PCDE Practice Question: Deploy scalable and highly available databases in Google Cloud
An organization needs to define RTO and RPO for their database disaster recovery plan. They have a Cloud SQL for SQL Server instance with HA enabled. What are the typical RTO and RPO for an automatic HA failover?
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
✓
RPO: near zero, RTO: under 60 seconds
Cloud SQL HA failover is automatic within the same region. It provides RPO near zero (minimal data loss) and RTO typically under 60 seconds.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
RPO: replication lag (seconds), RTO: minutes
Why it's wrong here
That describes cross-region read replicas, not same-region HA.
- ✓
RPO: near zero, RTO: under 60 seconds
Why this is correct
Cloud SQL HA uses synchronous replication in the same region, providing near-zero RPO and RTO under 60 seconds.
- ✗
RPO: zero, RTO: zero
Why it's wrong here
Zero RTO is not possible in practice; there is always some downtime during failover.
- ✗
RPO: minutes, RTO: hours
Why it's wrong here
That would be typical for a backup-restore approach, not HA failover.
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 →
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.