- A
Add more nodes.
Adding nodes increases CPU capacity and reduces latency due to high CPU.
- B
Change to a higher-tier machine type.
Why wrong: Spanner does not have machine types; scaling is done by adding nodes.
- C
Increase the number of splits.
Why wrong: Splits are managed automatically; manual adjustment is not possible in the console.
- D
Add more processing units.
Why wrong: Processing units are used instead of nodes only for small instances; adding nodes is the standard scaling method.
Question 844 of 1,000
PCDE Plan and manage database infrastructure Practice Question
This PCDE practice question tests your understanding of plan and manage database infrastructure. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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.
A Cloud Spanner instance is experiencing increased latency during peak hours. Monitoring shows CPU utilization nearing 70%. How should they scale?
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
✓
Add more nodes.
Adding more nodes is the correct scaling approach for a Cloud Spanner instance experiencing high CPU utilization and latency. Cloud Spanner distributes data and query processing across nodes; each node provides a fixed amount of compute and storage capacity. Increasing the number of nodes directly increases the available CPU resources, reducing per-node utilization and improving query throughput and latency.
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.
- ✓
Add more nodes.
Why this is correct
Adding nodes increases CPU capacity and reduces latency due to high CPU.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Change to a higher-tier machine type.
Why it's wrong here
Spanner does not have machine types; scaling is done by adding nodes.
- ✗
Increase the number of splits.
Why it's wrong here
Splits are managed automatically; manual adjustment is not possible in the console.
- ✗
Add more processing units.
Why it's wrong here
Processing units are used instead of nodes only for small instances; adding nodes is the standard scaling method.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse Cloud Spanner's node-based scaling with the machine type scaling used in other Google Cloud services like Cloud SQL or Compute Engine, leading them to select 'Change to a higher-tier machine type' instead of adding nodes.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Cloud Spanner nodes each provide a baseline of 2 TB of storage and 2,000 QPS of read throughput, with CPU utilization being a key metric for scaling decisions. The recommended CPU utilization threshold for scaling is around 45-70% to maintain headroom for failover and traffic spikes. Under the hood, Spanner uses a shared-nothing architecture where each node manages a subset of splits, and adding nodes triggers automatic split rebalancing to distribute load evenly.
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 media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PCDE question test?
Plan and manage database infrastructure — This question tests Plan and manage database infrastructure — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Add more nodes. — Adding more nodes is the correct scaling approach for a Cloud Spanner instance experiencing high CPU utilization and latency. Cloud Spanner distributes data and query processing across nodes; each node provides a fixed amount of compute and storage capacity. Increasing the number of nodes directly increases the available CPU resources, reducing per-node utilization and improving query throughput and latency.
What should I do if I get this PCDE 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.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
This PCDE 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 PCDE exam.
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