Google PCA Design and plan a cloud solution architecture Practice Question
A company is planning a hybrid cloud architecture using Anthos to manage workloads across on-premises data centers and Google Cloud. They need to select two key components that enable consistent configuration, policy, and security across environments. Which two should they choose?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse connectivity services (Cloud Interconnect) or traffic management (Cloud Load Balancing) with configuration and policy consistency, failing to recognize that Anthos relies on GitOps-based tools like Config Sync and the on-prem Kubernetes runtime (GKE on-prem) to achieve unified management.
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
✓
GKE on-prem
GKE on-prem (B) is correct because it extends the Google Kubernetes Engine control plane to on-premises data centers, letting the company run the same Kubernetes-based workload platform in both environments so configuration and security policies can be applied consistently. Config Sync (D) is correct because it continuously reconciles cluster configuration and policy from a central source of truth (typically a Git repository) across both on-prem and Google Cloud clusters, which is exactly what Anthos uses to enforce consistent configuration, policy, and security at scale. Cloud Interconnect (A) only provides private, high-bandwidth network connectivity between on-premises and Google Cloud and does not manage configuration or policy. Cloud Build (C) is a CI/CD service for building and deploying artifacts, not a mechanism for enforcing cross-environment configuration or policy. Cloud Load Balancing (E) distributes traffic to backends and provides no configuration, policy, or security consistency across environments.
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 Interconnect
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Interconnect provides private, high-bandwidth connectivity between on-premises networks and Google Cloud, not configuration, policy, or security consistency. It is tempting because hybrid Anthos deployments do require reliable networking, but connectivity alone leaves cluster configuration and policy management unaddressed.
- ✓
GKE on-prem
Why this is correct
GKE on-prem extends the Anthos control plane to on-premises data centres, running Kubernetes clusters under the same configuration and policy management as Google Cloud. This directly satisfies the stem's requirement for consistent configuration, policy and security across both environments, since clusters register with Anthos and inherit its governance.
- ✗
Cloud Build
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Build is a CI/CD service that compiles, tests and deploys artefacts; it does not enforce configuration, policy or security across clusters. It is tempting for automating deployment pipelines, but Anthos Config Management and Policy Controller provide the consistent configuration and policy enforcement this scenario requires.
- ✓
Config Sync
Why this is correct
Config Sync continuously reconciles cluster state against Git-declared configuration, enforcing identical policy and security posture across on-premises and Google Cloud clusters. This directly satisfies the stem's requirement for consistent configuration and policy across environments, since drift is automatically corrected rather than manually audited.
- ✗
Cloud Load Balancing
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Load Balancing distributes traffic across backends; it enforces no configuration or policy consistency across clusters. It is tempting because Anthos does expose load balancing for ingress, but that role belongs to Anthos Service Mesh or Config Management, which apply policy and configuration uniformly across environments.
Visual reference
Go deeper
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Key term
CAN
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Key term
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Cloud Load Balancing is the process of distributing incoming network traffic across multiple servers or resources in the cloud to ensure no single resource is overwhelmed, improving availability and reliability.
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