The best approach is to deploy Cloud Run services across multiple regions behind an external HTTP(S) Load Balancer with a global backend. This configuration leverages Google Cloud’s global anycast IP to route user traffic to the nearest healthy Cloud Run instance, minimizing latency through automatic nearest-region routing, while the load balancer’s built-in health checks provide seamless automatic failover by directing requests away from any unhealthy backend. On the Google Professional Cloud Developer exam, this scenario tests your understanding of global load balancing as a core pattern for multi-region serverless architectures—a common trap is mistakenly choosing a regional load balancer or relying on Cloud Run’s single-region scaling, which cannot provide global failover. The key insight is that the global external backend service acts as a unified front door, abstracting regional deployments into a single, resilient endpoint. Memory tip: think “Global GLB for global users”—the load balancer’s anycast IP is the single entry point that makes multi-region Cloud Run both fast and fault-tolerant.
PCD Deploying applications Practice Question
This PCD practice question tests your understanding of deploying applications. 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 multi-region application on Cloud Run to serve global users. They want low latency and automatic failover. Which approach is best?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Deploy to multiple Cloud Run regions behind an external HTTP(S) Load Balancer with global backend.
Option B is correct because deploying Cloud Run services across multiple regions behind an external HTTP(S) Load Balancer with a global backend provides both low latency (via Google's global anycast IP and nearest-region routing) and automatic failover (the load balancer health checks automatically route traffic away from unhealthy backends). This architecture uses the load balancer's global external backend service to direct requests to the closest healthy Cloud Run service, ensuring high availability and performance for global users.
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 to multiple regions and use DNS round-robin.
Why it's wrong here
DNS round-robin does not provide automatic failover or intelligent routing.
✓
Deploy to multiple Cloud Run regions behind an external HTTP(S) Load Balancer with global backend.
Why this is correct
Global load balancer routes to nearest healthy region, providing low latency and automatic failover.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use Cloud Run for Anthos on-premises.
Why it's wrong here
On-premises deployment does not provide multi-region cloud benefits.
✗
Deploy to a single region and use Cloud CDN.
Why it's wrong here
Single region does not provide failover in case of regional outage.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Cisco often tests the misconception that DNS round-robin (Option A) is sufficient for automatic failover and low latency, but it lacks health-based routing and can cause prolonged outages due to client-side DNS caching.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The external HTTP(S) Load Balancer uses Google Front End (GFE) instances with anycast IPs, so a user's request is routed to the closest GFE, which then proxies to the nearest healthy Cloud Run backend via the serverless network endpoint group (NEG). The load balancer performs health checks on each Cloud Run service and automatically stops sending traffic to unhealthy regions, enabling sub-second failover without DNS propagation delays. In a real-world scenario, if the us-east1 region experiences an outage, the load balancer instantly reroutes all traffic to the next closest region like us-west1 or europe-west1, maintaining availability for global users.
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.
Deploying applications — This question tests Deploying applications — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Deploy to multiple Cloud Run regions behind an external HTTP(S) Load Balancer with global backend. — Option B is correct because deploying Cloud Run services across multiple regions behind an external HTTP(S) Load Balancer with a global backend provides both low latency (via Google's global anycast IP and nearest-region routing) and automatic failover (the load balancer health checks automatically route traffic away from unhealthy backends). This architecture uses the load balancer's global external backend service to direct requests to the closest healthy Cloud Run service, ensuring high availability and performance for global users.
What should I do if I get this PCD 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: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
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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