Managing Implementation and Ensuring Solution and Operations Reliability →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
Google PCA Practice Question: Managing Implementation and Ensuring Solution and Operations Reliability
A company runs a critical application on Compute Engine and wants to automate recovery in case of a zone failure by redeploying instances in another zone. They have a startup script that configures the application. What is the simplest way to achieve zone failover?
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
✓
Create a regional managed instance group (MIG) with autohealing
An instance group with autohealing and a health check can automatically recreate instances in another zone if the instance becomes unhealthy. However, for zone-level failure, a regional managed instance group (MIG) distributes instances across multiple zones and automatically rebalances if one zone fails.
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 a global load balancer with a backend service pointing to multiple zonal instance groups
Why it's wrong here
This provides traffic distribution but does not automatically create new instances in case of zone failure; manual intervention would be needed.
- ✗
Set up a Cloud Scheduler to check instance health and create new instances via Cloud Functions
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Scheduler triggering Cloud Functions adds unnecessary latency and complexity for zone failover, as it relies on periodic polling rather than immediate, event-driven detection of zone failure. The correct approach uses an Instance Group with autohealing and multi-zone deployment, which automatically redistributes instances without external orchestration. This option is tempting because Cloud Scheduler and Functions are a common pattern for scheduled or event-driven automation, such as restarting instances on a fixed schedule or reacting to non-infrastructure events.
- ✓
Create a regional managed instance group (MIG) with autohealing
Why this is correct
Regional MIG distributes instances across multiple zones and automatically creates instances in healthy zones if a zone fails.
- ✗
Create a snapshot schedule and use Cloud Deployment Manager to recreate instances
Why it's wrong here
This approach would require manual or scheduled execution and is not automated for zone failure.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Google Cloud Compute Options Overview
Key term
Startup script
A startup script is a file of commands or code that runs automatically when a cloud virtual machine starts up, allowing you to configure the system without manual logging in.
Key term
Health check
A health check is an automated test that monitors whether a system, application, container, or network service is running correctly and can respond to requests.
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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.