- A
Use regional managed instance groups with internal load balancing.
Supports session affinity and preserves source IP for stateful protocols.
- B
Use Cloud NAT for outbound connectivity.
Why wrong: Breaks stateful TCP sessions because of source IP translation.
- C
Use global load balancing with Cloud CDN.
Why wrong: Designed for web content, not stateful low-latency inter-component traffic.
- D
Use Cloud VPN for on-premises connectivity.
Why wrong: Addresses on-premises connectivity, not low-latency between cloud components.
- E
Place all components in the same VPC network.
Minimizes latency and avoids SNAT, preserving stateful sessions.
Question 397 of 1,000
Google PCA Design and plan a cloud solution architecture Practice Question
This PCA practice question tests your understanding of design and plan a cloud solution architecture. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company is migrating a legacy on-premises application to Google Cloud. The application has strict low-latency requirements between its components and requires stateful TCP sessions. Which TWO design decisions should the architect recommend?
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
✓
Use regional managed instance groups with internal load balancing.
Regional managed instance groups (MIGs) with internal load balancing are correct because they keep all compute instances within a single region, minimizing network hops and latency between components. Internal load balancing provides a single IP address for stateful TCP sessions without introducing the latency of a global proxy, and it supports session affinity (e.g., client IP affinity) to maintain stateful connections.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use regional managed instance groups with internal load balancing.
Why this is correct
Supports session affinity and preserves source IP for stateful protocols.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use Cloud NAT for outbound connectivity.
Why it's wrong here
Breaks stateful TCP sessions because of source IP translation.
- ✗
Use global load balancing with Cloud CDN.
Why it's wrong here
Designed for web content, not stateful low-latency inter-component traffic.
- ✗
Use Cloud VPN for on-premises connectivity.
Why it's wrong here
Addresses on-premises connectivity, not low-latency between cloud components.
- ✓
Place all components in the same VPC network.
Why this is correct
Minimizes latency and avoids SNAT, preserving stateful sessions.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse global load balancing (which is for external, stateless, HTTP-based traffic) with internal load balancing, and mistakenly think Cloud CDN or Cloud NAT can help with latency or stateful sessions, when they actually break TCP state or add unnecessary hops.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Internal TCP/UDP load balancers in Google Cloud are implemented as a pass-through load balancer (based on the Maglev hash), meaning they do not terminate the TCP connection; the client's TCP session is preserved end-to-end to the backend instance, which is critical for stateful applications. Regional MIGs ensure all backends are in the same zone or region, reducing cross-zone latency to sub-millisecond levels compared to multi-region setups. In practice, for applications like gaming servers or real-time trading platforms, placing all components in the same VPC network avoids cross-VPC peering overhead and keeps traffic within the Google Cloud backbone.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
Visual reference
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PCA question test?
Design and plan a cloud solution architecture — This question tests Design and plan a cloud solution architecture — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use regional managed instance groups with internal load balancing. — Regional managed instance groups (MIGs) with internal load balancing are correct because they keep all compute instances within a single region, minimizing network hops and latency between components. Internal load balancing provides a single IP address for stateful TCP sessions without introducing the latency of a global proxy, and it supports session affinity (e.g., client IP affinity) to maintain stateful connections.
What should I do if I get this PCA question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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