- A
Disable autohealing during rolling updates by removing the health check.
Why wrong: Disabling autohealing removes an important reliability safeguard. The correct fix is configuring the initial delay, not removing the feature.
- B
Increase the `initialDelaySec` in the autohealing policy to give VMs time to start before health checks are evaluated.
initialDelaySec defines how long the MIG waits after VM creation before starting health check evaluation. Setting it longer than startup time prevents deletion of healthy VMs that are still initializing.
- C
Switch from rolling update to canary update to reduce the number of affected VMs.
Why wrong: Canary updates limit the blast radius but don't fix the root cause: the autohealer deleting VMs during startup. initialDelaySec is the correct fix regardless of update strategy.
- D
Reduce the health check interval and timeout to detect unhealthy VMs faster.
Why wrong: Reducing the health check interval makes the autohealer more aggressive, worsening the loop. The fix is to delay health check evaluation after VM creation, not speed it up.
Quick Answer
The correct fix is to increase the `initialDelaySec` in the autohealing policy, which gives the new application version sufficient time to start before the health check begins evaluating the VM. This directly addresses the deployment loop by preventing the MIG from prematurely marking VMs as unhealthy during a rolling update, breaking the cycle of deletion and recreation. On the Google Associate Cloud Engineer exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how autohealing interacts with rolling updates—a common trap is to assume the health check itself is broken, when in fact the timing is off. The key insight is that `initialDelaySec` acts as a grace period, allowing the application to initialize and respond before the health check triggers a replacement. Memory tip: think of it as a “startup buffer”—just like you wouldn’t judge a runner before they’ve left the starting blocks, don’t judge a VM before its `initialDelaySec` has elapsed.
Google ACE Practice Question: Ensuring successful operation of a cloud solution
This ACE practice question tests your understanding of ensuring successful operation of a cloud solution. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 managed instance group (MIG) is configured with autohealing using a health check. During a rolling update, several VMs become unhealthy before the new application version starts responding to health checks. The MIG deletes and recreates these VMs repeatedly, causing a deployment loop. How should you fix this?
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
Increase the `initialDelaySec` in the autohealing policy to give VMs time to start before health checks are evaluated.
Option B is correct because increasing `initialDelaySec` in the autohealing policy gives the new application version sufficient time to start and become healthy before the health check begins evaluating the VM. This prevents the MIG from prematurely marking VMs as unhealthy during the rolling update, breaking the deployment loop where VMs are repeatedly deleted and recreated.
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.
- ✗
Disable autohealing during rolling updates by removing the health check.
Why it's wrong here
Disabling autohealing removes an important reliability safeguard. The correct fix is configuring the initial delay, not removing the feature.
- ✓
Increase the `initialDelaySec` in the autohealing policy to give VMs time to start before health checks are evaluated.
Why this is correct
initialDelaySec defines how long the MIG waits after VM creation before starting health check evaluation. Setting it longer than startup time prevents deletion of healthy VMs that are still initializing.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Switch from rolling update to canary update to reduce the number of affected VMs.
Why it's wrong here
Canary updates limit the blast radius but don't fix the root cause: the autohealer deleting VMs during startup. initialDelaySec is the correct fix regardless of update strategy.
- ✗
Reduce the health check interval and timeout to detect unhealthy VMs faster.
Why it's wrong here
Reducing the health check interval makes the autohealer more aggressive, worsening the loop. The fix is to delay health check evaluation after VM creation, not speed it up.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse autohealing health checks with load balancer health checks, assuming that reducing intervals or timeouts will speed up recovery, when in fact it exacerbates the deployment loop by triggering autohealing before the new version is ready.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The `initialDelaySec` parameter in the HTTP health check configuration (used by autohealing) specifies the number of seconds to wait before the first health check probe is sent to a newly created VM. Under the hood, the MIG's autohealer uses this delay to avoid flapping during boot storms or application initialization. In real-world scenarios, a slow-starting application (e.g., a Java app with a 90-second JVM warm-up) requires an `initialDelaySec` value greater than the startup time to prevent false positives and subsequent VM recreation cycles.
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
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this ACE question test?
Ensuring successful operation of a cloud solution — This question tests Ensuring successful operation of a cloud solution — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Increase the `initialDelaySec` in the autohealing policy to give VMs time to start before health checks are evaluated. — Option B is correct because increasing `initialDelaySec` in the autohealing policy gives the new application version sufficient time to start and become healthy before the health check begins evaluating the VM. This prevents the MIG from prematurely marking VMs as unhealthy during the rolling update, breaking the deployment loop where VMs are repeatedly deleted and recreated.
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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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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