Google PCA Practice Question: Managing Implementation and Ensuring Solution and Operations Reliability
A company has a Cloud SQL for MySQL instance with automated backups enabled. They need to recover the database to a specific point in time within the last hour. Which feature should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse high-availability features like failover replicas with backup and recovery features; PCA candidates often pick failover replica when the scenario is about restoring to a past point in time.
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
✓
Point-in-time recovery (PITR)
Point-in-time recovery (PITR) lets Cloud SQL for MySQL restore to a specific timestamp within the retention window by combining automated backups with binary logs. It is the only option that supports recovery to an arbitrary point within the last hour. Automated backup restore only returns the database to the time of the last backup, not an arbitrary point.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Failover replica
Why it's wrong here
A failover replica provides high availability by promoting a standby during a zone outage; it holds no historical data and cannot rewind to an earlier timestamp. It is tempting because it is the standby recovery mechanism, but it preserves current state rather than restoring past state. Point-in-time recovery is required here.
- ✓
Point-in-time recovery (PITR)
Why this is correct
Point-in-time recovery uses binary logs to restore a Cloud SQL for MySQL instance to a specific timestamp, not just the last automated backup. This satisfies the requirement to recover to a point within the last hour.
- ✗
Automated backup restore
Why it's wrong here
Automated backup restore recovers to the time a backup was taken, which may be hours old, not an arbitrary point within the last hour. It is tempting because backups are enabled and restores are the obvious recovery path, but only point-in-time recovery replays binary logs to a chosen timestamp.
- ✗
Import using the mysqldump file
Why it's wrong here
A mysqldump file is a manual logical export; importing it restores only the data captured when that dump ran, not an arbitrary timestamp within the last hour. It is tempting as a portable backup method, but it lacks continuous binary-log replay. Point-in-time recovery is the correct feature.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Google Cloud exam blueprint
This PCA 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 PCA exam.