Google PCA Ensure solution and operations reliability Practice Question
Your organization is implementing a Disaster Recovery plan for a critical database. Which THREE components are essential for a robust DR strategy? (Choose 3)
⚠ Common exam trap
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that a single global load balancer provides high availability, when in fact it becomes a single point of failure unless it is itself deployed in a redundant, multi-region architecture.
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
✓
Automated failover process to switch traffic to the DR region.
An automated failover process is essential for minimizing Recovery Time Objective (RTO) in a Disaster Recovery strategy. Without automation, manual intervention introduces delays and risks of human error, which can extend downtime significantly. In cloud or on-premises environments, automated failover typically relies on health checks, DNS updates, or traffic manager rules to seamlessly redirect traffic to the DR region when the primary fails.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
A single global load balancer for both regions.
Why it's wrong here
A single load balancer is a single point of failure; each region should have its own load balancer or use a multi-region LB.
- ✓
Automated failover process to switch traffic to the DR region.
Why this is correct
Automation minimizes manual errors and reduces RTO.
- ✓
Data replication strategy (synchronous or asynchronous) to a secondary region.
Why this is correct
Replication ensures data is copied to the DR site; sync/choice affects RPO.
- ✓
Regular DR drills (testing failover at least once per quarter).
Why this is correct
Testing ensures the plan works and staff are familiar with processes.
- ✗
Using a single zone for the primary region.
Why it's wrong here
Relying on a single zone increases risk; even within a region, use multiple zones.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Google Cloud Resource Hierarchy and Organization
Key term
DNS
DNS is the system that translates human-friendly domain names like example.com into machine-readable IP addresses so computers can find each other on a network.
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.
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