Google PCA Manage and provision cloud infrastructure Practice Question
A company has a global web application deployed across multiple regions. They use an external HTTPS Load Balancer with backend services in us-central1 and europe-west1. They want users to be routed to the closest healthy backend. Which load balancing configuration is required?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse 'global' with 'regional' load balancers, mistakenly thinking a regional external HTTPS load balancer can serve multiple regions, but only the global external HTTPS load balancer supports cross-region backend services with anycast routing.
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
✓
External HTTPS Load Balancer with global backend
An External HTTPS Load Balancer with a global backend configuration uses Google Cloud's global anycast IP and the Premium Tier network to route users to the closest healthy backend based on latency and proximity. This setup ensures that traffic from users worldwide is directed to the nearest region (us-central1 or europe-west1) with a healthy instance group, providing optimal performance and failover.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Internal HTTP(S) Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
An internal load balancer distributes traffic only within a VPC, so it cannot accept public client traffic across regions. It is tempting because internal load balancing is a real design pattern, and it would be correct for routing private service-to-service traffic between tiers inside one network.
- ✓
External HTTPS Load Balancer with global backend
Why this is correct
A global external HTTPS Load Balancer with a global backend uses Google's premium tier anycast VIP, so each user's request enters the Google network at the nearest edge and is proxied to the closest healthy backend across us-central1 and europe-west1, satisfying the proximity routing requirement.
- ✗
External TCP/UDP Network Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
The external TCP/UDP Network Load Balancer forwards packets without inspecting HTTP, so it cannot perform the proximity-based routing the scenario requires. It is tempting because it is external and global, and it would be correct for non-HTTP protocols such as UDP gaming or SMTP traffic.
- ✗
Classic Application Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
The classic Application Load Balancer is regional, so it cannot span backend services in us-central1 and europe-west1 behind one global anycast address. It is tempting because it does serve HTTP(S) traffic, and it would be correct for a single-region application needing URL-based routing.
- ✗
Regional external HTTPS Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
A regional external HTTPS load balancer confines its backends to one region, so it cannot route across us-central1 and europe-west1. It is tempting because it does terminate external HTTPS traffic, and it would be correct when all backends and users sit within a single region.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Data Migration and Transfer Services
Key term
Instance group
An instance group is a collection of virtual machine instances that are managed as a single unit for scaling, load balancing, and lifecycle management in cloud computing.
Key term
Route
A route is a path that data takes through a network from one device or network to another, determined by routing protocols and configured rules.
About these practice questions
One of 807 original PCA 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 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.