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Google PCA Practice Question: A company has a global user base and wants to…
A company has a global user base and wants to serve static content (images, videos, CSS) with low latency from edge locations. They also want to protect their origin server from traffic spikes. Which combination of services should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is forgetting that Cloud CDN cannot stand alone — it must be attached to an external HTTP(S) Load Balancer, so options pairing it with internal LBs or omitting the LB entirely are wrong.
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 CDN with an external HTTP(S) Load Balancer
Cloud CDN caches static content at Google's global edge locations to reduce latency, and it must be fronted by an external HTTP(S) Load Balancer, which provides the anycast IP, health checking, and origin shielding that Cloud CDN relies on. Together they serve static assets from edge caches and absorb traffic spikes before they reach the origin. This is the standard GCP pattern for global static content delivery with origin protection.
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 Armor with Cloud CDN
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Armor filters and blocks malicious requests at the edge but provides no caching, so it cannot reduce latency or shield the origin from legitimate traffic spikes. Cloud CDN with an external load balancer is the correct pairing. Cloud Armor suits DDoS and WAF protection alongside CDN.
- ✗
Cloud CDN with an internal TCP/UDP load balancer
Why it's wrong here
An internal TCP/UDP load balancer only distributes traffic among internal backends; it cannot receive public edge traffic or absorb spikes at Google's edge. Cloud CDN plus an external global load balancer is the correct pairing. The internal variant suits private, non-internet-facing workloads such as internal APIs.
- ✓
Cloud CDN with an external HTTP(S) Load Balancer
Why this is correct
Cloud CDN caches static assets at Google's edge locations, cutting latency for the global user base, while the external HTTP(S) Load Balancer absorbs and distributes traffic spikes, shielding the origin server. Together they satisfy both the latency and origin-protection constraints.
- ✗
Cloud Functions to serve static content
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Functions executes code per request and cannot serve static assets from edge caches, so latency stays high and origin spikes continue. Cloud CDN with a backend bucket or external load balancer is the correct pairing. Functions suit event-driven compute, not static content delivery.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Data Migration and Transfer Services
Key term
Load balancer
A load balancer is a device or software that distributes incoming network traffic across multiple servers so no single server gets overwhelmed.
Key term
Cloud CDN
A Cloud CDN is a network of servers spread around the world that stores copies of your website or app content so it loads faster for users no matter where they are.
About these practice questions
This PCA question is part of Courseiva's 807-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.