Managing Implementation and Ensuring Solution and Operations Reliability →hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
Google PCA Practice Question: Managing Implementation and Ensuring Solution and Operations Reliability
A financial services company runs a critical PostgreSQL database on Cloud SQL. They need to ensure automatic failover to a replica in another zone within the same region with minimal data loss. What configuration 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
✓
Configure a Cloud SQL HA instance with a failover replica in a different zone
Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL offers a High Availability (HA) configuration that provisions a standby instance in a different zone within the same region. Automatic failover is provided with synchronous replication to minimize data loss.
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 Database Migration Service to replicate to a second Cloud SQL instance
Why it's wrong here
Database Migration Service is used for migration, not high availability; it does not provide automatic failover.
- ✗
Enable point-in-time recovery (PITR) and increase backup retention
Why it's wrong here
PITR uses logs to restore to a point in time, but does not provide automatic failover.
- ✗
Create a cross-region read replica and manually promote it on failure
Why it's wrong here
Cross-region replicas require manual promotion and may have replication lag leading to data loss.
- ✓
Configure a Cloud SQL HA instance with a failover replica in a different zone
Why this is correct
HA configuration provides automatic failover with a synchronous standby replica in a different zone, minimizing data loss.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to Google Cloud Platform
Key term
Cloud SQL
Cloud SQL is a fully managed relational database service that lets you set up, maintain, and scale SQL databases (like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server) in the cloud without managing the underlying infrastructure.
Key term
High availability
High availability is a system design approach that aims to keep applications and services operational and accessible with minimal downtime, even when some components fail.
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