PCNE Practice Question: Designing, Planning, and Prototyping a GCP Network
A network engineer needs to design a VPC network for a global application that will have Compute Engine instances in multiple regions. The instances need to communicate with each other using internal IP addresses. What is the simplest way to enable this communication?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates may overcomplicate the solution by thinking inter-region communication requires explicit connectivity services like VPN or peering, when in fact a single global VPC network provides this natively.
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 single VPC network with subnets in each region.
A single VPC network is global and can contain subnets in any region. By placing subnets in each required region within the same VPC, instances can communicate using internal IP addresses (RFC 1918) without any additional connectivity services. This is the simplest and most scalable approach because VPCs inherently provide global routing between subnets.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use Dedicated Interconnect to connect regions.
Why it's wrong here
Dedicated Interconnect is for hybrid connectivity, not inter-region communication.
- ✗
Use Cloud VPN to connect the instances.
Why it's wrong here
Cloud VPN is for connecting on-premises to GCP.
- ✓
Create a single VPC network with subnets in each region.
Why this is correct
A global VPC network inherently provides internal connectivity across regions.
- ✗
Create separate VPC networks per region and peer them.
Why it's wrong here
VPC peering adds complexity and is unnecessary for a single VPC.
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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.