Question 956 of 1,446
PCDE Practice Question: Deploy scalable and highly available databases in Google Cloud
A global e-commerce platform uses Cloud Spanner in multi-region configuration. The application writes a significant portion of traffic from Europe and requires the lowest read latency in that region. Which configuration step should be taken to minimise read latency in Europe while maintaining write availability?
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
✓
Set the leader region to Europe (e.g., eur3).
In Spanner multi-region, the leader region determines where writes are committed. Setting the leader region to Europe ensures that writes are committed there, which reduces write latency for European traffic. Read-only replicas in other regions can serve reads with low latency without affecting write availability. Adding more read replicas in Europe would not reduce latency if the leader region is elsewhere. The number of read-write replicas does not directly reduce read latency. Splitting the database would not help for a single database.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure a separate Spanner instance for European traffic and split the database.
Why it's wrong here
Splitting the database would complicate global transactions and is not required. Multi-region configuration is designed to handle global traffic with a single instance.
- ✗
Add more read-write replicas in the European region.
Why it's wrong here
Adding more read-write replicas does not directly reduce read latency; reads can be served by any replica. The leader region determines write commit location, not read latency.
- ✗
Use a regional Spanner instance in Europe coupled with a copy of the data in Bigtable.
Why it's wrong here
This would introduce data inconsistency and additional complexity. Spanner multi-region handles both reads and writes globally.
- ✓
Set the leader region to Europe (e.g., eur3).
Why this is correct
Setting the leader region to Europe ensures that writes are committed in Europe, which reduces write latency for European traffic. Read-only replicas in other regions can serve reads with low latency without affecting write availability.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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