Google PCA Practice Question: Analysing and Optimising Technical and Business Processes
Your company has a complex legacy application that runs on a single large VM. The application is stateful and has a monolithic architecture. You are tasked with migrating it to Google Cloud with minimal changes, but you also want to improve its reliability and scalability over time. Which migration strategy should you initially recommend?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is opting for a more modern architecture like microservices when the requirement explicitly asks for minimal changes initially.
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
✓
Rehost the application by moving the VM to Compute Engine using Migrate for Compute Engine.
Rehosting with Migrate for Compute Engine allows you to move the VM to Compute Engine with minimal changes, satisfying the immediate requirement. Once in the cloud, you can take advantage of reliability features like snapshots and managed instance groups, and later consider refactoring or replatforming. The other strategies involve significant changes or replacements that contradict the minimal-change constraint.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Refactor the application into microservices on GKE to improve scalability and reliability.
Why it's wrong here
Refactoring is a major change that requires rewriting the application, which contradicts the requirement for minimal changes. It is time-consuming and risky for a legacy monolith. While it would improve scalability and reliability, it is not the initial strategy when minimal changes are needed. It could be a later phase.
- ✗
Replatform the application by moving it to a managed database service and modifying the code to use cloud-native APIs.
Why it's wrong here
Replatforming involves code changes to take advantage of managed services, which violates the minimal changes constraint. It may also introduce compatibility issues with the legacy application. While it can improve reliability, it is not the least disruptive initial step. Rehosting is more appropriate for a first move.
- ✗
Repurchase by replacing the application with a SaaS solution that provides similar functionality.
Why it's wrong here
Repurchasing means abandoning the legacy application for a SaaS product, which is a significant business change and not minimal. It may not meet specific functional requirements and involves data migration and user retraining. This strategy is not suitable when the goal is to move the existing application with minimal changes.
- ✓
Rehost the application by moving the VM to Compute Engine using Migrate for Compute Engine.
Why this is correct
Rehosting (lift and shift) moves the application with minimal changes, often using Migrate for Compute Engine to replicate the VM to Google Cloud. This meets the immediate goal of minimal modification. It also provides a foundation for later optimization, such as refactoring or replatforming, once the application is running in the cloud.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Virtual Machine Instances in Compute Engine
Key term
CAN
A CAN (Controller Area Network) is a robust vehicle bus standard designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other without a host computer.
Key term
Compute Engine
Compute Engine is Google Cloud's Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering that lets you create and run virtual machines on Google's infrastructure.
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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.