Google PCA Design and plan a cloud solution architecture Practice Question
A healthcare company is deploying a new patient portal on Google Cloud. The portal must be accessible globally with low latency, must survive a single region failure, and must use a single anycast IP address. The backend runs on managed instance groups in two regions. Which Google Cloud product should the architect use to expose the service?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that Cloud DNS geo-routing with health checks can replace a global load balancer, when DNS TTLs and client caching prevent instant failover and do not provide a single anycast IP.
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
✓
Global external HTTP(S) Load Balancing
Global external HTTP(S) Load Balancing is the only option that provides a single global anycast IP, edge termination, and automatic multi-region failover for HTTP(S) workloads. Regional proxies lack global anycast, Cloud DNS geo-routing introduces DNS caching delays and multiple IPs, and internal load balancing is not internet-facing. The chosen design satisfies global low latency and region-failure survivability.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Global external HTTP(S) Load Balancing
Why this is correct
Global external HTTP(S) Load Balancing provides a single anycast IP address, terminates HTTP(S) at Google's edge, and routes users to the closest healthy backend. It supports multi-region managed instance groups and automatically fails over if a region becomes unhealthy. This meets the global low-latency, single IP, and cross-region survivability requirements for the patient portal without additional DNS-based failover mechanisms.
- ✗
Internal HTTP(S) Load Balancer with global access
Why it's wrong here
Internal HTTP(S) Load Balancing is designed for private, internal traffic within a VPC or connected networks, not for public internet-facing portals. It does not provide a public anycast IP or global external access. While it supports cross-region internal backends, it cannot expose the patient portal to external users, so it fails the primary requirement of global public accessibility.
- ✗
Regional external TCP/SSL proxy load balancer
Why it's wrong here
A regional external TCP/SSL proxy load balancer operates within a single region and does not provide a global anycast IP or automatic cross-region failover. While it can distribute traffic across instances in one region, it cannot satisfy the requirement to survive a single region failure or to present a single global IP. This makes it unsuitable for a globally distributed, highly available patient portal.
- ✗
Cloud DNS with geo-routing and health checks
Why it's wrong here
Cloud DNS geo-routing can direct users to regional load balancers based on location, but it relies on DNS resolution and TTLs, so failover is not instantaneous and clients may cache stale records. It also does not provide a single anycast IP; instead, it returns different IPs per region. The scenario explicitly requires a single anycast IP, so DNS-based routing alone cannot meet the design goal.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Load Balancing and Autoscaling
Key term
IPS
An Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) is a network security device that monitors traffic in real time and automatically blocks threats before they reach your systems.
Key term
Regional
Regional refers to a deployment strategy where cloud resources are distributed across multiple geographic areas to improve availability, reduce latency, and meet compliance requirements.
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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
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.