PCDE Practice Question: Deploy scalable and highly available databases in Google Cloud
A company uses Cloud Bigtable for their analytics pipeline. They set up replication with a primary cluster in us-central1 and a secondary in us-west1. They notice that during normal operation, queries always hit the primary cluster even if the secondary is closer. What should they change to route queries to the nearest cluster automatically?
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
✓
Change the app profile routing policy to any-replica
The default routing policy for Bigtable replication is single-cluster (to the primary). To route to the nearest healthy cluster, they need to enable the any-replica routing policy in their Bigtable app profile. read-failover is for DR failover, not for normal operations. Changing the primary cluster does not solve the routing issue. Client-side logic is an option but not a built-in solution.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Change the app profile routing policy to any-replica
Why this is correct
any-replica routing sends queries to the closest cluster, reducing latency.
- ✗
Implement client-side logic to choose which cluster to query
Why it's wrong here
Implementing client-side logic fails because the question specifies *automatic* routing to the nearest cluster, a capability Bigtable's native multi-cluster routing offers without application intervention. Client-side logic would necessitate custom code to determine proximity, which is not automatic and adds unnecessary complexity. This option is tempting because client-side logic is appropriate for scenarios requiring explicit control over cluster selection, such as directing specific read workloads to a particular replica or for manual failover, rather than proximity-based optimisation.
- ✗
Modify the primary cluster to be in us-west1
Why it's wrong here
Changing the primary cluster does not affect routing; the app profile still routes to the primary regardless of location.
- ✗
Update the app profile to use read-failover routing
Why it's wrong here
read-failover is designed for disaster recovery; it does not route based on proximity during normal operation.
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