Cloud Digital Leader Practice Question: Google Cloud products, services, and solutions
A company runs a mission-critical PostgreSQL database on Google Cloud that must support automatic failover to a standby instance within 60 seconds if the primary instance fails, with minimal data loss. Which Cloud SQL configuration satisfies this high availability requirement?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse read replicas (which are asynchronous and require manual promotion) with HA standby instances (which are synchronous and automatically promoted), or assume that automated backups can meet a strict 60-second RTO/RPO 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 SQL High Availability configuration with a synchronously replicated standby instance that automatically promotes to primary within approximately 60 seconds of primary failure
Cloud SQL's High Availability (HA) configuration uses a synchronous replication mechanism between the primary and standby instances. This ensures that transactions are committed on both instances before being acknowledged, meeting the requirement for minimal data loss. In the event of a primary failure, the standby is automatically promoted to primary within approximately 60 seconds, satisfying the failover time requirement.
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 SQL with automated daily backups, restoring from backup if the primary fails
Why it's wrong here
Automated daily backups capture a consistent snapshot once per day, so recovery can only restore to the last successful backup or point-in-time logs, not to the exact pre-failure state. Restoring a database from backup is a heavyweight process that can take minutes to hours depending on database size and transaction log volume, far beyond the 60-second RTO. Backups address RPO by enabling data recovery, but they do not provide the automatic, sub-minute failover that a synchronously replicated standby offers.
- ✓
Cloud SQL High Availability configuration with a synchronously replicated standby instance that automatically promotes to primary within approximately 60 seconds of primary failure
Why this is correct
Cloud SQL HA is precisely the right answer. It maintains a standby instance in the same region with synchronous replication, automatically detects primary failure, and promotes the standby without manual intervention. Failover typically completes within 60 seconds, meeting the stated RTO with minimal data loss (synchronous replication means near-zero RPO).
- ✗
Cloud SQL read replicas in another region, manually promoted if the primary fails
Why it's wrong here
Cross-region read replicas replicate asynchronously, so transactions committed on the primary may not be present on the replica, meaning failover can lose recent data (poor RPO). Promotion is a manual operation requiring an operator to detect the failure, initiate promotion, and redirect traffic, which easily exceeds the 60-second RTO. This design targets geographic disaster recovery rather than fast, zero-intervention high availability within a region.
- ✗
Running a self-managed PostgreSQL cluster on Compute Engine VMs with a custom pacemaker/corosync HA setup
Why it's wrong here
Custom HA setups on VMs are technically possible but require significant engineering effort and operational expertise to maintain. Cloud SQL HA provides the same capability as a fully managed service without custom HA infrastructure management.
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Cloud Digital Transformation
Key term
SQL
SQL is a standard programming language used to manage, query, and manipulate relational databases by issuing commands like SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE.
Key term
Cloud SQL
Cloud SQL is a fully managed relational database service that lets you set up, maintain, and scale SQL databases (like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server) in the cloud without managing the underlying 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.