The correct answer is to use a global HTTPS Load Balancer with backend services in multiple regions and enable Cloud CDN. This combination directly addresses the need for global low latency cloud CDN load balancer web app performance because the global load balancer uses anycast IP to route user traffic to the nearest healthy backend, while Cloud CDN caches static content at Google’s edge PoPs, drastically reducing round-trip time. On the Google Professional Cloud Developer exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how to architect for both high availability and latency—a common trap is choosing a regional load balancer or relying solely on CDN without multi-region backends, which fails to provide failover. Remember the mnemonic “Global for Go, CDN for Cache”: global load balancing handles traffic distribution and failover across regions, while CDN accelerates content delivery from the edge.
PCD Practice Question: Designing highly scalable, available, and reliable cloud-native applications
This PCD practice question tests your understanding of designing highly scalable, available, and reliable cloud-native 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 wants to design a highly available web application that serves users globally. They plan to use Cloud Load Balancing. Which two design choices should they make to ensure high availability and low latency? (Choose two.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Enable Cloud CDN to cache static content closer to users.
Enabling Cloud CDN caches static content at Google's global edge locations, reducing latency by serving content from a point of presence (PoP) close to the user. This offloads requests from backend instances, improving overall 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.
✓
Enable Cloud CDN to cache static content closer to users.
Why this is correct
CDN reduces latency and offloads origin servers.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Use a global HTTPS Load Balancer with backend services in multiple regions.
Why this is correct
Global LB provides multi-region failover and low latency routing.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use a single-zone backend instance group for simplicity.
Why it's wrong here
Single-zone creates a single point of failure.
✗
Use Cloud Armor to filter malicious traffic.
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Armor is a security feature, not directly for availability.
✗
Deploy separate regional load balancers in each region and use DNS-based routing.
Why it's wrong here
DNS routing adds complexity and propagation delays, less reliable than global LB.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Cisco often tests the misconception that separate regional load balancers with DNS-based routing are equivalent to a global load balancer, but the trap here is that DNS-based routing introduces latency and failover delays, whereas a global load balancer with anycast IP provides seamless, low-latency failover across regions.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
A global HTTPSLoad Balancer uses Google's global anycast IP address, so user traffic is directed to the nearest Google edge PoP, which then forwards requests to the closest healthy backend via Google's backbone network. Cloud CDN integrates directly with the load balancer, caching content at the same edge locations and using cache-fill policies to minimize origin load. This architecture ensures that even if an entire regional backend fails, traffic is seamlessly rerouted to another region without DNS propagation delays.
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.
Designing highly scalable, available, and reliable cloud-native applications — This question tests Designing highly scalable, available, and reliable cloud-native applications — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Enable Cloud CDN to cache static content closer to users. — Enabling Cloud CDN caches static content at Google's global edge locations, reducing latency by serving content from a point of presence (PoP) close to the user. This offloads requests from backend instances, improving overall 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.
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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