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.
You manage a batch data processing workload on Compute Engine that runs daily on a single VM. The VM uses a standard persistent disk (pd-standard) for input data and output results. Recently, the VM crashed due to a hardware failure, and the job failed. You need to implement a solution that automatically recovers from VM failures with minimal data loss. The job is idempotent and can restart from the beginning if necessary. Which solution should you choose?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create a managed instance group (MIG) with an instance template that includes a startup script to run the job, and enable autohealing
Option D is correct because a managed instance group (MIG) with autohealing automatically recreates a VM instance when it fails, and the startup script ensures the idempotent job reruns from the beginning on the new VM. This minimizes data loss by using the same persistent disk (or a fresh one) and leverages Compute Engine's health check mechanism to detect failure and trigger recovery without manual intervention.
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.
✗
Take a snapshot of the persistent disk every hour and create a new VM from the latest snapshot on failure
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: manual process, not automatic.
✗
Use Cloud Scheduler to restart the VM every hour until the job completes
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse automatic restart (which only works for transient failures on the same VM) with autohealing (which recreates the VM after hardware failure), leading them to pick Option C instead of D.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
A MIG uses an instance template to define the VM configuration, including the persistent disk and startup script. Autohealing relies on a health check (e.g., HTTP or TCP) that the VM must pass; if the health check fails, the MIG recreates the instance from the template, ensuring the startup script runs on boot. The job's idempotency allows it to safely restart from scratch, and using a regional persistent disk or snapshot schedule can further reduce data loss, but the core recovery mechanism is the MIG's autohealing.
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.
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: Create a managed instance group (MIG) with an instance template that includes a startup script to run the job, and enable autohealing — Option D is correct because a managed instance group (MIG) with autohealing automatically recreates a VM instance when it fails, and the startup script ensures the idempotent job reruns from the beginning on the new VM. This minimizes data loss by using the same persistent disk (or a fresh one) and leverages Compute Engine's health check mechanism to detect failure and trigger recovery without manual intervention.
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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Question Discussion
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