Courseiva

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

A company needs to define backup retention policies for Cloud SQL, Spanner, and Bigtable to meet compliance requirements. Which THREE statements about backup retention are correct? (Choose three.)

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 SQL automated backups can be retained for up to 365 days.

Cloud SQL automated backups can be retained for up to 365 days. Spanner backup expiration is maximum 365 days. Bigtable on-demand backups are stored in Cloud Storage and can be retained indefinitely using lifecycle policies. The other options are incorrect: Cloud SQL maximum is 365 days, Spanner maximum is 365 days, Bigtable backups are not limited to 30 days.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

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

  • Cloud SQL automated backups can be retained for up to 365 days.

    Why this is correct

    Cloud SQL allows setting backup retention up to 365 days for automated backups.

  • Cloud SQL automated backups can be retained for up to 730 days.

    Why it's wrong here

    The maximum retention for Cloud SQL automated backups is 365 days.

  • Bigtable managed backups have a maximum retention of 30 days.

    Why it's wrong here

    Bigtable managed backups (on-demand) are stored in Cloud Storage and have no built-in expiration limit; they can be retained indefinitely.

  • Bigtable on-demand backups can be retained indefinitely by using Cloud Storage object lifecycle management.

    Why this is correct

    Bigtable backups are stored as managed exports in Cloud Storage and can be retained indefinitely by setting lifecycle rules to prevent deletion.

  • Cloud Spanner backup expiration can be set to a maximum of 365 days.

    Why this is correct

    Spanner backups can have an expiration time up to 365 days from creation.

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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.