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GCDL Practice Question: A company's IT team is planning its network…
This GCDL practice question tests your understanding of a company's it team is planning its network…. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company's IT team is planning its network architecture for a Google Cloud deployment. They want to ensure that their development, staging, and production environments are completely isolated from each other at the network level. What is the most effective way to achieve this isolation in Google Cloud?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Distractor review
Using different IP address ranges for each environment within the same network
Different IP ranges within the same network are routing distinctions, not isolation. Resources with different IP ranges but in the same VPC can still communicate through the shared routing fabric.
B
Best answer
Deploying each environment (dev, staging, prod) in separate VPC networks — optionally in separate Google Cloud projects — to achieve complete network isolation with no default connectivity between environments
Separate VPCs provide true network isolation. By default, separate VPCs have no connectivity. Traffic between them requires explicit peering, VPN, or Shared VPC configuration. Using separate projects adds IAM-level access control on top of network isolation.
C
Distractor review
Using Cloud IAM to restrict developers from accessing production resources, which achieves the same isolation as network separation
IAM controls who can access resources through the GCP management plane (console, API). Network isolation controls data plane traffic between resources. Both are needed; IAM alone does not prevent network-level communication between resources that don't have IAM restrictions.
D
Distractor review
Using separate subnets within the same VPC for each environment, with firewall rules blocking cross-subnet traffic
Subnets in the same VPC share the VPC's IP address space and routing table. Firewall rules can restrict traffic but do not provide the same level of isolation as separate VPCs. VMs in the same VPC can reach each other via internal routes even with firewall rules.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: usable hosts are not the same as total addresses
Subnetting questions often tempt you into counting all addresses. In normal IPv4 subnets, the network and broadcast addresses are not usable host addresses.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
Subnetting questions test whether you can identify the network, broadcast address, usable range, mask and correct subnet. Slow down enough to calculate the block size correctly.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
- Block size helps identify subnet boundaries.
- Network and broadcast addresses are not usable hosts in normal IPv4 subnets.
- The required host count determines the smallest suitable subnet.
TExam Day Tips
- Write the block size before choosing the subnet.
- Check whether the question asks for hosts, subnets or a specific address range.
- Do not confuse /24, /25, /26 and /27 host counts.
Key takeaway
Count usable hosts — not total addresses — and remember that the network and broadcast addresses are not available to hosts in standard IPv4 subnets.
Related practice questions
Related GCDL practice-question pages
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More questions from this exam
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Question 1
A traditional retailer currently maintains its own data centers, purchasing servers every 3–5 years and paying for facilities, power, and staff regardless of demand. When it migrates its workloads to the public cloud, which change in cost model does it experience?
Question 2
An e-commerce company plans its infrastructure for peak shopping events (e.g., Black Friday) which drive 50× normal traffic. On-premises, they must maintain 50× capacity year-round. In the cloud, they provision 50× capacity only during peak periods. Which cloud characteristic enables this cost optimization?
Question 3
Which term describes the process by which organizations integrate digital technology into all areas of their business, fundamentally changing how they operate and deliver value to customers?
Question 4
When a company moves from maintaining its own data center to using Google Cloud, which operational responsibility does Google assume that the company previously managed?
Question 5
A hospital runs a patient records system that must remain on-premises due to strict regulatory data residency requirements. However, they also want to use cloud-based AI for diagnostic imaging analysis. Which cloud deployment model best describes their architecture?
Question 6
What is virtualization in the context of cloud computing, and why is it fundamental to how cloud providers deliver services?
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this GCDL question test?
CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Deploying each environment (dev, staging, prod) in separate VPC networks — optionally in separate Google Cloud projects — to achieve complete network isolation with no default connectivity between environments — In Google Cloud, Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) provide network isolation. Placing development, staging, and production in separate VPC networks ensures complete network-level isolation — resources in one VPC cannot communicate with resources in another unless explicit peering or VPN connectivity is configured. Using separate projects with separate VPCs for each environment adds both network and IAM isolation.
What should I do if I get this GCDL question wrong?
Review block sizes, usable host formulas (2^n − 2), and how to find network and broadcast addresses for /24 through /30. Then practise related GCDL subnetting questions on CIDR, address ranges, and subnet selection.
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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.