Google PCA Manage and provision cloud infrastructure Practice Question
This PCA practice question tests your understanding of manage and provision cloud infrastructure. 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 company has two VPC networks in the same project: 'vpc-prod' and 'vpc-dev'. They want to allow communication between instances in both VPCs. What is the simplest method?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create a VPC Network Peering connection between them
VPC Network Peering is the simplest method because it directly connects two VPCs using Google's internal infrastructure, allowing private RFC 1918 IP communication across the networks without requiring external gateways, VPN tunnels, or additional bandwidth costs. It requires no routes to be manually configured—Google automatically adds the necessary routes for each peered VPC's subnets—and only a single firewall rule to permit traffic between the instances.
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.
✓
Create a VPC Network Peering connection between them
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Set up a Cloud VPN tunnel between the two VPCs
Why it's wrong here
Overly complex; peering is simpler.
✗
Configure a custom route in each VPC pointing to the other's subnet
Why it's wrong here
Routing alone does not create connectivity; you need a mechanism like peering or VPN.
✗
Add firewall rules allowing traffic between the VPCs
Why it's wrong here
Firewall rules cannot cross VPC boundaries without a connection.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that firewall rules alone can enable inter-VPC communication, but candidates must remember that firewall rules are only effective after a connectivity mechanism (like peering or VPN) is in place.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, VPC Network Peering uses Google's Andromeda software-defined networking to create a direct L3 connection between two VPCs, with automatic route exchange for all subnets (including custom subnet ranges) and support for up to 25 Gbps per peering link. A subtle behavior is that peering is not transitive—if VPC-A is peered with VPC-B and VPC-B is peered with VPC-C, VPC-A cannot communicate with VPC-C unless a direct peering is established. In a real-world scenario, this matters for hub-and-spoke designs where a central VPC must peer individually with each spoke VPC to avoid unintended transitive routing.
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 startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this PCA question in full detail.
Manage and provision cloud infrastructure — This question tests Manage and provision cloud infrastructure — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create a VPC Network Peering connection between them — VPC Network Peering is the simplest method because it directly connects two VPCs using Google's internal infrastructure, allowing private RFC 1918 IP communication across the networks without requiring external gateways, VPN tunnels, or additional bandwidth costs. It requires no routes to be manually configured—Google automatically adds the necessary routes for each peered VPC's subnets—and only a single firewall rule to permit traffic between the instances.
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.
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Question Discussion
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