PCNE Implementing VPC Instances Practice Question
An engineer needs to configure Cloud NAT with logging enabled to monitor traffic from a specific subnet. The NAT gateway uses automatic NAT IP allocation. The engineer wants to ensure that if a single VM uses many connections, it does not exhaust the available ports for other VMs. Which THREE settings should be configured? (Choose THREE.)
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
✓
Set the minimum ports per VM to a reasonable value
To prevent port exhaustion, the engineer should enable manual port allocation to set limits, configure endpoint-independent mapping for UDP (not directly related to port exhaustion), and set a minimum ports per VM to guarantee each VM gets a baseline. Manual allocation allows setting a maximum number of ports per VM, which prevents a single VM from using all ports.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Set the minimum ports per VM to a reasonable value
Why this is correct
This guarantees each VM gets a minimum number of ports.
- ✓
Set the NAT IP allocation to manual
Why this is correct
Manual allocation allows configuring per-VM port limits.
- ✗
Enable logging on the NAT gateway
Why it's wrong here
Logging helps monitoring but does not prevent port exhaustion.
- ✗
Enable endpoint-independent mapping
Why it's wrong here
This is a UDP optimization, not for port exhaustion prevention.
- ✓
Set the maximum ports per VM to a reasonable value
Why this is correct
This limits how many ports a single VM can use, preventing exhaustion.
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JA
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.