This PCD practice question tests your understanding of managing application performance monitoring. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 monitor the CPU utilization of their Compute Engine instances and automatically trigger scaling actions if utilization exceeds 80% for 5 minutes. Which service should they use?
Managed instance group autoscaler
Autoscaler uses monitoring metrics to trigger scaling actions.
Cloud Monitoring
Why wrong: Cloud Monitoring provides metrics and alerts but does not perform scaling.
Cloud Scheduler
Why wrong: Cloud Scheduler is for scheduled jobs, not scaling.
Cloud Load Balancing
Why wrong: Load balancer distributes traffic, does not scale instances.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Managed instance group autoscaler
Managed instance group (MIG) autoscaler is the correct service because it is designed to automatically adjust the number of Compute Engine instances based on configured utilization metrics. By setting a target CPU utilization of 80% over a 5-minute window, the autoscaler will add or remove instances to maintain that threshold, directly meeting the requirement for automatic scaling actions.
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.
Managed instance group autoscaler
Why this is correct
Autoscaler uses monitoring metrics to trigger scaling actions.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Cloud Monitoring
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Monitoring provides metrics and alerts but does not perform scaling.
Cloud Scheduler
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Scheduler is for scheduled jobs, not scaling.
Cloud Load Balancing
Why it's wrong here
Load balancer distributes traffic, does not scale instances.
Common exam traps
Cisco often tests the distinction between monitoring services (Cloud Monitoring) and action-oriented services (autoscaler), leading candidates to pick Cloud Monitoring because they confuse alerting with automatic scaling.
Detailed technical explanation
The MIG autoscaler uses a target CPU utilization metric (e.g., 0.8 for 80%) and applies a stabilization period (default 5 minutes) to avoid flapping. Under the hood, the autoscaler polls the Cloud Monitoring API for the average CPU utilization of the group, then calculates the desired number of instances using a proportional control algorithm, adjusting capacity in increments based on the configured cool-down period. In a real-world scenario, if a sudden traffic spike causes CPU to exceed 80% for 5 minutes, the autoscaler will launch new instances, but it will not scale down until utilization drops below the target for the same stabilization window, preventing premature termination.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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FAQ
Managing application performance monitoring — This question tests Managing application performance monitoring — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Managed instance group autoscaler — Managed instance group (MIG) autoscaler is the correct service because it is designed to automatically adjust the number of Compute Engine instances based on configured utilization metrics. By setting a target CPU utilization of 80% over a 5-minute window, the autoscaler will add or remove instances to maintain that threshold, directly meeting the requirement for automatic scaling actions.
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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Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
This PCD 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 PCD exam.
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