Google PCA Practice Question: Managing and Provisioning a Solution Infrastructure
An organization has multiple GCP projects managed by a central operations team. They want to define a common VPC configuration in a host project and allow service projects to use it. Which networking feature should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is confusing VPC peering with Shared VPC — peering connects two independently managed VPCs, whereas Shared VPC centralizes ownership in a host project, which is what the question's 'host project / service project' wording demands.
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
✓
Shared VPC
Shared VPC allows an organization to designate a host project that owns the VPC network and subnets, and then attach service projects so their resources (VMs, GKE clusters, etc.) can use that shared network. This centralizes network administration under the operations team while letting service teams deploy workloads in their own projects. It is the canonical GCP feature for exactly this host-project/service-project pattern.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Shared VPC
Why this is correct
Shared VPC lets a host project export subnets to service projects, so the central team retains control of the VPC configuration while each service project deploys its own resources into those shared subnets. This directly satisfies the requirement for one common VPC defined centrally and reused across multiple GCP projects.
- ✗
Private Service Connect
Why it's wrong here
Private Service Connect publishes and consumes services across VPCs via endpoints, not a shared host-project VPC that service projects attach to. It is tempting because it does connect projects privately, which suits exposing a specific managed service rather than centralised subnet administration.
- ✗
Cloud VPN
Why it's wrong here
Cloud VPN builds encrypted tunnels between on-premises networks or VPCs over the internet, so it cannot let service projects consume a host project's subnets. It is tempting because it links networks across projects, which fits hybrid connectivity rather than shared VPC topology.
- ✗
VPC peering
Why it's wrong here
VPC peering connects two VPC networks so their subnets route to each other, but each project keeps its own VPC rather than using the host project's. It is tempting because peering does join projects, which suits connecting distinct VPCs, not centralised subnet control.
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Related to this question
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Resource Monitoring and Logging with Cloud Operations
Key term
Shared VPC
A Shared VPC allows multiple projects or accounts within a cloud environment to use the same Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) network, enabling centralized management and isolation of resources.
Key term
Organization
An Organization is a top-level container in Google Cloud that represents your company or entities and serves as the root node for all your cloud resources, policies, and access control.
About these practice questions
This PCA question is part of Courseiva's 807-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.