This PCA practice question tests your understanding of manage and provision cloud infrastructure. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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 is deploying a web application on Compute Engine behind a global HTTP(S) load balancer. They want to restrict access to only traffic from specific IP ranges. Which load balancer feature should they use?
Cloud Armor security policies.
Cloud Armor can allow/deny traffic based on IP.
VPC firewall rules.
Why wrong: Firewall rules protect instances, not load balancer edge.
Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP).
Why wrong: IAP controls access based on identity, not IP.
Cloud CDN.
Why wrong: Cloud CDN caches content, does not filter IP.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Cloud Armor security policies.
Cloud Armor security policies are the correct choice because they allow you to define IP-based allow/deny rules at the edge of Google's network, directly integrated with the global HTTP(S) load balancer. This provides granular access control based on source IP ranges before traffic reaches your backend instances, which is exactly what the requirement specifies.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Cloud Armor security policies.
Why this is correct
Cloud Armor can allow/deny traffic based on IP.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
VPC firewall rules.
Why it's wrong here
Firewall rules protect instances, not load balancer edge.
Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP).
Why it's wrong here
IAP controls access based on identity, not IP.
Cloud CDN.
Why it's wrong here
Cloud CDN caches content, does not filter IP.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse VPC firewall rules with Cloud Armor, assuming that firewall rules can filter on the original client IP behind a load balancer, but in reality, VPC firewall rules only see the load balancer's proxy IPs, making Cloud Armor the only viable option for IP-based access control at the edge.
Detailed technical explanation
Cloud Armor security policies are evaluated at the Google Front End (GFE) before any request reaches the backend, using a rules engine that supports both allow and deny actions based on source IP ranges (CIDR blocks), geographic regions, or pre-configured WAF rules. This is critical because the global HTTP(S) load balancer terminates client connections and then re-establishes connections to backends, meaning the original client IP is preserved in the `X-Forwarded-For` header, but VPC firewall rules only see the load balancer's IP range (e.g., 130.211.0.0/22, 35.191.0.0/16), not the actual client IP.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
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FAQ
Manage and provision cloud infrastructure — This question tests Manage and provision cloud infrastructure — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Cloud Armor security policies. — Cloud Armor security policies are the correct choice because they allow you to define IP-based allow/deny rules at the edge of Google's network, directly integrated with the global HTTP(S) load balancer. This provides granular access control based on source IP ranges before traffic reaches your backend instances, which is exactly what the requirement specifies.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Same concept, more angles
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company deploys a web application on Compute Engine behind a Global HTTPS Load Balancer. They need to restrict access to the application based on the client's IP address. Which Google Cloud service should they use?
mediumWhy C: Cloud Armor is the correct choice because it provides IP-based access control at the edge of Google's network, integrated directly with the Global HTTPS Load Balancer. It allows you to create security policies with IP allow/deny rules that are evaluated before traffic reaches your Compute Engine instances, making it the appropriate service for client IP restriction at the load balancer level.
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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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