Google PCA Practice Question: Analyze and optimize technical and business processes
A company stores large amounts of data in Cloud Storage and wants to reduce costs. Which two actions should they take? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Google Cloud often tests the distinction between cost allocation (labels) and direct cost reduction (lifecycle rules), leading candidates to mistakenly choose labeling as a cost-saving measure.
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
✓
Enable object versioning and configure lifecycle rules to delete noncurrent versions after 90 days.
Option B is correct because enabling object versioning while adding a lifecycle rule to delete noncurrent versions after 90 days prevents old object versions from accumulating indefinitely, which directly reduces storage costs from versioned data. Option D is correct because lifecycle management can automatically transition objects to colder storage classes such as Nearline or Coldline after 30 days, and these classes have lower storage pricing than Standard for infrequently accessed data. Option A is not appropriate because disabling object versioning removes data protection and recovery capability rather than being a cost-optimization best practice. Option C does not reduce costs; bucket labels only improve cost tracking and reporting by department. Option E would likely increase costs because Standard is the most expensive default storage class for long-term or infrequently accessed data.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Disable object versioning to prevent multiple versions.
Why it's wrong here
Disabling versioning removes the ability to recover overwritten or deleted objects, but it does not itself reduce storage charges for existing noncurrent versions, which must be deleted or lifecycle-managed. Versioning suits compliance or accidental-deletion protection; here the stem demands cost reduction, so lifecycle rules targeting stale versions are the mechanism.
- ✓
Enable object versioning and configure lifecycle rules to delete noncurrent versions after 90 days.
Why this is correct
Object versioning retains every overwrite and delete, which silently multiplies storage charges. A lifecycle rule that deletes noncurrent versions after 90 days bounds that accumulation while preserving a recovery window, directly reducing the bucket's storage cost.
- ✗
Add bucket labels to track cost by department.
Why it's wrong here
Labels are metadata for organising and attributing spend; they do not change how objects are stored or billed. It is tempting because labels feed cost reports and budgets, but they only improve visibility. Reducing cost requires lifecycle rules or cheaper storage classes, not labelling.
- ✓
Configure lifecycle management to transition objects to Nearline or Coldline storage classes after 30 days.
Why this is correct
Lifecycle management automatically transitions objects between storage classes based on age, so infrequently accessed data moves from Standard to cheaper Nearline or Coldline, directly satisfying the cost-reduction goal. This is the axis of difference: object-level storage-class tiering, not retrieval speed or durability.
- ✗
Change the default storage class to Standard for all buckets.
Why it's wrong here
Standard is the most expensive class, with no minimum storage duration but the highest per-gigabyte rate; setting it as the default for all buckets raises rather than lowers cost. It is tempting because Standard suits frequently accessed data, but cost reduction requires Nearline, Coldline, or Archive for infrequently accessed objects.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Data Migration and Transfer Services
Key term
Cloud storage
Cloud storage is a service that lets you save data on remote servers accessed over the internet instead of on your computer's hard drive.
Key term
Labels
Labels are descriptive text or tags attached to IT resources to organize, identify, and manage them based on attributes like purpose, environment, or owner.
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JA
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.