easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
Google PCA Practice Question: A startup is building a serverless application…
A startup is building a serverless application that processes events from Cloud Storage buckets. Each event triggers a Python function that resizes images. Which GCP compute service is MOST suitable for this event-driven workload?
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
✓
Cloud Functions
Cloud Functions is designed for event-driven, serverless compute. It can be triggered directly by Cloud Storage events (object finalize/create). Cloud Run requires HTTP invocation, App Engine is for web apps, and Compute Engine VMs require management.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Cloud Run
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Run is serverless but requires HTTP triggers, not direct Cloud Storage event triggers.
- ✗
Compute Engine
Why it's wrong here
Compute Engine requires managing VMs; not serverless or event-driven.
- ✗
App Engine
Why it's wrong here
App Engine is a platform for web applications; it does not directly support Cloud Storage event triggers.
- ✓
Cloud Functions
Why this is correct
Cloud Functions natively supports Cloud Storage event triggers (e.g., on object finalize).
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to Google Cloud Platform
Key term
App Engine
App Engine is a fully managed serverless platform from Google Cloud that lets developers build and deploy applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.
Key term
Cloud Run
Cloud Run is a fully managed compute platform from Google Cloud that lets you run containerized applications in a serverless environment, automatically scaling from zero to thousands of requests.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every PCA question from scratch — 955 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.