Google PCA Practice Question: Managing Implementation and Ensuring Solution and Operations Reliability
A company needs to retain object versions in Cloud Storage for 90 days to protect against accidental deletion or modification. After 90 days, versions should be deleted. What feature should they enable?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is confusing Retention Policy (which locks objects and prevents deletion) with Lifecycle Management (which deletes versions) — candidates may pick Retention Policy thinking it deletes after the period, but it does the opposite.
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
✓
Object lifecycle management with a rule to delete versions after 90 days
Object Lifecycle Management lets you define rules to automatically delete object versions after a specified age (90 days). Combined with Object Versioning enabled on the bucket, this retains noncurrent versions for 90 days and then deletes them, protecting against accidental deletion or modification while controlling storage costs.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Object versioning only
Why it's wrong here
Object versioning alone keeps every version indefinitely; it never deletes them, so versions accumulate past 90 days. It is tempting because it protects against accidental overwrite, but the automatic deletion requirement needs an Object Lifecycle Management rule with an age condition.
- ✗
Retention policy
Why it's wrong here
A bucket retention policy sets a minimum retention duration, but it locks objects against deletion or modification for that period rather than deleting versions after 90 days. It is tempting because it enforces a time limit, yet the requirement to remove versions automatically is satisfied by Object Lifecycle Management.
- ✗
Object holds
Why it's wrong here
Object holds are manually set and manually released per object; they do not expire automatically after 90 days. It is tempting because holds prevent deletion, but they are for legal or temporary locks, whereas the requirement for automatic 90-day expiry is met by a bucket retention policy.
- ✓
Object lifecycle management with a rule to delete versions after 90 days
Why this is correct
Object lifecycle management applies age-based rules to noncurrent object versions, automatically deleting them once they pass 90 days. This satisfies the stem's requirement to retain versions for 90 days and then remove them, which a retention policy alone cannot do.
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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
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