ACE Practice Question: A financial application requires a relational…
This ACE practice question tests your understanding of a financial application requires a relational…. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 financial application requires a relational database with automatic failover to a standby in a different zone, with minimal configuration overhead. Which Cloud SQL configuration provides this?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
Distractor review
Cloud Spanner multi-region instance
Cloud Spanner is a globally distributed NewSQL database — it's overengineered for a single-application HA requirement and significantly more expensive.
Distractor review
Two separate Cloud SQL instances with application-level failover logic
Managing failover at the application level adds complexity, risks inconsistency, and is exactly what Cloud SQL HA is designed to eliminate.
Distractor review
Cloud SQL with a read replica in a different zone
Read replicas serve read traffic but don't automatically failover — manual promotion is required if the primary fails.
Best answer
Cloud SQL with High Availability (HA) configuration
Cloud SQL HA creates an automatic failover replica in a different zone. Failover is automatic and requires no manual intervention.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- 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.
Related practice questions
Related ACE practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
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Question 4
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this ACE question test?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Cloud SQL with High Availability (HA) configuration — Cloud SQL High Availability (HA) configuration creates a primary instance and a standby replica in a different zone. If the primary fails, Cloud SQL automatically promotes the standby with minimal downtime (~60 seconds). This requires no manual intervention and minimal configuration beyond enabling HA at instance creation.
What should I do if I get this ACE question wrong?
Identify which ACE exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
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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.