Google PCA Manage and provision cloud infrastructure Practice Question
A web application running on Compute Engine behind a global HTTP(S) load balancer experiences high latency during traffic spikes. Which quick fix would best address this issue without changing the architecture?
⚠ Common exam trap
Google Cloud often tests the distinction between horizontal scaling (autoscaling) and vertical scaling (increasing machine type) or caching solutions, leading candidates to choose Cloud CDN or machine type changes as a 'quick fix' when the real issue is insufficient compute capacity to handle dynamic request spikes.
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
✓
Configure managed instance group autoscaling to add more instances.
Managed instance group (MIG) autoscaling dynamically adds more instances when CPU utilization or other metrics exceed a threshold, directly absorbing the increased traffic during spikes. This is the quickest fix because it requires no architectural changes—just configuring autoscaling parameters on the existing MIG. By scaling out horizontally, the load balancer can distribute requests across more backends, reducing per-instance load and latency.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Configure managed instance group autoscaling to add more instances.
Why this is correct
Horizontal scaling quickly increases capacity.
- ✗
Enable Cloud CDN on the load balancer.
Why it's wrong here
CDN caches static content, but latency spikes are likely due to dynamic content.
- ✗
Switch to a regional load balancer to reduce latency.
Why it's wrong here
This changes the architecture and may not reduce latency globally.
- ✗
Increase the machine type of the backend instances.
Why it's wrong here
Vertical scaling may not be enough and requires restarting instances.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Google Cloud Compute Options Overview
Key term
HTTP(S) Load Balancer
A network device or software that distributes incoming web traffic across multiple servers using HTTP or HTTPS protocols to ensure high availability, reliability, and performance.
Key term
Managed instance group
A managed instance group is a collection of identical virtual machine instances that are automatically managed as a single unit to ensure high availability and scalability.
About these practice questions
One of 955 original PCA practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. 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.