PMLE Automating and Orchestrating ML Pipelines Practice Question
An organization wants to trigger a Vertex AI pipeline whenever a new commit is pushed to the main branch of their Cloud Source Repository. The pipeline should retrain and evaluate the model. Which service should they use to detect the push event and start the pipeline?
⚠ Common exam trap
This question tests the distinction between event-driven triggers (Cloud Build) and time-based schedulers (Cloud Scheduler, Vertex AI Pipeline schedule), leading candidates to mistakenly choose a polling or cron-based option for an event-driven requirement.
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 Build trigger
Cloud Build triggers are designed to automatically invoke a build pipeline in response to events from Cloud Source Repository, such as a push to a specific branch. This allows the organization to directly start a Vertex AI pipeline for retraining and evaluation without additional infrastructure. Cloud Build triggers natively integrate with Cloud Source Repository, making them the simplest and most reliable choice for this event-driven workflow.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Vertex AI Pipeline schedule
Why it's wrong here
A pipeline schedule fires on fixed cron timing regardless of repository state, so commits pushed between runs are not detected and retraining lags. Schedules suit recurring retraining on stable data cadences, whereas this scenario requires an event-driven trigger bound to the main branch.
- ✓
Cloud Build trigger
Why this is correct
Cloud Build triggers natively watch Cloud Source Repository branches and fire on push events, satisfying the commit-detection constraint. The trigger then invokes the Vertex AI pipeline, so no polling or custom webhook infrastructure is needed to bridge the repository event to pipeline execution.
- ✗
Cloud Scheduler on a short interval
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Scheduler polls on a fixed interval, so a commit is only noticed at the next tick, introducing latency and redundant pipeline runs when nothing changed. Scheduler suits periodic batch jobs, not repository push events, which Cloud Source Repository delivers directly to Pub/Sub.
- ✗
Pub/Sub with push subscription to a Cloud Function
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Source Repository publishes commit events to Pub/Sub natively, so inserting a Cloud Function adds an unnecessary hop that must parse the message and then call the Vertex AI API. Pub/Sub push subscriptions suit fan-out to arbitrary consumers, not direct pipeline triggering on repository events.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PMLE 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 PMLE exam.