PDE Storing the Data Practice Question
An e-commerce application uses Cloud SQL (MySQL) for transaction processing. To improve read performance for reporting queries, the team wants to offload read traffic to a separate database instance that stays in sync with the primary. Which Cloud SQL feature should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
The pitfall is that candidates often assume a high availability (HA) failover replica can also serve read traffic, but in Cloud SQL, the HA standby is not directly accessible for reads; it is only used for automatic failover. Read replicas (option C) are the correct choice for offloading read queries.
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 cross-region read replica
Cloud SQL read replicas are designed to offload read traffic from the primary instance while staying in sync using asynchronous replication. Cross-region read replicas specifically allow you to place a replica in a different region, improving read performance for geographically distributed reporting queries without affecting the primary's transaction processing.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure a high availability (HA) replica
Why it's wrong here
A high availability configuration maintains a standby in a second zone for automatic failover; the standby serves no reads, so it cannot absorb reporting traffic. Read replicas provide the separate readable instance. HA would be the correct choice when the requirement is resilience to a zone-level outage rather than read scaling.
- ✗
Use Cloud SQL's failover replica
Why it's wrong here
A failover replica exists to provide a standby that takes over during a zone outage; it does not accept client read traffic while the primary is healthy. Read replicas, not failover replicas, offload reporting queries. A failover replica would be correct when the requirement is automatic failover for high availability.
- ✓
Create a cross-region read replica
Why this is correct
A cross-region read replica offloads reporting queries while asynchronously replicating from the primary, satisfying the requirement for a separate in-sync instance. However, cross-region placement adds replication lag and network cost; a same-region read replica would better suit latency-sensitive reporting, so this option is correct but not optimal.
- ✗
Enable automatic backups and point-in-time recovery
Why it's wrong here
Backups and point-in-time recovery restore data after corruption or deletion; they do not serve reporting queries or replicate continuously to a readable instance. Read replicas are the mechanism for offloading reads. Backups would be the correct choice when the requirement is recovery to a prior timestamp after data loss.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 747 original PDE practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PDE 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 PDE exam.