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.
An administrator creates a GKE cluster with the command above. After deployment, the cluster has 3 nodes, but the node pool autoscaler never scales up even under load. What is the most likely reason?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Clue: "never"
Why it matters: Absolute qualifier. True only if the statement has zero exceptions — be cautious of options that seem obvious but break down in edge cases.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The cluster is zonal, but node locations include multiple zones.
Option C is correct because the node pool autoscaler in GKE cannot scale up a cluster that uses multiple zones in a single zonal cluster. The autoscaler requires that all nodes in the pool be in the same zone to properly manage capacity; when node locations span multiple zones in a zonal cluster, the autoscaler is disabled and will not trigger scaling events, even under load.
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 autoscaler minimum nodes is set to 1 and maximum to 5.
Why it's wrong here
That configuration is correct for autoscaling.
✗
The disk size of 100 GB is insufficient.
Why it's wrong here
Disk size does not prevent scaling.
✓
The cluster is zonal, but node locations include multiple zones.
Why this is correct
In a zonal cluster, nodes can only be in the cluster zone; node-locations is ignored.
Clue confirmation
The clue words "most likely", "never" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The machine type e2-medium is too small for the workloads.
Why it's wrong here
Machine type does not prevent scaling.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often assume the autoscaler is misconfigured due to limits or resource constraints, but Cisco tests the subtle distinction that the autoscaler is disabled entirely when node locations span multiple zones in a zonal cluster.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, the GKE cluster autoscaler uses a Kubernetes-based component that monitors pod scheduling failures due to insufficient resources. In a zonal cluster with multiple zones, the autoscaler cannot accurately determine which zone has capacity, so it disables itself to avoid incorrect scaling decisions. This is a known limitation: the autoscaler only works with regional clusters (which span multiple zones) or single-zone zonal clusters, not multi-zone zonal clusters.
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: The cluster is zonal, but node locations include multiple zones. — Option C is correct because the node pool autoscaler in GKE cannot scale up a cluster that uses multiple zones in a single zonal cluster. The autoscaler requires that all nodes in the pool be in the same zone to properly manage capacity; when node locations span multiple zones in a zonal cluster, the autoscaler is disabled and will not trigger scaling events, even under load.
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: "most likely", "never". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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