Google PCA Manage and provision cloud infrastructure Practice Question
This PCA practice question tests your understanding of manage and provision cloud infrastructure. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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.
An administrator is configuring firewall rules in a VPC. Two rules apply to the same traffic: rule 1 allows ingress from 0.0.0.0/0 on TCP 80, rule 2 denies ingress from 10.0.0.0/8 on TCP 80. Rule 1 has priority 1000, rule 2 has priority 500. What is the effective behavior for traffic from 10.0.0.1?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Traffic is denied because rule 2 has higher priority.
In AWS VPC Network ACLs (NACLs), rules are evaluated in priority order, with lower numbers having higher priority. Rule 2 (priority 500) is evaluated before rule 1 (priority 1000), and since rule 2 explicitly denies traffic from 10.0.0.0/8 on TCP 80, traffic from 10.0.0.1 is denied regardless of rule 1's allow. NACLs are stateless and do not have an implicit override between allow and deny; the first matching rule determines the outcome.
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.
✗
The result is unpredictable without knowing the rule creation order.
Why it's wrong here
Priority determines the order, not creation time.
✗
Traffic is allowed because allow rules override deny rules.
Why it's wrong here
Deny rules with higher priority override allow rules.
✓
Traffic is denied because rule 2 has higher priority.
Why this is correct
Rule 2 (priority 500) has higher priority than rule 1 (priority 1000), so deny applies.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Traffic is allowed because rule 1 has a lower priority number.
Why it's wrong here
Lower priority number means higher priority, but rule 2 has lower number (500 vs 1000), so it takes precedence.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that allow rules override deny rules or that rule creation order matters, but the trap here is that candidates confuse priority numbers (lower = higher priority) and assume a higher number means higher priority.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
AWS Network ACLs evaluate rules in ascending order of the priority field (1–32766), and the first matching rule is applied immediately; no further rules are checked. This is distinct from security groups, which are stateful and evaluate all rules as a whitelist. In real-world scenarios, misconfiguring priority can lead to unintended access, such as allowing SSH from the internet while intending to block it from a specific subnet.
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 healthcare organisation deploys an application with a public-facing web tier and a private database tier. The database subnet has no public IP and only accepts connections from the web tier's security group. Questions like this test whether you can design cloud network isolation using VNets/VPCs, subnets, and security group rules.
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: Traffic is denied because rule 2 has higher priority. — In AWS VPC Network ACLs (NACLs), rules are evaluated in priority order, with lower numbers having higher priority. Rule 2 (priority 500) is evaluated before rule 1 (priority 1000), and since rule 2 explicitly denies traffic from 10.0.0.0/8 on TCP 80, traffic from 10.0.0.1 is denied regardless of rule 1's allow. NACLs are stateless and do not have an implicit override between allow and deny; the first matching rule determines the outcome.
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.
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.