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PCDE Practice Question: Deploy scalable and highly available databases in Google Cloud

A company is planning disaster recovery for Bigtable. They have two clusters in different regions with replication enabled. They want to automate failover using Cloud DNS. Which THREE components are required for this automation? (Choose 3)

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

Cloud HTTP(S) health check for the Bigtable cluster endpoints.

To automate Bigtable failover, you need a Cloud HTTP(S) health check to monitor the primary cluster, a Cloud DNS routing policy (e.g., weighted round robin) that can be updated, and a mechanism (e.g., Cloud Functions or an external tool) to update the DNS record when the health check fails.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

  • Bigtable replication routing policy set to any-replica.

    Why it's wrong here

    any-replica does not assist in failover automation.

  • Cloud Bigtable AppProfile with single-cluster routing.

    Why it's wrong here

    AppProfiles configure client-side routing, not DNS-based failover.

  • Cloud HTTP(S) health check for the Bigtable cluster endpoints.

    Why this is correct

    Health checks determine primary cluster health.

  • Cloud Functions to update the DNS record on health check failure.

    Why this is correct

    Automation to change DNS routing when primary is unhealthy.

  • Cloud DNS managed zone with a weighted routing policy.

    Why this is correct

    Weighted routing directs traffic to primary or secondary based on health.

Visual reference

Client Recursive Resolver Root DNS (13 root servers) TLD DNS (.com, .org, …) Authoritative example.com query IP addr answer

Quick reference

Cloud Service Model Comparison

ModelYou ManageProvider ManagesExamples
IaaSOS, runtime, apps, dataHardware, hypervisor, networkingEC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine
PaaSApps and dataOS, runtime, middleware, hardwareElastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service
SaaSData and settings onlyEverything elseMicrosoft 365, Salesforce, Workday
FaaS / ServerlessFunction code onlyInfra, scaling, runtimeLambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run
CaaSContainers and appsKubernetes, OS, hardwareEKS, AKS, GKE

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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security

Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva

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.