Cloud Digital Leader Fundamental Cloud Concepts Practice Question
A financial services company is required to keep all data within a specific geographic region for regulatory compliance. They plan to deploy a globally distributed application using Cloud Spanner. How should they configure Cloud Spanner to meet this compliance 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
✓
Use a single-region configuration in the required region
Cloud Spanner allows you to choose specific regions for your instance, and replicas are placed only within that region. Multi-region configurations span multiple geographic areas and would violate the data residency requirement. Therefore, a single-region configuration is required.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use a multi-region configuration with a write region in the required region
Why it's wrong here
A multi-region configuration with a write region in the required region still physically replicates data asynchronously to at least two other regions for read latency and failover. Even though writes are anchored in the required region, copies of the data are stored outside that region, which violates strict data residency requirements. The residency constraint applies to all stored copies, not just the primary write copy.
- ✗
Use a multi-region configuration but restrict access to only one region
Why it's wrong here
Restricting access to only one region in a multi-region configuration does not change where the data is physically stored. Multi-region configurations maintain synchronous or asynchronous replicas in multiple regions, and those replicas exist regardless of which endpoint clients are allowed to reach. Data residency is a storage-location compliance requirement, not an access-control mechanism, so this approach fails the requirement.
- ✓
Use a single-region configuration in the required region
Why this is correct
A single-region configuration stores all data and all replicas within the chosen region, using zonal redundancy to protect against zone failures while keeping every copy inside the required geographic boundary. This satisfies data residency mandates because no data is replicated outside the specified region. It is the correct choice when the compliance requirement prohibits storing data in any other region.
- ✗
Use a dual-region configuration
Why it's wrong here
A dual-region configuration replicates data across two regions, typically within the same continent, to improve availability and reduce latency. Even if the two regions are geographically close, each replica is stored in a distinct Google Cloud region, so data exists outside the required single region. Since the residency requirement forbids any copy outside the mandated region, a dual-region configuration is non-compliant.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Cloud Digital Transformation
Key term
Compliance
Compliance is the process of ensuring that an organization follows laws, regulations, standards, and internal policies that apply to its operations and data handling.
Key term
SPAN
A Switch Port Analyzer (SPAN) is a feature on network switches that copies traffic from one or more ports to a monitoring port for analysis without disrupting normal network operations.
About these practice questions
One of 829 original GCDL practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
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.