Google PCA Practice Question: Managing and Provisioning a Solution Infrastructure
A company is deploying a critical application on GKE and wants to ensure high availability during node upgrades and failures. Which TWO configurations should they implement? (Choose 2.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse scaling features (HPA, Cluster Autoscaler) with availability features (PDB, multi-zonal node pools) — candidates often pick autoscaling options because they sound like they improve resilience.
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
✓
Configure a PodDisruptionBudget for the deployment
Option B is correct because a PodDisruptionBudget (PDB) with minAvailable or maxUnavailable ensures that voluntary disruptions such as node drains during upgrades keep a minimum number of replicas running, preserving availability. Option C is correct because a multi-zonal node pool spreads nodes across multiple zones in the region, so a zone-level failure or maintenance event does not take down all nodes hosting the application's pods. Option A (Workload Identity) only maps Kubernetes service accounts to Google Cloud IAM identities for secure API access and does not affect availability during upgrades or failures. Option D (HorizontalPodAutoscaler) scales replicas based on load metrics but does not protect against node drains or zone outages. Option E (Cluster Autoscaler) adds or removes nodes based on pending pods and capacity, which helps with scaling but does not by itself guarantee availability during upgrades or zonal failures.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable Workload Identity for the service account
Why it's wrong here
Workload Identity maps Kubernetes service accounts to IAM identities for accessing Google Cloud APIs; it does not affect pod scheduling or node resilience. It is tempting because it hardens GKE security posture, but the stem asks for availability during node upgrades and failures.
- ✓
Configure a PodDisruptionBudget for the deployment
Why this is correct
A PodDisruptionBudget guarantees a minimum number of replicas remain available during voluntary disruptions such as node upgrades, directly satisfying the high-availability requirement. It prevents GKE's node drain from evicting too many pods simultaneously, though it does not protect against unplanned node failures.
- ✓
Create a multi-zonal node pool to spread nodes across multiple zones
Why this is correct
Spreading nodes across multiple zones ensures pods survive a whole-zone outage, satisfying the high-availability constraint during failures. Combined with pod anti-affinity or topology spread constraints, replicas land in separate zones, so node upgrades in one zone cannot take down every instance simultaneously.
- ✗
Use a HorizontalPodAutoscaler with high target utilization
Why it's wrong here
HorizontalPodAutoscaler scales replica count against CPU or custom metrics; a high target utilisation keeps pods busier and reduces headroom, worsening availability during node drains. It is tempting because it does add replicas, but that addresses throughput under load, not resilience to node failure.
- ✗
Enable Cluster Autoscaler on the node pool
Why it's wrong here
Cluster Autoscaler adds or removes nodes based on unschedulable pods; it does not reschedule workloads off a node being drained during an upgrade. It is tempting because it genuinely improves capacity during demand growth, which is the right answer when the requirement is scaling rather than surviving node loss.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
IAM Policies, Service Accounts, and Auditing
Key term
Workload Identity
A workload identity is a digital credential assigned to an application, service, or automated process that proves its identity to other systems without requiring a human user to log in.
Key term
Service
A service is a software component or system that performs a specific function and is available to be used by other programs or users over a network.
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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.