- A
Scan container images for vulnerabilities using Container Analysis.
Vulnerability scanning ensures images are secure before deployment.
- B
Run unit tests after deployment.
Why wrong: Tests should be run before deployment to catch issues early.
- C
Deploy directly to production on every commit.
Why wrong: Direct deployment bypasses staging and canary testing, increasing risk.
- D
Use canary deployments with gradual traffic shifting.
Canary deployments limit blast radius and allow monitoring before full rollout.
- E
Pin base image digests in Dockerfile.
Pinning digests ensures reproducible builds and prevents unwanted updates.
Question 247 of 1,000
CI/CD Pipeline Quality Steps for Cloud Build
This PDE practice question tests your understanding of ensuring solution quality. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company uses Cloud Build to deploy containerized applications. They want to ensure build and deployment quality. Which THREE steps should they include in their CI/CD pipeline? (Choose three.)
Quick Answer
The answer is to pin base image digests in the Dockerfile, implement container scanning, and use canary deployments. These three steps form a robust quality gate for your CI/CD pipeline quality steps for Cloud Build because they address the core pillars of security, reproducibility, and risk mitigation. Pinning digests ensures every build uses an immutable, verified base image, preventing unexpected changes from breaking production. Container scanning catches vulnerabilities before deployment, while canary deployments limit blast radius by routing a small percentage of traffic to a new version. On the Google Professional Data Engineer exam, this question tests your understanding of deployment safety versus speed—a common trap is choosing unit tests after deployment, which is too late to prevent bad code from reaching users. Remember the mnemonic “Pin, Scan, Canary” to lock in the three essential quality steps.
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
✓
Scan container images for vulnerabilities using Container Analysis.
Container Analysis (now part of Artifact Registry) scans container images for known vulnerabilities (CVEs) in OS packages and application dependencies. Integrating this scan into the CI/CD pipeline ensures that only compliant images proceed to deployment, preventing vulnerable code from reaching production. This directly supports the 'Ensuring solution quality' domain by enforcing security gates before release.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Scan container images for vulnerabilities using Container Analysis.
Why this is correct
Vulnerability scanning ensures images are secure before deployment.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Run unit tests after deployment.
Why it's wrong here
Tests should be run before deployment to catch issues early.
- ✗
Deploy directly to production on every commit.
Why it's wrong here
Direct deployment bypasses staging and canary testing, increasing risk.
- ✓
Use canary deployments with gradual traffic shifting.
Why this is correct
Canary deployments limit blast radius and allow monitoring before full rollout.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✓
Pin base image digests in Dockerfile.
Why this is correct
Pinning digests ensures reproducible builds and prevents unwanted updates.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google often tests the misconception that unit tests can be run after deployment or that direct-to-production commits are acceptable in a quality-focused pipeline, when in fact both violate the principle of shifting left on quality and risk reduction.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Container Analysis uses vulnerability metadata from sources like NVD, Red Hat OVAL, and Debian Security Bug Tracker, cross-referencing package versions in the image layers. The scan can be triggered via the `gcloud builds submit` command with the `--scan` flag or by enabling vulnerability scanning on the Artifact Registry repository. Pinning base image digests (e.g., `FROM python:3.11-slim@sha256:abc123`) ensures immutable, reproducible builds and prevents supply-chain attacks from tag mutability, which is a common attack vector in CI/CD pipelines.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
Visual reference
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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Ensuring solution quality — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PDE question test?
Ensuring solution quality — This question tests Ensuring solution quality — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Scan container images for vulnerabilities using Container Analysis. — Container Analysis (now part of Artifact Registry) scans container images for known vulnerabilities (CVEs) in OS packages and application dependencies. Integrating this scan into the CI/CD pipeline ensures that only compliant images proceed to deployment, preventing vulnerable code from reaching production. This directly supports the 'Ensuring solution quality' domain by enforcing security gates before release.
What should I do if I get this PDE question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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