Deploy scalable and highly available databases in Google Cloud →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
PCDE Practice Question: Deploy scalable and highly available databases in Google Cloud
A company uses Cloud SQL for MySQL with a 1-hour RPO and 2-hour RTO. They currently rely on automated daily backups. To improve DR capabilities, they want to reduce RPO to 5 minutes while keeping costs low. Which action should they take?
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
✓
Enable point-in-time recovery (PITR) with a binary log retention of 5 minutes.
Enabling point-in-time recovery (PITR) on Cloud SQL allows restoring to any point in time within the backup retention period, reducing RPO from 24 hours to seconds (limited to binary log retention).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Increase backup frequency to every hour.
Why it's wrong here
Hourly backups still give RPO up to 1 hour, not 5 minutes.
- ✗
Create a cross-region read replica.
Why it's wrong here
Cross-region replicas are asynchronous; RPO depends on replication lag, but cost is higher than PITR.
- ✓
Enable point-in-time recovery (PITR) with a binary log retention of 5 minutes.
Why this is correct
PITR uses binary logs to replay transactions, achieving an RPO of seconds to minutes depending on log retention.
- ✗
Deploy Cloud SQL HA with a standby in another zone.
Why it's wrong here
HA provides high availability but does not reduce RPO for point-in-time recovery; it only provides failover.
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on PCDE
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Variation 1. A company uses Cloud Spanner and needs to design a backup strategy that meets a 24-hour RPO and 4-hour RTO. Which TWO statements are correct for achieving these goals? (Choose 2)
easy- A.Use point-in-time recovery to restore to any point within the last 24 hours.
- B.Export the database to Avro files in Cloud Storage.
- C.Create a cross-region read replica for failover.
- ✓ D.Schedule a daily backup of the Spanner database.
- ✓ E.Restore the backup to a new Spanner instance in the same region.
Why D: Spanner backups can be created on-demand or scheduled. The backup restore typically completes in hours depending on size, and can meet 4-hour RTO. Scheduling daily backups meets 24-hour RPO.
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.