Google PCA Manage implementation of cloud architecture Practice Question
This PCA practice question tests your understanding of manage implementation of cloud 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 financial services company runs a mission-critical database on Compute Engine with local SSDs. They need to ensure data durability in case of an instance failure while maintaining low latency. What should they do?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Configure a regional persistent disk with synchronous replication and attach it to the instance
Regional persistent disks (PD) provide synchronous replication of data between two zones in the same region, ensuring data durability even if the entire zone fails. By attaching a regional PD to a Compute Engine instance, you maintain low latency (since the disk is network-attached but still within the same region) while achieving the required durability. Local SSDs, while offering very low latency, are ephemeral and lose data on instance failure, so they are not suitable for mission-critical durability requirements.
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.
✓
Configure a regional persistent disk with synchronous replication and attach it to the instance
Why this is correct
Regional persistent disks replicate data synchronously across zones, providing durability and low latency.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use a managed instance group with autohealing and store data on a persistent disk
Why it's wrong here
Persistent disks are durable but local SSDs provide lower latency; switching to persistent disk may increase latency.
✗
Set up a read replica in another zone using database-native replication
Why it's wrong here
Read replicas don't provide synchronous durability; writes are async.
✗
Take regular snapshots of the local SSDs to Cloud Storage
Why it's wrong here
Snapshots have RPO/ RTO latency, not real-time durability.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that local SSDs are durable because they are fast, but the trap here is that local SSDs are ephemeral and data is lost on instance failure, so candidates may incorrectly choose snapshotting or database replication instead of the correct regional persistent disk solution.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Regional persistent disks use synchronous replication at the block level, meaning every write is committed to both zones before the write is acknowledged to the instance, ensuring RPO=0. Under the hood, Google Cloud uses a distributed block storage system that replicates data across two zones within the same region (e.g., us-central1-a and us-central1-b), with a typical write latency of 1-5 ms, which is acceptable for most mission-critical workloads. In a real-world scenario, if a zonal failure occurs, the instance can be recreated in the surviving zone and attach the regional PD, preserving all data without any loss.
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 media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this PCA question in full detail.
Manage implementation of cloud architecture — This question tests Manage implementation of cloud architecture — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Configure a regional persistent disk with synchronous replication and attach it to the instance — Regional persistent disks (PD) provide synchronous replication of data between two zones in the same region, ensuring data durability even if the entire zone fails. By attaching a regional PD to a Compute Engine instance, you maintain low latency (since the disk is network-attached but still within the same region) while achieving the required durability. Local SSDs, while offering very low latency, are ephemeral and lose data on instance failure, so they are not suitable for mission-critical durability requirements.
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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