PCDE Practice Question: Deploy scalable and highly available databases in Google Cloud
An organization needs to store backup copies of a Cloud Spanner database for a minimum of 365 days to comply with regulatory requirements. Which backup option should they use?
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
✓
Create a Spanner backup and set the expiration to 365 days
Cloud Spanner backups can be configured with expiration up to 365 days (max). Import/export to Cloud Storage is not a managed backup solution and does not support PITR. Bigtable backups are for Bigtable, not Spanner. Cloud SQL backups are for Cloud SQL.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create a Spanner backup and set the expiration to 365 days
Why this is correct
Spanner backups support expiration up to 365 days, meeting the regulatory requirement.
- ✗
Enable point-in-time recovery (PITR) with a 365-day retention period
Why it's wrong here
Spanner's PITR is limited to a maximum of 7 days, not 365 days.
- ✗
Export the database to Cloud Storage using the gcloud command and set a lifecycle policy
Why it's wrong here
Export to Cloud Storage is not a managed Spanner backup and does not support point-in-time restore within Spanner.
- ✗
Use Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL with automated backups set to 365 days
Why it's wrong here
The database is Spanner, not Cloud SQL. This option does not apply to Spanner.
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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.