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ACE Practice Question: A Compute Engine VM's boot disk is nearly full…
This ACE practice question tests your understanding of a compute engine vm's boot disk is nearly full…. 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 Compute Engine VM's boot disk is nearly full and the application is failing. You want to snapshot the disk first (for safety), then resize it online. What is the correct sequence of gcloud commands?
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
Stop the VM, resize the disk, take a snapshot, restart the VM.
Stopping the VM is unnecessary for disk resize on GCP. Also, taking a snapshot after resize doesn't save the pre-resize state for rollback.
B
Distractor review
Resize the disk with `gcloud compute instances set-disk-auto-delete` to automatically expand the disk.
`set-disk-auto-delete` controls whether a disk is deleted when the VM is deleted — it has nothing to do with disk resizing.
C
Best answer
Snapshot the disk, resize the disk with `gcloud compute disks resize`, then grow the filesystem within the VM.
Snapshot first for safety → resize disk (online, no stop needed) → resize filesystem inside the VM with resize2fs. This is the correct, safe sequence.
D
Distractor review
Create a new larger disk, attach it as a secondary disk, and move data using rsync.
This approach works but is more complex and error-prone than the simpler online disk resize + filesystem grow. It's also slower.
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.
Question 1
What is the correct order of the Google Cloud resource hierarchy from highest to lowest level?
Question 2
A compliance archive stores legal documents accessed at most once per quarter. Which Cloud Storage class minimizes storage cost while meeting that access pattern?
Question 3
Which gcloud command creates a Compute Engine VM named 'web-01' using the e2-medium machine type in zone us-central1-a?
Question 4
A team wants to receive an email alert when the average CPU utilization of VMs in a managed instance group exceeds 80% for more than 5 minutes. What should they create in Cloud Monitoring?
Question 5
A junior developer needs read-only access to all GCP resources in a project. Which IAM role grants the minimum permissions required?
Question 6
A startup creates its first Google Cloud project. Before deploying any paid resources, what must be linked to the project?
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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: Snapshot the disk, resize the disk with `gcloud compute disks resize`, then grow the filesystem within the VM. — The correct sequence is: 1) Take a snapshot of the disk for recovery: `gcloud compute disks snapshot DISK_NAME --snapshot-names=SNAPSHOT_NAME`. 2) Resize the disk online: `gcloud compute disks resize DISK_NAME --size=NEW_SIZE_GB`. 3) (On the VM) Resize the filesystem to use the new disk space: `sudo resize2fs /dev/sda` (or the appropriate device). The VM does not need to be stopped for disk resize on GCP.
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.