Google PCA Manage and provision cloud infrastructure Practice Question
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?
⚠ Common exam trap
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).
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 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.
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.
- ✗
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.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to Google Cloud Platform
Key term
Latency
Latency is the time delay between a request being sent over a network and the response being received, often measured in milliseconds.
Key term
HTTPS
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is the secure version of HTTP that encrypts data between a web browser and a web server using SSL/TLS protocols.
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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.