← PCA·Google Cloud

Question 13 of 509

Design and plan a cloud solution architecture →hardMultiple SelectObjective-mapped

Google PCA Design and plan a cloud solution architecture Practice Question

This PCA practice question tests your understanding of design and plan a cloud solution architecture. 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 company has set up an external HTTP(S) load balancer with a backend service pointing to a managed instance group. Some instances are failing health checks. Which TWO actions should the company take to troubleshoot the issue?

Question 1hardmulti select

Full question →

A
Ensure the health check path specified in the backend service returns a 200 OK status.
If the health check path does not respond correctly, the instance will be considered unhealthy.
B
Verify that the firewall rules allow traffic from the load balancer health check IP ranges.
The load balancer's health check probes come from specific IP ranges that must be allowed.
C
Disable session affinity to allow better distribution of traffic.
Why wrong: Session affinity is unrelated to health check outcomes.
D
Change the health check interval from 5 seconds to 30 seconds.
Why wrong: Changing the interval only affects how often checks are performed, not the success of the check.
E
Increase the number of instances in the instance group to distribute the load.
Why wrong: Adding instances does not fix the health check failure; the root cause is not load but the health check response.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

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

✓

Ensure the health check path specified in the backend service returns a 200 OK status.

Option A is correct because the HTTP(S) load balancer's health check probes the specified path on each backend instance. If the path does not return a 200 OK status, the load balancer marks the instance as unhealthy and stops sending traffic to it. Ensuring the health check path returns a 200 OK is the first step in verifying that the health check is configured correctly.

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.

✓
Ensure the health check path specified in the backend service returns a 200 OK status.
Why this is correct
If the health check path does not respond correctly, the instance will be considered unhealthy.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Verify that the firewall rules allow traffic from the load balancer health check IP ranges.
Why this is correct
The load balancer's health check probes come from specific IP ranges that must be allowed.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Disable session affinity to allow better distribution of traffic.
Why it's wrong here
Session affinity is unrelated to health check outcomes.
✗
Change the health check interval from 5 seconds to 30 seconds.
Why it's wrong here
Changing the interval only affects how often checks are performed, not the success of the check.
✗
Increase the number of instances in the instance group to distribute the load.
Why it's wrong here
Adding instances does not fix the health check failure; the root cause is not load but the health check response.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates often focus on load distribution or scaling solutions (options C and E) rather than the fundamental connectivity and application-level checks (options A and B) that directly determine health check success.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

Under the hood, Google Cloud's HTTP(S) load balancer uses Google's frontend servers to send health check requests from a set of well-known IP ranges (e.g., 35.191.0.0/16, 130.211.0.0/22). The health check is a simple HTTP GET to the configured path; the instance must respond with a 200 OK within the timeout period. If firewall rules block these source IPs, the health check will fail even if the instance is healthy, which is a common misconfiguration. Real-world scenarios often involve custom health check paths that return non-200 responses due to application errors, or missing firewall rules that inadvertently block the health check probes.

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

A healthcare organisation deploys an application with a public-facing web tier and a private database tier. The database subnet has no public IP and only accepts connections from the web tier's security group. Questions like this test whether you can design cloud network isolation using VNets/VPCs, subnets, and security group rules.

What to study next

Got this wrong? Here's your next step.

Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.

Related PCA practice-question pages

Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.

Design and plan a cloud solution architecture practice questions

Practise PCA questions linked to Design and plan a cloud solution architecture.

Manage and provision cloud infrastructure practice questions

Practise PCA questions linked to Manage and provision cloud infrastructure.

Design for security and compliance practice questions

Practise PCA questions linked to Design for security and compliance.

Analyze and optimize technical and business processes practice questions

Practise PCA questions linked to Analyze and optimize technical and business processes.

Manage implementation of cloud architecture practice questions

Practise PCA questions linked to Manage implementation of cloud architecture.

Ensure solution and operations reliability practice questions

Practise PCA questions linked to Ensure solution and operations reliability.

PCA fundamentals practice questions

Practise PCA questions linked to PCA fundamentals.

PCA scenario practice questions

Practise PCA questions linked to PCA scenario.

PCA troubleshooting practice questions

Practise PCA questions linked to PCA troubleshooting.

Practice this exam

Start a free PCA practice session

Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.

10 questions 20 questions 30 questions 50 questions Timed 30

PCA practice-test guide →Study guide →Browse all practice tests

FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this PCA question test?

Design and plan a cloud solution architecture — This question tests Design and plan a cloud solution architecture — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Ensure the health check path specified in the backend service returns a 200 OK status. — Option A is correct because the HTTP(S) load balancer's health check probes the specified path on each backend instance. If the path does not return a 200 OK status, the load balancer marks the instance as unhealthy and stops sending traffic to it. Ensuring the health check path returns a 200 OK is the first step in verifying that the health check is configured correctly.

What should I do if I get this PCA 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

Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →

How Courseiva writes practice questions · Editorial policy

Keep practising

Question Discussion

Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.

Loading comments…

This PCA 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 PCA exam.