Manage a solution that can span multiple database technologies →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
PCDE Practice Question: Manage a solution that can span multiple database technologies
A Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL instance has a read replica lagging behind the primary. The team needs to monitor the replica lag and set up an alert if it exceeds 60 seconds. Which metric should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates might confuse performance metrics like CPU or disk I/O with direct replication delay, assuming high resource usage always indicates lag, when in fact `replication_lag` is the only metric that measures the exact time difference between primary and replica.
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
✓
replication_lag
The correct metric is `replication_lag` because it directly measures the delay in seconds between the primary and read replica in Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL. This metric reflects how far behind the replica is in applying changes from the primary's write-ahead log (WAL), making it the precise indicator for alerting when lag exceeds 60 seconds.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
bytes_received
Why it's wrong here
Indicates data received, not lag.
- ✗
disk_read_ops
Why it's wrong here
Not a lag metric.
- ✓
replication_lag
Why this is correct
This metric directly measures replica lag in seconds.
- ✗
cpu_utilization
Why it's wrong here
Not related to replication lag.
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