- A
Classic VPN
Why wrong: Classic VPN is a legacy VPN with lower throughput and no dedicated SLA.
- B
Partner Interconnect
Why wrong: Partner Interconnect uses a third-party provider; availability SLA is lower (e.g., 99.9%).
- C
Dedicated Interconnect
Dedicated Interconnect provides a direct physical connection, high bandwidth, and up to 99.99% availability SLA.
- D
Cloud VPN (IPsec VPN)
Why wrong: VPN uses the public internet, lower bandwidth, no dedicated SLA.
Google PCA Practice Question: Designing and Planning a Cloud Solution Architecture
This PCA practice question tests your understanding of designing and planning 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 wants to connect their on-premises network to Google Cloud with a dedicated, high-bandwidth, low-latency connection that supports Service Level Agreements (SLAs) up to 99.99% availability. Which connectivity option should they choose?
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
Dedicated Interconnect
Dedicated Interconnect provides a direct, private physical connection between your on-premises network and Google Cloud, offering high bandwidth (up to 100 Gbps per link), low latency, and support for SLAs up to 99.99% availability. This option meets the requirement for a dedicated, high-bandwidth, low-latency connection with the highest SLA, unlike VPN-based or partner-mediated solutions.
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.
- ✗
Classic VPN
Why it's wrong here
Classic VPN is a legacy VPN with lower throughput and no dedicated SLA.
- ✗
Partner Interconnect
Why it's wrong here
Partner Interconnect uses a third-party provider; availability SLA is lower (e.g., 99.9%).
- ✓
Dedicated Interconnect
Why this is correct
Dedicated Interconnect provides a direct physical connection, high bandwidth, and up to 99.99% availability SLA.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Cloud VPN (IPsec VPN)
Why it's wrong here
VPN uses the public internet, lower bandwidth, no dedicated SLA.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Partner Interconnect with Dedicated Interconnect, overlooking that Partner Interconnect does not offer a direct physical connection and has a lower SLA (99.9% vs. 99.99%), which fails the requirement for a dedicated, high-bandwidth, low-latency link with the highest availability guarantee.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Dedicated Interconnect uses a cross-connect in a Google Cloud colocation facility, leveraging IEEE 802.1Q VLAN tagging to support multiple VLAN attachments (up to 8 per 10 Gbps link) for segmentation. Under the hood, it uses BGP for dynamic routing and can support jumbo frames (up to 8896 bytes) for improved throughput, making it ideal for latency-sensitive workloads like real-time analytics or database replication.
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.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PCA question test?
Designing and Planning a Cloud Solution Architecture — This question tests Designing and Planning 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: Dedicated Interconnect — Dedicated Interconnect provides a direct, private physical connection between your on-premises network and Google Cloud, offering high bandwidth (up to 100 Gbps per link), low latency, and support for SLAs up to 99.99% availability. This option meets the requirement for a dedicated, high-bandwidth, low-latency connection with the highest SLA, unlike VPN-based or partner-mediated solutions.
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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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.
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