Google PCA Manage implementation of cloud architecture Practice Question
A media company stores millions of video files in a Cloud Storage bucket and serves them to users worldwide. Users in Asia report slow download speeds, while users in North America are satisfied. The files are immutable after upload and are read frequently for the first 30 days, then almost never. You want to improve global performance while minimizing cost. What should you do?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is reaching for multi-region storage to fix latency, when multi-region placement improves durability and availability rather than edge delivery to end users.
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 Cloud CDN distribution with the Cloud Storage bucket as the backend, and add a lifecycle rule to move objects to Nearline Storage after 30 days.
Serving immutable objects through Cloud CDN puts copies at Google's edge points of presence, which directly improves download speeds for users far from the origin. Pairing that with a lifecycle rule that transitions rarely accessed objects to Nearline Storage after 30 days aligns storage cost with the actual access pattern, so performance improves without unnecessary expense.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Move the files to a bucket in the asia-east1 region and serve them directly from that location.
Why it's wrong here
Placing the origin in Asia helps Asian users but degrades performance for North American users, who are currently satisfied. It also does not provide edge caching, so latency still depends on the distance to the single regional bucket. This simply shifts the problem rather than solving global delivery in a cost-effective way.
- ✓
Create a Cloud CDN distribution with the Cloud Storage bucket as the backend, and add a lifecycle rule to move objects to Nearline Storage after 30 days.
Why this is correct
Cloud CDN caches immutable objects at edge locations, so users in Asia are served from nearby points of presence instead of the origin bucket. A lifecycle rule transitioning objects to Nearline after 30 days matches the access pattern and lowers storage cost. Because the files are immutable, caching is safe and effective, making this the best performance-and-cost combination.
- ✗
Recreate the bucket as a multi-region bucket and enable Autoclass to manage storage classes automatically.
Why it's wrong here
A multi-region bucket improves durability and some access characteristics but does not place content at edge locations close to end users, so Asian download speeds may remain poor. Autoclass optimizes storage class transitions but does not address last-mile latency. This option changes cost and redundancy without delivering the global edge caching the scenario needs.
- ✗
Enable Object Versioning on the bucket and create a Cloud CDN distribution backed by the bucket.
Why it's wrong here
Object Versioning retains noncurrent versions of objects and increases storage cost; it has no effect on read latency for current objects. Cloud CDN would help with caching, but versioning does not address the geographic performance problem and adds expense. The combination does not meet the goal of minimizing cost while improving global download speeds.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Key term
Lifecycle rule
A lifecycle rule is a set of automated policies that move or delete data based on its age or other conditions, helping manage storage costs and compliance.
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.
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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.