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ACE Practice Question: A Cloud SQL production instance experiences a…
This ACE practice question tests your understanding of a cloud sql production instance experiences a…. 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 Cloud SQL production instance experiences a spike in connections during business hours, causing 'too many connections' errors. The application uses 50 microservices each maintaining 10 connections. What is the recommended solution to reduce connection count without rewriting the application?
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.
A
Distractor review
Add a read replica — microservices can connect to the replica instead of the primary
Read replicas handle read traffic, not write traffic. Microservices that need write access still go to the primary. This doesn't resolve total connection count unless reads are explicitly offloaded.
B
Distractor review
Enable Cloud SQL HA — the standby will handle the connection overflow
Cloud SQL HA standby replicas are for failover, not active connection distribution — they don't reduce connection count on the primary.
C
Best answer
Deploy a connection pooler (e.g., PgBouncer) between the microservices and Cloud SQL
PgBouncer multiplexes thousands of application connections through a small pool of database connections, dramatically reducing the actual connections Cloud SQL handles.
D
Distractor review
Increase the Cloud SQL instance's max_connections database flag to 10,000
Increasing max_connections raises the limit but doesn't fix the underlying connection proliferation. High connection counts consume database memory — the correct fix reduces actual connections.
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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Question 5
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Question 6
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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: Deploy a connection pooler (e.g., PgBouncer) between the microservices and Cloud SQL — Cloud SQL Proxy with connection pooling (or a dedicated pooler like PgBouncer) reduces the number of database connections by multiplexing multiple application connections through a smaller pool of actual database connections. Cloud SQL Auth Proxy itself doesn't pool connections — a pooler like PgBouncer is needed.
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.