Design innovative, scalable, and highly available cloud database solutions →easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
PCDE Practice Question: Design innovative, scalable, and highly available cloud database solutions
A startup needs a database for its new web application that will serve a global user base. The application requires low-latency reads and writes (single-digit milliseconds), strong consistency, and the ability to handle high concurrency (thousands of transactions per second). Which Google Cloud database service should the startup choose?
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 Spanner offers global distribution, strong consistency, and low-latency transactions at high concurrency. It is designed for globally scaled OLTP workloads.
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 for MySQL
Why it's wrong here
Cloud SQL is regional and cannot provide low-latency global access.
- ✓
Cloud Spanner
Why this is correct
Spanner provides global scalability, strong consistency, and ACID transactions with low latency.
- ✗
Bigtable
Why it's wrong here
Bigtable does not support SQL, strong consistency for transactions, or relational queries.
- ✗
Firestore
Why it's wrong here
Firestore provides eventual consistency by default and is not designed for high-throughput global OLTP.
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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.