This PCA practice question tests your understanding of manage implementation of cloud architecture. 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 startup is migrating a monolithic application to Google Cloud. They want to minimize operational overhead and auto-scale based on HTTP request load. Which compute solution should they choose?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "minimum / minimize"
Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
Compute Engine managed instance groups with autoscaling
Why wrong: Requires instance management and configuration, more overhead than serverless.
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
Why wrong: GKE requires cluster management, adding operational overhead.
Cloud Functions
Why wrong: Better for event-driven, not monolithic applications; has request timeout limits.
Cloud Run
Fully managed, auto-scales based on HTTP requests, minimal overhead.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Cloud Run
Cloud Run is the best choice because it is a fully managed serverless platform that automatically scales from zero based on HTTP request load, minimizing operational overhead. It abstracts away infrastructure management, supports containerized applications, and charges only for resources used during request processing, aligning perfectly with the requirement to auto-scale based on HTTP traffic.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Compute Engine managed instance groups with autoscaling
Why it's wrong here
Requires instance management and configuration, more overhead than serverless.
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
Why it's wrong here
GKE requires cluster management, adding operational overhead.
Cloud Functions
Why it's wrong here
Better for event-driven, not monolithic applications; has request timeout limits.
Cloud Run
Why this is correct
Fully managed, auto-scales based on HTTP requests, minimal overhead.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often choose GKE or Compute Engine for 'auto-scaling' without recognizing that serverless options like Cloud Run offer the same capability with significantly less operational overhead for HTTP-based workloads.
Detailed technical explanation
Cloud Run uses Knative serving to automatically scale instances based on concurrent request metrics, with a default concurrency of 80 requests per container instance. It supports any containerized application listening on HTTP/1.1 or gRPC, and can scale to zero when idle, eliminating idle costs. Under the hood, Cloud Run leverages gVisor for sandboxed container isolation, providing security without the overhead of full VM management.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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FAQ
Manage implementation of cloud architecture — This question tests Manage implementation of cloud architecture — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Cloud Run — Cloud Run is the best choice because it is a fully managed serverless platform that automatically scales from zero based on HTTP request load, minimizing operational overhead. It abstracts away infrastructure management, supports containerized applications, and charges only for resources used during request processing, aligning perfectly with the requirement to auto-scale based on HTTP traffic.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Yes — watch for: "minimum / minimize". Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 25, 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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