and has a heavier operational footprint than Cloud Run, making it a less ideal fit for pure containerized workloads.
- ✗
Compute Engine
Why it's wrong here
Compute Engine provides raw virtual machines where you are fully responsible for patching the OS, configuring the container runtime, setting up load balancing, and managing scaling. Deploying containers on Compute Engine means operating the entire VM lifecycle yourself, which contradicts the goal of running containers without infrastructure management. It is IaaS, not a managed container platform, so it is the wrong choice for a serverless container workload.
- ✗
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
Why it's wrong here
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is a managed Kubernetes service, but it still requires you to manage the cluster, node pools, and their scaling, upgrades, and maintenance windows. Even with features like Autopilot, GKE is designed for complex container orchestration and gives you platform-level control, which is overkill for simple stateless containerized applications. Compared to Cloud Run, GKE involves significant cluster and node management overhead, so it is not the most serverless solution.
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 |
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Cloud Digital Transformation
Key term
Cloud Run
Cloud Run is a fully managed compute platform from Google Cloud that lets you run containerized applications in a serverless environment, automatically scaling from zero to thousands of requests.
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.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This GCDL 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 GCDL exam.