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GCDL Practice Question: A startup's website becomes unexpectedly popular…
This GCDL practice question tests your understanding of a startup's website becomes unexpectedly popular…. 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's website becomes unexpectedly popular and traffic spikes 50x within minutes. The application is hosted on Google Cloud. Which Google Cloud product automatically increases the number of application instances in response to this traffic spike without manual intervention?
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
Best answer
Managed Instance Groups with autoscaling (for VMs) or Cloud Run (for containers), which automatically provision additional instances based on traffic load without manual intervention
This is correct. MIG autoscaling monitors CPU/request metrics and automatically adds instances when load increases, then removes them when load drops. Cloud Run scales automatically to any number of container instances in seconds. Both handle the 50x spike scenario automatically.
B
Distractor review
Cloud Load Balancing, which distributes traffic evenly across existing instances to handle the spike
Load balancing distributes traffic across existing instances but doesn't add new instances. If the existing instances are overwhelmed by a 50x spike, load balancing alone can't help — more capacity must be added automatically.
C
Distractor review
Cloud Billing, which automatically increases the spending limit when traffic spikes occur
Cloud Billing manages costs and budgets. It has no role in provisioning capacity or scaling infrastructure.
D
Distractor review
Cloud Monitoring, which detects the traffic spike and sends an alert to the operations team to manually scale up
Cloud Monitoring provides detection and alerting but not automatic scaling. Manual intervention is too slow for a 50x traffic spike that happens within minutes. Automatic scaling is needed.
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
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More questions from this exam
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Question 1
A traditional retailer currently maintains its own data centers, purchasing servers every 3–5 years and paying for facilities, power, and staff regardless of demand. When it migrates its workloads to the public cloud, which change in cost model does it experience?
Question 2
An e-commerce company plans its infrastructure for peak shopping events (e.g., Black Friday) which drive 50× normal traffic. On-premises, they must maintain 50× capacity year-round. In the cloud, they provision 50× capacity only during peak periods. Which cloud characteristic enables this cost optimization?
Question 3
Which term describes the process by which organizations integrate digital technology into all areas of their business, fundamentally changing how they operate and deliver value to customers?
Question 4
When a company moves from maintaining its own data center to using Google Cloud, which operational responsibility does Google assume that the company previously managed?
Question 5
A hospital runs a patient records system that must remain on-premises due to strict regulatory data residency requirements. However, they also want to use cloud-based AI for diagnostic imaging analysis. Which cloud deployment model best describes their architecture?
Question 6
What is virtualization in the context of cloud computing, and why is it fundamental to how cloud providers deliver services?
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this GCDL question test?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Managed Instance Groups with autoscaling (for VMs) or Cloud Run (for containers), which automatically provision additional instances based on traffic load without manual intervention — Managed Instance Groups (MIGs) with autoscaling automatically add or remove VM instances based on load metrics (CPU utilization, HTTP request rate, Pub/Sub queue depth). For container-based workloads, GKE Autopilot and Cloud Run also provide automatic scaling. The common thread is that Google Cloud's autoscaling services monitor metrics and automatically provision capacity to handle load spikes.
What should I do if I get this GCDL question wrong?
Identify which GCDL 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.
About these practice questions
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This GCDL 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 GCDL exam.