- A
No — the company missed the SLA because any outage automatically constitutes an SLA breach
Why wrong: SLAs define a specific downtime budget, not a zero-outage requirement. 99.95% allows 21.6 minutes of downtime per 30-day month. Having two outages that total less than this threshold does not breach the SLA.
- B
Yes — 99.95% availability in a 30-day month allows approximately 21.6 minutes of downtime; total outage of 19 minutes is within the budget, meaning the SLA was met
The math confirms the SLA was met. 30 days × 1,440 minutes = 43,200 minutes. 0.05% × 43,200 = 21.6 minutes allowed. 12 + 7 = 19 minutes actual downtime. 19 < 21.6, so the SLA is met. However, the remaining buffer is only 2.6 minutes — the team should treat this as a reliability concern.
- C
The answer cannot be determined without knowing the cause of the outages
Why wrong: SLA compliance is calculated from duration of unavailability, not cause. The cause of outages is relevant for root cause analysis and prevention, but SLA mathematics only requires total downtime duration.
- D
No — two separate outages in one month always constitute an SLA breach regardless of duration
Why wrong: SLAs are calculated on cumulative downtime duration within the measurement period, not on the number of incidents. Multiple short outages that cumulatively fall within the allowed downtime budget do not breach the SLA.
Quick Answer
The answer is yes, the company met its SLA. This is correct because a 99.95% monthly availability SLA permits a maximum of 21.6 minutes of downtime in a 30-day month, calculated by multiplying the total minutes (43,200) by the allowed failure rate (0.0005). Since the combined outages total only 19 minutes—well within that 21.6-minute budget—the SLA was satisfied. On the Google Cloud Digital Leader exam, this question tests your ability to perform a simple SLA calculation and understand that availability is measured against total monthly minutes, not just business hours. A common trap is forgetting to convert percentages to decimals or assuming any outage automatically violates the SLA; the key is to compare total downtime against the allowable threshold. Memory tip: think of 99.95% as the “four nines plus a half”—it allows roughly 21.6 minutes per 30-day month, so if your total outage is under 22 minutes, you’re safe.
Cloud Digital Leader Scaling with Google Cloud operations Practice Question
This GCDL practice question tests your understanding of scaling with google cloud operations. 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 company runs a customer-facing web application with a published SLA of 99.95% monthly availability. In the past month, the application experienced two outages: a 12-minute outage and a 7-minute outage. Did the company meet its SLA?
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
Yes — 99.95% availability in a 30-day month allows approximately 21.6 minutes of downtime; total outage of 19 minutes is within the budget, meaning the SLA was met
Option B is correct because the SLA of 99.95% monthly availability permits a maximum downtime of approximately 21.6 minutes in a 30-day month (total minutes in month × (1 - 0.9995) = 43,200 × 0.0005 = 21.6 minutes). The combined outage of 19 minutes (12 + 7) is within this budget, so the SLA was met. This calculation assumes a 30-day month; if the month had 31 days, the allowable downtime would be about 22.3 minutes, still exceeding 19 minutes.
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.
- ✗
No — the company missed the SLA because any outage automatically constitutes an SLA breach
Why it's wrong here
SLAs define a specific downtime budget, not a zero-outage requirement. 99.95% allows 21.6 minutes of downtime per 30-day month. Having two outages that total less than this threshold does not breach the SLA.
- ✓
Yes — 99.95% availability in a 30-day month allows approximately 21.6 minutes of downtime; total outage of 19 minutes is within the budget, meaning the SLA was met
Why this is correct
The math confirms the SLA was met. 30 days × 1,440 minutes = 43,200 minutes. 0.05% × 43,200 = 21.6 minutes allowed. 12 + 7 = 19 minutes actual downtime. 19 < 21.6, so the SLA is met. However, the remaining buffer is only 2.6 minutes — the team should treat this as a reliability concern.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
The answer cannot be determined without knowing the cause of the outages
Why it's wrong here
SLA compliance is calculated from duration of unavailability, not cause. The cause of outages is relevant for root cause analysis and prevention, but SLA mathematics only requires total downtime duration.
- ✗
No — two separate outages in one month always constitute an SLA breach regardless of duration
Why it's wrong here
SLAs are calculated on cumulative downtime duration within the measurement period, not on the number of incidents. Multiple short outages that cumulatively fall within the allowed downtime budget do not breach the SLA.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates mistakenly think any downtime or multiple outages automatically violate an SLA, ignoring the mathematical allowance built into the 99.95% target.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, availability is calculated as (total time − downtime) / total time, often measured over a calendar month. Google Cloud's operations suite (e.g., Cloud Monitoring) tracks uptime checks and can automatically compute monthly availability percentages. In real-world scenarios, SLAs may include exclusions for planned maintenance or force majeure, but the question explicitly states 'outages' implying unplanned downtime, so the standard calculation applies.
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 GCDL question test?
Scaling with Google Cloud operations — This question tests Scaling with Google Cloud operations — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Yes — 99.95% availability in a 30-day month allows approximately 21.6 minutes of downtime; total outage of 19 minutes is within the budget, meaning the SLA was met — Option B is correct because the SLA of 99.95% monthly availability permits a maximum downtime of approximately 21.6 minutes in a 30-day month (total minutes in month × (1 - 0.9995) = 43,200 × 0.0005 = 21.6 minutes). The combined outage of 19 minutes (12 + 7) is within this budget, so the SLA was met. This calculation assumes a 30-day month; if the month had 31 days, the allowable downtime would be about 22.3 minutes, still exceeding 19 minutes.
What should I do if I get this GCDL 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.
About these practice questions
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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