PCDE Practice Question: Manage a solution that can span multiple database technologies
A Cloud SQL for MySQL instance is experiencing high CPU utilisation (>80%) and slow query performance. The instance has auto-storage increase enabled. Which step should the engineer take to immediately reduce CPU load?
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 instance tier to a larger machine type
High CPU utilisation is often due to insufficient compute capacity. Increasing the instance tier (vertical scaling) provides more CPU and memory, reducing load. Enabling auto-storage increase only adds disk space, not compute. Creating a read replica distributes read traffic but does not help with CPU load on the primary for write-heavy workloads. Adjusting max_connections may help marginally but is not as effective as increasing compute capacity.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Increase the instance tier to a larger machine type
Why this is correct
Increasing the machine type provides more CPU and memory, directly reducing CPU utilisation.
- ✗
Reduce the max_connections parameter
Why it's wrong here
Reducing max_connections may reduce concurrency but is not the best immediate action for high CPU.
- ✗
Create a cross-region read replica to offload reads
Why it's wrong here
Read replicas reduce read load on the primary but do not reduce CPU usage from writes.
- ✗
Enable auto-storage increase if not already enabled
Why it's wrong here
Auto-storage increase adds disk space, not CPU.
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