PCNE Configuring Network Services Practice Question
A company wants to expose a global web application with HTTP/HTTPS load balancing, SSL termination, and Cloud CDN. They need to route requests to different backend services based on the URL path (e.g., /api/* to a Cloud Run service, /static/* to a Cloud Storage bucket, and /* to a managed instance group). Which GCP load balancing product 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
✓
Global external HTTP(S) Load Balancer
Global external HTTPS Load Balancer supports URL-based routing via URL maps, can terminate SSL, integrate with Cloud CDN, and route to different backends (including serverless NEG for Cloud Run and backend buckets for Cloud Storage).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
SSL Proxy Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
SSL Proxy is a global load balancer for TCP with SSL offload but does not support HTTP path-based routing or Cloud CDN.
- ✓
Global external HTTP(S) Load Balancer
Why this is correct
Correct – supports URL map routing, SSL, Cloud CDN, and multiple backend types including serverless NEG and backend buckets.
- ✗
Internal TCP/UDP Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
This is an internal load balancer for private VPC traffic; not suitable for global external exposure.
- ✗
External TCP/UDP Network Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
This is a regional, passthrough load balancer for TCP/UDP traffic; it does not support HTTP routing or SSL termination.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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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.