PMLE Automating and Orchestrating ML Pipelines Practice Question
An ML engineer is using Vertex AI Pipelines to orchestrate a training workflow. The pipeline must run on a schedule every day at 2:00 AM UTC. The engineer wants to use a fully managed Google Cloud service to trigger the pipeline. Which service should the engineer use?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that Cloud Composer is the default scheduler for Vertex AI Pipelines, when Cloud Scheduler is the simpler, fully managed option for basic cron triggers.
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
✓
Cloud Scheduler
Cloud Scheduler is the fully managed service for cron-based scheduling in Google Cloud. It can directly invoke the Vertex AI Pipelines API endpoint on a schedule, such as daily at 2:00 AM UTC. Other services either lack native scheduling or require additional components to achieve the same result.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Cloud Composer
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Composer is a managed Apache Airflow service that can schedule workflows, but it is not a simple cron trigger for Vertex AI Pipelines. It requires managing Airflow DAGs and environments, which is overkill for a simple daily trigger. It is not the most lightweight or fully managed option for this specific requirement.
- ✓
Cloud Scheduler
Why this is correct
Cloud Scheduler is a fully managed cron job service that can trigger Vertex AI Pipelines via HTTP requests to the Vertex AI API. It supports cron expressions and time zones, making it ideal for scheduled pipeline runs. The engineer can create a job that invokes the pipeline at 2:00 AM UTC daily without managing any infrastructure.
- ✗
Cloud Functions
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Functions can be triggered by various events, but it does not provide a built-in scheduler. To run daily, you would need to combine it with Cloud Scheduler or another scheduling mechanism. Alone, Cloud Functions cannot trigger a pipeline on a schedule.
- ✗
Cloud Tasks
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Tasks is designed for asynchronous task execution and queue management, not for scheduling recurring jobs. It can dispatch tasks to handlers but does not have built-in cron scheduling. Using Cloud Tasks would require an external trigger to enqueue tasks daily, adding unnecessary complexity.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Google Cloud exam blueprint
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