PCNE Practice Question: Managing, Monitoring, and Optimising Network Operations
An organization has a VPC with multiple subnets and Cloud NAT configured for outbound internet access. They need to analyze which instances are using the most egress bandwidth to optimize costs. Which approach is most effective?
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
✓
Export VPC Flow Logs to BigQuery and query by source instance
VPC Flow Logs exported to BigQuery allow detailed analysis of traffic patterns, including source IP, destination, and bytes transferred, enabling cost attribution.
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 NAT logging and analyze logs in Cloud Logging
Why it's wrong here
Cloud NAT logs show connection attempts but not per-instance bandwidth usage.
- ✓
Export VPC Flow Logs to BigQuery and query by source instance
Why this is correct
Correct: VPC Flow Logs contain instance metadata and can be aggregated in BigQuery to compute egress per instance.
- ✗
Use Firewall Insights to identify high-traffic instances
Why it's wrong here
Firewall Insights focus on rule usage, not traffic volume.
- ✗
Use the Performance Dashboard to see bandwidth usage per region
Why it's wrong here
Performance Dashboard shows latency and packet loss between regions, not per-instance bandwidth.
Visual reference
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This PCNE question is part of Courseiva's 961-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.