Google ACE Planning and configuring a cloud solution Practice Question
This ACE practice question tests your understanding of planning and configuring a cloud solution. 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 startup wants to host a static website (HTML, CSS, JS) globally with minimal latency and high availability. They expect low traffic initially but want to scale seamlessly. Which solution is most cost-effective and simple?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Cloud Storage bucket with Cloud CDN enabled
A Cloud Storage bucket with Cloud CDN enabled is the most cost-effective and simple solution for hosting a static website globally with minimal latency. Cloud Storage natively serves static content (HTML, CSS, JS) without provisioning servers, and Cloud CDN caches content at edge locations worldwide, reducing latency. It scales seamlessly from zero traffic to high demand without manual intervention, and costs are based only on storage and egress, making it ideal for low-traffic startups.
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.
✗
Compute Engine with nginx
Why it's wrong here
Requires VM management and manual scaling; not cost-effective for low traffic.
✗
App Engine standard environment
Why it's wrong here
Overkill for static content; App Engine is designed for dynamic apps.
✗
Cloud Functions with HTTP triggers
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Functions is for event-driven compute, not for serving static files efficiently.
✓
Cloud Storage bucket with Cloud CDN enabled
Why this is correct
Static website hosting from a bucket is simple, and CDN provides global low latency.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that static websites require a compute layer (like App Engine or Compute Engine) to serve files, when in fact Cloud Storage with CDN is the simplest and most cost-effective serverless option for static content.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Cloud Storage serves static content via HTTP GET requests directly from the bucket's public URL, and when Cloud CDN is enabled, it uses Google's global edge network to cache content based on cache-control headers (e.g., max-age). Under the hood, Cloud CDN leverages Google's front-end (GFE) servers and supports HTTP/2 and QUIC for reduced latency. A real-world scenario: a startup with a marketing landing page can set a bucket's main page suffix to 'index.html' and error page to '404.html', then point a custom domain via a CNAME to the CDN endpoint, achieving sub-50ms TTFB globally without any server management.
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 startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this ACE question in full detail.
Planning and configuring a cloud solution — This question tests Planning and configuring a cloud solution — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Cloud Storage bucket with Cloud CDN enabled — A Cloud Storage bucket with Cloud CDN enabled is the most cost-effective and simple solution for hosting a static website globally with minimal latency. Cloud Storage natively serves static content (HTML, CSS, JS) without provisioning servers, and Cloud CDN caches content at edge locations worldwide, reducing latency. It scales seamlessly from zero traffic to high demand without manual intervention, and costs are based only on storage and egress, making it ideal for low-traffic startups.
What should I do if I get this ACE 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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This ACE 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 ACE exam.
Question Discussion
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