Google PCA Manage and provision cloud infrastructure Practice Question
This PCA practice question tests your understanding of manage and provision cloud infrastructure. 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 uses Shared VPC. A project admin in a service project tries to create a subnet in the shared VPC network but receives a permission denied error. What is the most likely cause?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The service project admin lacks the compute.subnetworks.create permission on the host project.
In a Shared VPC architecture, subnet creation is a privileged operation that can only be performed by a user with the compute.subnetworks.create permission on the host project. The service project admin, by default, does not have this permission in the host project, which is why the permission denied error occurs. Granting this permission to the service project admin at the host project level would resolve the issue.
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.
✗
Only the Shared VPC host project admin can create subnets.
Why it's wrong here
The host project admin can grant subnet creation permissions to service project admins.
✓
The service project admin lacks the compute.subnetworks.create permission on the host project.
Why this is correct
Permission must be granted on the host project for subnet creation.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The Shared VPC is not enabled for the service project.
Why it's wrong here
If not enabled, the error would be different; permission denied indicates lack of IAM.
✗
Subnets must be created in the service project, not the host project.
Why it's wrong here
Shared VPC subnets are created in the host project.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that service project admins have full control over the shared network, when in reality they only have usage permissions unless explicitly granted administrative permissions on the host project.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, Shared VPC uses IAM roles and permissions at the host project level to control subnet creation. The compute.subnetworks.create permission is part of the Compute Network Admin role (roles/compute.networkAdmin) or a custom role. A common real-world scenario is when a service project admin needs to create a subnet for a specific workload but lacks this permission, requiring the host project admin to either grant the permission or create the subnet themselves.
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 company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
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: The service project admin lacks the compute.subnetworks.create permission on the host project. — In a Shared VPC architecture, subnet creation is a privileged operation that can only be performed by a user with the compute.subnetworks.create permission on the host project. The service project admin, by default, does not have this permission in the host project, which is why the permission denied error occurs. Granting this permission to the service project admin at the host project level would resolve the issue.
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: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
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 →
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.
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
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.
Sign in to join the discussion.