- A
Reduce the Cloud SQL instance tier to a lower machine type to save costs, and add read replicas in other regions for failover.
Why wrong: Reducing tier on already underutilized instance saves little; adding replicas may increase latency and cost without addressing Spanner.
- B
Add more nodes to the Cloud SQL instance and enable automatic storage increase to handle peak loads.
Why wrong: Cloud SQL is underutilized; adding nodes would increase cost without solving Spanner bottleneck.
- C
Increase the number of splits in Cloud Spanner to reduce hot spots, and configure Cloud CDN in front of the load balancer to cache static content.
Increasing splits improves Spanner performance; Cloud CDN reduces egress costs and latency for static content.
- D
Move the transactional database to Cloud Spanner and decommission Cloud SQL to reduce complexity.
Why wrong: This would increase Spanner load and latency; Cloud SQL is underutilized, so consolidation is not needed.
Google PCA Manage and provision cloud infrastructure Practice Question
This PCA practice question tests your understanding of manage and provision cloud infrastructure. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Your company runs a global e-commerce platform on Google Cloud. The application is deployed across multiple regions for low latency. You use Cloud SQL for transactional data and Cloud Spanner for global consistency of inventory. Recently, the operations team reported that the application is experiencing increased latency during peak hours, and the monthly cloud bill has risen significantly. Upon investigation, you find that the Cloud SQL instance is underutilized (CPU < 20%) while Cloud Spanner split utilization is over 80%. The application instances are fronted by a global external HTTPS load balancer. Network egress costs are high. Which course of action would best address both the latency and cost issues?
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
Increase the number of splits in Cloud Spanner to reduce hot spots, and configure Cloud CDN in front of the load balancer to cache static content.
The correct answer is C because the primary performance issue is Cloud Spanner split utilization over 80%, indicating hot spots that cause increased latency. Increasing the number of splits redistributes load across more nodes, reducing contention. Additionally, configuring Cloud CDN caches static content at edge locations, reducing network egress costs and latency by serving content closer to users.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Reduce the Cloud SQL instance tier to a lower machine type to save costs, and add read replicas in other regions for failover.
Why it's wrong here
Reducing tier on already underutilized instance saves little; adding replicas may increase latency and cost without addressing Spanner.
- ✗
Add more nodes to the Cloud SQL instance and enable automatic storage increase to handle peak loads.
Why it's wrong here
Cloud SQL is underutilized; adding nodes would increase cost without solving Spanner bottleneck.
- ✓
Increase the number of splits in Cloud Spanner to reduce hot spots, and configure Cloud CDN in front of the load balancer to cache static content.
Why this is correct
Increasing splits improves Spanner performance; Cloud CDN reduces egress costs and latency for static content.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Move the transactional database to Cloud Spanner and decommission Cloud SQL to reduce complexity.
Why it's wrong here
This would increase Spanner load and latency; Cloud SQL is underutilized, so consolidation is not needed.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates focus on the underutilized Cloud SQL instance and assume it is the problem, ignoring that the real bottleneck is Cloud Spanner split utilization and network egress costs, which require a different solution (split management and CDN caching).
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Cloud Spanner splits are the unit of data distribution and load balancing; when split utilization exceeds 80%, it indicates that some splits are handling disproportionate read/write traffic, creating hot spots. Increasing the number of splits (via schema design or manual split operations) allows Spanner to distribute load more evenly. Cloud CDN caches static content (e.g., images, CSS) at Google's edge points of presence, reducing origin server load and egress costs by serving cached responses from the edge, which also lowers latency for end users.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PCA question test?
Manage and provision cloud infrastructure — This question tests Manage and provision cloud infrastructure — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Increase the number of splits in Cloud Spanner to reduce hot spots, and configure Cloud CDN in front of the load balancer to cache static content. — The correct answer is C because the primary performance issue is Cloud Spanner split utilization over 80%, indicating hot spots that cause increased latency. Increasing the number of splits redistributes load across more nodes, reducing contention. Additionally, configuring Cloud CDN caches static content at edge locations, reducing network egress costs and latency by serving content closer to users.
What should I do if I get this PCA question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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.
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