PCNE Configuring Network Services Practice Question
A company wants to load balance TCP traffic (non-HTTP) across a group of Compute Engine instances in a single region, while preserving the client IP address. They also need to support session affinity based on client IP. Which load balancer should they 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
✓
External TCP/UDP Network Load Balancer
External TCP/UDP Network Load Balancer is a pass-through load balancer that preserves client IP and supports session affinity. Other options either terminate connections or are HTTP-specific.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Global SSL Proxy Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
SSL Proxy is for TCP with SSL offload, not simple TCP.
- ✗
Global TCP Proxy Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
TCP Proxy terminates connections and does not preserve client IP.
- ✗
Internal TCP/UDP Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
Internal load balancer is for internal traffic, not external.
- ✓
External TCP/UDP Network Load Balancer
Why this is correct
Correct. It is pass-through, preserves client IP, and supports session affinity.
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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.