Google PCA Practice Question: Designing and Planning a Cloud Solution Architecture
This PCA practice question tests your understanding of designing and planning a cloud solution architecture. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 e-commerce company uses Cloud SQL for MySQL to handle user sessions. During Black Friday sales, the database experiences high read latency and connection timeouts. The traffic pattern shows 95% read operations and 5% write operations. They need to improve read performance without significant architectural changes. Which action should they take?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Add Cloud SQL read replicas and configure the application to use them for read operations.
Adding read replicas offloads read traffic from the primary instance, improving read latency and reducing connection timeouts. Read replicas are easy to configure and cost-effective.
Key principle: NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Enable Cloud SQL Proxy to reduce connection overhead.
Why it's wrong here
Cloud SQL Proxy improves connection security but does not resolve high read latency.
✗
Migrate from Cloud SQL to Cloud Spanner for better scalability.
Why it's wrong here
Significant architectural change and higher cost; read replicas are simpler and sufficient.
✓
Add Cloud SQL read replicas and configure the application to use them for read operations.
Why this is correct
Read replicas distribute read queries, reducing load on the primary and improving latency.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
✗
Enable automatic storage increases and increase the machine type of the primary instance.
Why it's wrong here
Scaling up might help but read replicas are more targeted for read-heavy workloads and offer better cost efficiency.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
→Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
→Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
→Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Key takeaway
NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this PCA question in full detail.
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related PCA NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Designing and Planning a Cloud Solution Architecture — This question tests Designing and Planning a Cloud Solution Architecture — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Add Cloud SQL read replicas and configure the application to use them for read operations. — Adding read replicas offloads read traffic from the primary instance, improving read latency and reducing connection timeouts. Read replicas are easy to configure and cost-effective.
What should I do if I get this PCA question wrong?
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related PCA NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
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Question Discussion
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