Google PCA Practice Question: Managing Implementation and Ensuring Solution and Operations Reliability
A company is designing a highly available architecture for a web application using Google Cloud. They need to ensure that the application remains available even if an entire Google Cloud region experiences an outage. Which THREE components should they include in their architecture? (Choose THREE.)
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 Spanner multi-region configuration
Option A (Cloud Spanner multi-region configuration) is correct because a multi-region instance replicates data synchronously across regions with 99.999% availability, so the database survives a full regional outage without data loss. Option C (Global external HTTP(S) load balancer) is correct because it is a global anycast service that routes users to the nearest healthy backend and automatically fails over to backends in other regions when one region becomes unavailable. Option E (Regional managed instance groups in multiple regions) is correct because deploying regional MIGs in at least two regions provides compute capacity that keeps serving traffic when one region fails, and it pairs with the global load balancer for automatic failover. Option B is not sufficient because Cloud SQL cross-region read replicas are asynchronous and require manual or scripted promotion, so they do not provide automatic, zero-data-loss regional failover. Option D is not correct because Cloud CDN only caches content at edge locations; it improves latency and offloads origin traffic but does not by itself provide regional failover for dynamic application workloads.
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 Spanner multi-region configuration
Why this is correct
Cloud Spanner multi-region configuration synchronously replicates data across regions with strong consistency, so the database survives a full regional outage. This satisfies the stem's requirement that the application remain available despite an entire Google Cloud region failing.
- ✗
Cloud SQL with a cross-region read replica
Why it's wrong here
A cross-region read replica is read-only and promotion is manual, so writes fail during a regional outage until failover completes. It is tempting because it copies data across regions; the requirement needs a multi-region primary configuration or another mechanism providing automatic regional write failover.
- ✓
Global external HTTP(S) load balancer
Why this is correct
A global external HTTP(S) load balancer uses a single anycast IP to route users to the nearest healthy backend across regions, automatically failing over when one region becomes unavailable. This satisfies the stem's requirement for continued availability during a full regional outage.
- ✗
Cloud CDN
Why it's wrong here
Cloud CDN caches content at edge locations, improving latency and offloading origins, but it holds no authoritative state and cannot serve an application whose region is down. It is tempting as an availability component; regional failover instead needs multi-region deployment, global load balancing and replicated data.
- ✓
Regional managed instance groups in multiple regions
Why this is correct
Regional managed instance groups spread instances across zones within a region, and deploying them in multiple regions ensures the application survives a full regional outage. This directly satisfies the stem's requirement for availability despite an entire region failing.
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Related to this question
Learn chapter
IAM Policies, Service Accounts, and Auditing
Key term
Latency
Latency is the time delay between a request being sent over a network and the response being received, often measured in milliseconds.
Key term
HTTP
HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, the set of rules web browsers and servers use to communicate and transfer web pages over the internet.
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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.