Google PCA Design and plan a cloud solution architecture Practice Question
A retail company operates a global e-commerce platform on Google Cloud. Their architects need to choose a load balancing solution that terminates TLS at the edge, provides a single global anycast IP address, and automatically routes users to the closest healthy backend. Which Google Cloud load balancing product should they select?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming any Application Load Balancer is global, when in fact regional and internal variants exist that lack the single global anycast IP and edge TLS behavior.
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 Application Load Balancer (HTTP(S))
The global external Application Load Balancer is built for internet-facing global services: it provides a single anycast IP, terminates TLS at Google's edge, and uses Google's global network to send each user to the nearest healthy backend. A regional load balancer cannot give one global IP, and layer 4 passthrough options do not terminate TLS or perform HTTP-aware global routing.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Internal Application Load Balancer (HTTP(S))
Why it's wrong here
An internal Application Load Balancer is designed for private, internal-only traffic within a VPC network and is not reachable from the public internet. Since the e-commerce platform must serve external users worldwide with a global anycast IP, this internal option cannot fulfill the public-facing edge TLS termination and global routing needs.
- ✗
Regional external Application Load Balancer (HTTP(S))
Why it's wrong here
A regional external Application Load Balancer terminates TLS and balances HTTP(S) traffic, but its IP address is regional rather than a single global anycast address, and it does not perform global proximity-based routing. For a worldwide e-commerce platform needing one global IP and closest-backend selection, this regional option does not satisfy the design goals.
- ✓
Global external Application Load Balancer (HTTP(S))
Why this is correct
The global external Application Load Balancer uses a single global anycast IP, terminates TLS at Google's edge, and routes traffic to the closest healthy backend using Google's global network. This matches all three requirements: edge TLS termination, one global IP, and proximity-based routing for a worldwide e-commerce audience.
- ✗
External passthrough Network Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
The external passthrough Network Load Balancer operates at layer 4 and does not terminate TLS; it forwards encrypted traffic to backends, so certificates would need to be handled by the instances themselves. It also lacks global anycast fronting and HTTP-aware routing, making it unsuitable for the stated edge TLS termination and global routing requirements.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Load Balancing and Autoscaling
Key term
Regional load balancer
A regional load balancer distributes incoming network traffic across resources located in multiple geographic regions to ensure high availability, low latency, and fault tolerance at a global scale.
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.