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 web application running on Compute Engine behind a global HTTP(S) load balancer experiences high latency during traffic spikes. Which quick fix would best address this issue without changing the architecture?
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 the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Configure managed instance group autoscaling to add more instances.
Managed instance group (MIG) autoscaling dynamically adds more instances when CPU utilization or other metrics exceed a threshold, directly absorbing the increased traffic during spikes. This is the quickest fix because it requires no architectural changes—just configuring autoscaling parameters on the existing MIG. By scaling out horizontally, the load balancer can distribute requests across more backends, reducing per-instance load and latency.
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 managed instance group autoscaling to add more instances.
Why this is correct
Horizontal scaling quickly increases capacity.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Enable Cloud CDN on the load balancer.
Why it's wrong here
CDN caches static content, but latency spikes are likely due to dynamic content.
✗
Switch to a regional load balancer to reduce latency.
Why it's wrong here
This changes the architecture and may not reduce latency globally.
✗
Increase the machine type of the backend instances.
Why it's wrong here
Vertical scaling may not be enough and requires restarting instances.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the distinction between horizontal scaling (autoscaling) and vertical scaling (increasing machine type) or caching solutions, leading candidates to choose Cloud CDN or machine type changes as a 'quick fix' when the real issue is insufficient compute capacity to handle dynamic request spikes.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Managed instance group autoscaling uses the 'autoscaler' policy based on metrics like CPU utilization, HTTPload balancing serving capacity, or Stackdriver custom metrics. Under the hood, the autoscaler polls the MIG every 60 seconds and adjusts the target size using a formula that considers the current metric value versus the target value, with a cool-down period to avoid thrashing. In a real-world scenario, if the application has a long startup time, you might need to combine autoscaling with a 'graceful shutdown' and prewarming to avoid latency during scale-up events.
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.
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: Configure managed instance group autoscaling to add more instances. — Managed instance group (MIG) autoscaling dynamically adds more instances when CPU utilization or other metrics exceed a threshold, directly absorbing the increased traffic during spikes. This is the quickest fix because it requires no architectural changes—just configuring autoscaling parameters on the existing MIG. By scaling out horizontally, the load balancer can distribute requests across more backends, reducing per-instance load and latency.
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.
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