Deploy scalable and highly available databases in Google Cloud →mediumMultiple SelectObjective-mapped
PCDE Practice Question: Deploy scalable and highly available databases in Google Cloud
A company is using Cloud Spanner and wants to perform disaster recovery testing. They need to validate that their backup and restore process works without impacting production. Which TWO actions should they take? (Choose 2 correct answers.)
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
✓
Restore a backup to a new database in the same instance using a different database ID
Restoring a backup to a new instance in a separate project is non-destructive and tests the restore process. Using a different database ID in the same instance also tests restore without overriding production. Option C is destructive (deletes production). Option D is not about testing. Option E is not a built-in feature for Spanner.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Restore a backup to a new database in the same instance using a different database ID
Why this is correct
This tests the restore process without overwriting the production database.
- ✗
Export the database to Cloud Storage and import it into a new instance
Why it's wrong here
Export/import is not a backup/restore operation and does not test the native backup restore process.
- ✗
Perform a failover to a read replica and then fail back
Why it's wrong here
Spanner does not have read replicas; this option is not applicable.
- ✓
Create a backup of the production database and restore it to a new Spanner instance in a test project
Why this is correct
This validates the restore process without affecting production.
- ✗
Directly restore a backup to the production database to test recovery time
Why it's wrong here
This would overwrite production data and cause an outage.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This PCDE question is part of Courseiva's 1,446-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
2 more ways this is tested on PCDE
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A DevOps engineer wants to test disaster recovery for a Cloud SQL for MySQL instance by simulating a zone failure without impacting production traffic. They need to ensure minimal data loss. Which approach should they take?
medium- A.Take an on-demand backup and restore it to a new Cloud SQL instance
- B.Use the gcloud command to perform a point-in-time recovery on the same instance
- C.Enable the HA configuration and trigger a failover by stopping the primary instance
- ✓ D.Promote a cross-region read replica in a test project to validate the failover process
Why D: Non-destructive tests are best done using read replicas. Promoting a read replica in a test environment avoids impacting production. Restoring a backup from Cloud Storage would not test the failover process. Using HA failover would affect production. Restoring to a new instance from PITR tests recovery but not failover.
Variation 2. A company runs a global application on Cloud Spanner with a multi-region configuration. They need to test their DR procedures without impacting production. Which THREE actions should they perform? (Choose 3)
hard- A.Delete the production instance and recreate it from a backup.
- ✓ B.Simulate a zone failure by modifying IAM permissions to restrict access to replicas in a zone.
- ✓ C.Create a backup of the production database and restore it to a separate instance for validation.
- D.Promote a read replica to a writable instance in a different region.
- ✓ E.Perform a failover test by initiating a planned regional outage using Spanner's API.
Why B: Non-destructive tests include creating a backup and restoring it to a separate instance for validation, simulating a zone failure by restricting replica access, and performing regular failover drills via backup/restore to test RTO.
JA
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.