PCNE Configuring Network Services Practice Question
A company is using a Global SSL Proxy Load Balancer to terminate SSL and forward traffic to a backend service on Compute Engine. They need to preserve the client IP address in the backend logs. What should they do?
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
✓
Enable Proxy Protocol on the SSL proxy load balancer and configure the backend to parse it.
SSL Proxy Load Balancer terminates SSL and forwards traffic using TCP. It does not preserve the original client IP by default. To preserve the client IP, you must enable Proxy Protocol on the load balancer and configure the backend to accept Proxy Protocol headers.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable Cloud CDN with origin header forwarding.
Why it's wrong here
Cloud CDN does not affect proxy protocol.
- ✓
Enable Proxy Protocol on the SSL proxy load balancer and configure the backend to parse it.
Why this is correct
Proxy Protocol is the standard way to pass client IP through load balancers that terminate SSL.
- ✗
Use a TCP Proxy Load Balancer with the proxy protocol enabled.
Why it's wrong here
TCP Proxy also requires proxy protocol, but SSL Proxy is specified; proxy protocol can be enabled on SSL Proxy as well.
- ✗
Configure the backend service to use the X-Forwarded-For header.
Why it's wrong here
X-Forwarded-For is an HTTP header, but SSL Proxy is a TCP-level load balancer (Layer 4), so it does not insert HTTP headers.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PCNE 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 PCNE exam.