Google PCA Practice Question: Designing and Planning a Cloud Solution Architecture
This PCA practice question tests your understanding of designing and planning a cloud solution architecture. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 is migrating its on-premises data center to Google Cloud. They need a dedicated, low-latency, high-bandwidth connection between their on-premises network and VPC. They anticipate consistent traffic above 10 Gbps. Which connectivity option should they choose?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Dedicated Interconnect
Dedicated Interconnect provides a direct physical connection with bandwidth up to 100 Gbps per circuit, ideal for high-throughput, low-latency requirements. Partner Interconnect relies on a service provider and typically offers lower bandwidth. HA VPN is over the public internet and may not meet high bandwidth or low latency. Classic VPN is a single tunnel without high availability.
Key principle: NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Partner Interconnect
Why it's wrong here
Partner Interconnect is suitable but typically offers lower bandwidth; for >10 Gbps Dedicated is better.
✓
Dedicated Interconnect
Why this is correct
Dedicated Interconnect provides direct, high-bandwidth (up to 100 Gbps) connection with low latency.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
✗
HA VPN
Why it's wrong here
HA VPN is over the public internet, latency and bandwidth may not be predictable for >10 Gbps.
✗
Classic VPN
Why it's wrong here
Classic VPN is a single tunnel, not highly available, and bandwidth is limited.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
→Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
→Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
→Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Key takeaway
NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
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.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this PCA question in full detail.
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related PCA NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Designing and Planning a Cloud Solution Architecture — This question tests Designing and Planning a Cloud Solution Architecture — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Dedicated Interconnect — Dedicated Interconnect provides a direct physical connection with bandwidth up to 100 Gbps per circuit, ideal for high-throughput, low-latency requirements. Partner Interconnect relies on a service provider and typically offers lower bandwidth. HA VPN is over the public internet and may not meet high bandwidth or low latency. Classic VPN is a single tunnel without high availability.
What should I do if I get this PCA question wrong?
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related PCA NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
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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.
Question Discussion
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