Cloud Digital Leader Fundamental Cloud Concepts Practice Question
A developer needs to deploy a containerized microservice that scales to zero when not in use and automatically scales up on incoming traffic. The microservice uses a custom container image that listens on port 8080. Which Google Cloud compute service is BEST suited for this requirement?
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
Cloud Run is a managed compute platform that runs stateless containers, automatically scales (including to zero), and charges only for resources used during request processing. It fits the requirement perfectly. GKE requires managing a cluster and doesn't scale to zero by default; App Engine standard environment has a sandbox that may not support custom containers; Cloud Functions is limited to specific runtimes.
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 Functions
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Functions is a function-as-a-service platform designed for event-driven, short-lived code execution, not for hosting long-running services that accept arbitrary HTTP traffic. It does not allow you to package your own container runtime; instead, you are limited to specific supported runtimes and predefined execution timeouts. Therefore, deploying a containerized microservice that expects to persist state or handle concurrent requests is outside its intended use.
- ✓
Cloud Run
Why this is correct
Cloud Run is a fully managed serverless compute platform that executes stateless HTTP-driven containers, automatically scaling to zero when idle and scaling up instantly to handle incoming requests. It supports any container image that listens on a port, making it an ideal fit for deploying a containerized microservice without managing infrastructure, and you pay only while the container is processing requests.
- ✗
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) with Horizontal Pod Autoscaler
Why it's wrong here
Google Kubernetes Engine, even when combined with the Horizontal Pod Autoscaler, requires you to manage a control plane, worker nodes, and a container networking layer, and the HPA does not scale down below the configured minimum number of replicas, which is typically 1. The underlying node pool can be scaled to zero with the cluster autoscaler, but that does not provide the instant-on, request-level autoscaling model of a serverless service, and it still incurs operational overhead. Thus, for a single microservice needing simple scaling and no cluster management, GKE is more complex than required.
- ✗
App Engine standard environment
Why it's wrong here
The App Engine standard environment uses language-specific sandbox runtimes (such as Java, Python, Go, and Node.js) and restricts access to the underlying operating system, so it cannot run arbitrary custom Docker containers unless you specifically use the flexible environment, which is a separate service. Additionally, the standard environment enforces file system, API, and execution time constraints, making it unsuitable for a containerized microservice that depends on a specific runtime or system libraries. Therefore, it fails the requirement of deploying a custom container.
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 |
Go deeper
Related to this question
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Cloud Digital Transformation
Key term
Container
A container is a lightweight, standalone software package that includes everything needed to run an application, such as code, runtime, system tools, and libraries.
Key term
Google Cloud
Google Cloud is a suite of cloud computing services offered by Google that provides infrastructure, platform, and software solutions over the internet.
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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.