- A
Deploy a global external HTTP load balancer with backends in both regions.
Global load balancer automatically routes to healthy backends, providing cross-region failover.
- B
Configure a backend service with a failover policy pointing to primary and secondary backends.
Failover policy in backend service allows automatic redirection to secondary region.
- C
Configure DNS-based failover using Cloud DNS with health checks.
Why wrong: DNS failover is slower and less reliable than load balancer-based failover.
- D
Use an internal load balancer to route traffic between regions.
Why wrong: Internal load balancers handle internal traffic and are not suitable for external user traffic.
- E
Use a regional external HTTP load balancer with a multi-region backend.
Why wrong: Regional load balancers only serve traffic within one region; they cannot failover across regions.
Quick Answer
The answer is to configure a backend service with a failover policy pointing to primary and secondary backends, and to use a global external HTTP load balancer. This works because a global load balancer uses a single anycast IP address, allowing it to route traffic to the closest healthy backend without DNS propagation delays; if the primary region’s backends become unhealthy, the load balancer automatically fails over to the secondary region. On the Google Professional Cloud Architect exam, this tests your understanding of how global versus regional load balancers handle cross-region failover—a common trap is assuming a regional load balancer can fail over across regions, but only the global HTTP(S) load balancer supports this natively. Remember the memory tip: “Global IP, failover skip”—the global anycast IP lets failover happen instantly, skipping DNS changes.
Google PCA Ensure solution and operations reliability Practice Question
This PCA practice question tests your understanding of ensure solution and operations reliability. 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 company runs a web application on Compute Engine behind an HTTP load balancer. They want to improve reliability by implementing failover across two regions. Which TWO actions should they take?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Deploy a global external HTTP load balancer with backends in both regions.
A global external HTTP load balancer is required for cross-region failover because it uses a single anycast IP address and routes traffic to the closest healthy backend. By deploying backends in both regions, the load balancer automatically fails over to the secondary region if the primary region's backends become unhealthy, improving reliability without DNS propagation delays.
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.
- ✓
Deploy a global external HTTP load balancer with backends in both regions.
Why this is correct
Global load balancer automatically routes to healthy backends, providing cross-region failover.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✓
Configure a backend service with a failover policy pointing to primary and secondary backends.
Why this is correct
Failover policy in backend service allows automatic redirection to secondary region.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Configure DNS-based failover using Cloud DNS with health checks.
Why it's wrong here
DNS failover is slower and less reliable than load balancer-based failover.
- ✗
Use an internal load balancer to route traffic between regions.
Why it's wrong here
Internal load balancers handle internal traffic and are not suitable for external user traffic.
- ✗
Use a regional external HTTP load balancer with a multi-region backend.
Why it's wrong here
Regional load balancers only serve traffic within one region; they cannot failover across regions.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse DNS-based failover (which is slow and not recommended for HTTP load balancing) with the instant, anycast-based failover of a global load balancer, or mistakenly think a regional load balancer can span multiple regions.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The global external HTTP load balancer uses Google Front End (GFE) instances that terminate traffic at the edge of Google's network, then route requests via a backend service that can include backends from multiple regions. The backend service supports a failover policy where you can designate primary and secondary backends; if all primary backends are unhealthy, traffic is automatically sent to secondary backends, providing sub-second failover without DNS changes.
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.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PCA question test?
Ensure solution and operations reliability — This question tests Ensure solution and operations reliability — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Deploy a global external HTTP load balancer with backends in both regions. — A global external HTTP load balancer is required for cross-region failover because it uses a single anycast IP address and routes traffic to the closest healthy backend. By deploying backends in both regions, the load balancer automatically fails over to the secondary region if the primary region's backends become unhealthy, improving reliability without DNS propagation delays.
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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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 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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