PCDE Plan and manage database infrastructure Practice Question
This PCDE practice question tests your understanding of plan and manage database infrastructure. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 company is designing a global application using Cloud Spanner. They need to ensure low latency reads and writes across three continents. Which TWO configurations should they consider?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use a multi-region configuration with leader regions in each continent.
Option A is correct because Cloud Spanner multi-region configurations allow you to place leader regions in multiple continents, which enables low-latency strongly consistent reads and writes by directing traffic to the nearest leader. This is achieved through Spanner's TrueTime and Paxos-based replication, ensuring global consistency without sacrificing performance.
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.
✓
Use a multi-region configuration with leader regions in each continent.
Why this is correct
Multi-region with leader regions reduces write latency.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use a single-region instance and rely on application caching.
Why it's wrong here
Single-region instances cannot provide low latency globally.
✗
Use strongly consistent reads from a single region.
Why it's wrong here
Strongly consistent reads from a single region will have high latency for remote users.
✓
Use read replicas in each continent for stale read use cases.
Why this is correct
Read replicas reduce read latency for remote users.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use interleaved tables to optimize query performance.
Why it's wrong here
Interleaved tables improve performance within a region, not across continents.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that read replicas or caching alone can solve global write latency, but Cloud Spanner requires leader regions in each continent for low-latency strongly consistent writes.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Cloud Spanner uses a synchronous Paxos-based replication protocol across zones within a region, and in multi-region configurations, it extends this across continents with a configurable number of witness and voter replicas. The leader region handles all strongly consistent writes, and read-write transactions must go through the leader, so placing leaders in each continent ensures that writes are committed locally before being replicated globally, minimizing latency.
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 cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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: Use a multi-region configuration with leader regions in each continent. — Option A is correct because Cloud Spanner multi-region configurations allow you to place leader regions in multiple continents, which enables low-latency strongly consistent reads and writes by directing traffic to the nearest leader. This is achieved through Spanner's TrueTime and Paxos-based replication, ensuring global consistency without sacrificing performance.
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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Question Discussion
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