- A
Set terminationGracePeriodSeconds to 0 for faster pod termination during scale-down
Why wrong: Incorrect: short grace period can kill active requests.
- B
Enable cluster autoscaler to automatically add nodes when pods are pending
Why wrong: Incorrect: autoscaler helps capacity but not directly pod scheduling resilience.
- C
Define a PodDisruptionBudget for each deployment to limit the number of concurrent disruptions
Correct: PDB ensures minimum availability during voluntary disruptions.
- D
Set resource requests equal to limits to ensure guaranteed QoS class
Why wrong: Incorrect: QoS class does not directly improve reliability for pod scheduling.
- E
Configure pod anti-affinity to spread replicas across different zones
Correct: improves fault tolerance by distributing across zones.
Google PCA Ensure solution and operations reliability Practice Question
This PCA practice question tests your understanding of ensure solution and operations reliability. 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 microservices-based application on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) with a Regional cluster. They want to improve reliability by implementing best practices for pod scheduling and resilience. Which TWO actions should they take? (Choose two.)
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"best"Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
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
Define a PodDisruptionBudget for each deployment to limit the number of concurrent disruptions
Option C is correct because a PodDisruptionBudget (PDB) limits the number of Pods of a replicated application that can be down simultaneously from voluntary disruptions, such as node maintenance or cluster upgrades. This ensures that a minimum number of replicas remain available, improving application reliability during planned events.
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.
- ✗
Set terminationGracePeriodSeconds to 0 for faster pod termination during scale-down
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: short grace period can kill active requests.
- ✗
Enable cluster autoscaler to automatically add nodes when pods are pending
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: autoscaler helps capacity but not directly pod scheduling resilience.
- ✓
Define a PodDisruptionBudget for each deployment to limit the number of concurrent disruptions
Why this is correct
Correct: PDB ensures minimum availability during voluntary disruptions.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Set resource requests equal to limits to ensure guaranteed QoS class
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: QoS class does not directly improve reliability for pod scheduling.
- ✓
Configure pod anti-affinity to spread replicas across different zones
Why this is correct
Correct: improves fault tolerance by distributing across zones.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the distinction between voluntary disruptions (handled by PDB) and involuntary disruptions (e.g., node failure), and the trap here is that candidates confuse resource optimization (requests/limits) or scaling (cluster autoscaler) with resilience mechanisms like PDB and anti-affinity.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
PodDisruptionBudget uses the `minAvailable` or `maxUnavailable` field to define the allowed number of concurrent voluntary disruptions. Under the hood, the Kubernetes API server enforces the PDB during eviction API calls (e.g., from `kubectl drain`), blocking the eviction if it would violate the budget. In a Regional GKE cluster, combining PDB with pod anti-affinity across zones ensures that even if an entire zone fails, the remaining zones still have enough replicas to serve traffic.
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
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PCA question test?
Ensure solution and operations reliability — This question tests Ensure solution and operations reliability — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Define a PodDisruptionBudget for each deployment to limit the number of concurrent disruptions — Option C is correct because a PodDisruptionBudget (PDB) limits the number of Pods of a replicated application that can be down simultaneously from voluntary disruptions, such as node maintenance or cluster upgrades. This ensures that a minimum number of replicas remain available, improving application reliability during planned events.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
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 30, 2026
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.
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