Google PCA Manage and provision cloud infrastructure Practice Question
A team manages a GKE cluster with node pools using different machine types. They plan to upgrade the cluster to a new Kubernetes version. What is the safest upgrade strategy to minimize application downtime?
⚠ Common exam trap
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that draining all nodes simultaneously is a valid rolling upgrade strategy, when in fact it causes complete downtime and violates Kubernetes best practices for workload availability.
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
✓
Use a surge upgrade to add new nodes before removing old ones.
A surge upgrade in GKE adds new nodes with the desired Kubernetes version before removing old nodes, ensuring capacity is maintained throughout the process. This minimizes application downtime by allowing pods to be rescheduled onto new nodes before old nodes are drained, following a controlled rolling update pattern that respects PodDisruptionBudgets.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Perform a rolling upgrade by draining all nodes simultaneously.
Why it's wrong here
Draining every node at once removes all capacity, so no node remains to schedule the workloads being evicted, causing cluster-wide downtime. Rolling upgrades are the correct mechanism, but they must proceed node by node within a surge-constrained pool, not simultaneously across the whole cluster.
- ✗
Create a new cluster with the desired version and migrate workloads.
Why it's wrong here
Creating a new cluster and migrating workloads introduces a prolonged period of dual-running clusters and requires reconfiguring network policies, service meshes, and persistent volume attachments, which risks data inconsistency and extended downtime—the stem’s explicit goal is to minimise downtime, not to achieve a clean-slate environment. This approach is tempting because it is the safest method for a greenfield deployment or when the existing cluster has irreparable configuration drift, where a fresh start with the desired Kubernetes version is the correct choice.
- ✓
Use a surge upgrade to add new nodes before removing old ones.
Why this is correct
A surge upgrade provisions replacement nodes running the new Kubernetes version before cordoning and draining the old ones, so workloads reschedule onto ready capacity. This satisfies the stem's downtime constraint: pods are evicted only once healthy successors exist, and mixed machine types across node pools are handled per pool.
- ✗
Upgrade the node pool configuration one by one.
Why it's wrong here
Changing node pool configuration alters machine type or size, not the Kubernetes control plane or kubelet version, so the cluster version stays unchanged. It would be correct when resizing or switching hardware, whereas a version upgrade requires upgrading node pools' Kubernetes version with surge settings.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Virtual Machine Instances in Compute Engine
Key term
Anthos
Anthos is a Google Cloud platform that lets you run applications consistently across different computing environments, like on-premises data centers and multiple public clouds.
Key term
GKE
GKE is Google's managed Kubernetes service that automates deploying, scaling, and managing containerized applications in the cloud.
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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.