Design innovative, scalable, and highly available cloud database solutions →easyMultiple SelectObjective-mapped
PCDE Practice Question: Design innovative, scalable, and highly available cloud database solutions
A company wants to migrate from a self-managed MySQL database to a fully managed GCP service. They need high availability with automatic failover, automated backups, and read replicas for scaling read traffic. Which two Google Cloud services meet these requirements? (Choose TWO.)
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates may incorrectly choose Firestore or Cloud Bigtable because they see 'fully managed' and 'high availability' without recognizing that the requirement for MySQL compatibility and read replicas eliminates NoSQL options, or they may overlook Cloud SQL for MySQL as a valid choice because they assume only Cloud Spanner can provide high availability with read replicas in this Google Cloud context.
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 Spanner
Cloud SQL for MySQL is correct because it is a fully managed MySQL-compatible service that offers high availability with automatic failover, automated backups, and support for read replicas to scale read traffic. Cloud Spanner is also correct because it provides a fully managed, horizontally scalable relational database with automatic synchronous replication for high availability, automatic failover, automated backups, and read replica support, making it suitable for migrating from MySQL. Both services meet the requirements for a fully managed, highly available database with read scaling.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Firestore
Why it's wrong here
NoSQL document database.
- ✓
Cloud Spanner
Why this is correct
Fully managed, globally distributed, HA, and can handle read scaling.
- ✗
Cloud Bigtable
Why it's wrong here
NoSQL, not MySQL-compatible.
- ✓
Cloud SQL for MySQL
Why this is correct
Fully managed, HA, automated backups, read replicas.
- ✗
BigQuery
Why it's wrong here
Analytics data warehouse, not transactional.
Visual reference
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
1 more way 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 startup needs a fully managed relational database for their e-commerce platform with high availability, automatic failover, and read replicas. They expect moderate traffic and want to minimize operational overhead. Which Google Cloud service should they use?
easy- ✓ A.Cloud SQL
- B.Cloud Spanner
- C.Firestore
- D.Bigtable
Why A: Cloud SQL offers fully managed MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server with high availability and read replicas. It is the best fit for moderate-traffic OLTP workloads.
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.