Google PCA Practice Question: Managing Implementation and Ensuring Solution and Operations Reliability
Your organization runs a production Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL instance. You need to ensure that if the primary zone fails, the database automatically fails over to a standby with no data loss. Which configuration should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
PCA often tests the distinction between HA (automatic, synchronous, zero data loss, same region) and replicas/PITR (asynchronous or manual, potential data loss), so candidates who pick 'read replica and promote' or 'PITR' for failover fall into the trap.
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
✓
Deploy a regional Cloud SQL instance with high availability
A regional Cloud SQL instance with high availability provisions a standby in a different zone within the same region and performs automatic failover via a regional persistent disk, with synchronous replication ensuring zero data loss (RPO ≈ 0). This is the only option that combines automatic failover with no data loss for a single-region production database.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable point-in-time recovery (PITR)
Why it's wrong here
PITR restores data to a past timestamp using logs; it provides no standby instance and no automatic failover when the primary zone fails. It tempts because PITR protects against logical corruption and accidental deletion, so it would be correct if the requirement were point-in-time recovery rather than zone-level high availability.
- ✗
Configure a cross-region replica
Why it's wrong here
A cross-region replica asynchronously replicates to another region and is not an automatic failover target for a zone failure; it serves regional disaster recovery and read offload. It tempts because it protects against region-wide outages, so it would be correct if the requirement were cross-region resilience rather than same-region zone failover.
- ✓
Deploy a regional Cloud SQL instance with high availability
Why this is correct
A regional Cloud SQL instance with high availability maintains a standby in a separate zone and performs automatic failover with synchronous replication, ensuring no data loss when the primary zone fails. Zonal instances lack this standby capability.
- ✗
Create a read replica and promote it on failure
Why it's wrong here
A read replica is asynchronous, so promotion risks losing recent transactions and requires manual intervention, violating the no-data-loss and automatic failover requirements. It tempts because replicas can be promoted during disasters, so it would be correct if the stem accepted manual recovery with possible data loss rather than automatic zone failover.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Data Migration and Transfer Services
Key term
Regional Persistent Disk
Regional Persistent Disk is a durable, block-level storage option in Google Cloud that automatically replicates data across two zones in a region to protect against zone failures.
Key term
Cloud SQL
Cloud SQL is a fully managed relational database service that lets you set up, maintain, and scale SQL databases (like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server) in the cloud without managing the underlying infrastructure.
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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.