The correct configuration is a Cloud Deploy delivery pipeline with a canary strategy specifying incremental traffic percentages like [5, 10, 50, 100] paired with a verification step. This works because Cloud Deploy natively orchestrates canary deployments on Cloud Run by automatically splitting traffic between the old and new revisions at each defined percentage, pausing for the verification step to run health checks or automated tests before proceeding to the next phase. On the Google Professional Cloud Developer exam, this tests your understanding of Cloud Deploy’s declarative pipeline model versus manual traffic management—a common trap is trying to use Cloud Run’s standalone traffic splitting or external scripts, which bypass the pipeline’s integrated verification and rollback capabilities. Remember the mnemonic “5-10-50-100, Verify to be healthy” to recall that each incremental shift requires a successful verification before the next traffic increase.
PCD Building and testing applications Practice Question
This PCD practice question tests your understanding of building and testing applications. 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 team is deploying a microservices application on Cloud Run and needs to implement canary deployments with traffic splitting. They are using Cloud Deploy. What is the correct configuration to gradually shift traffic from the old revision to the new revision?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use a Cloud Deploy delivery pipeline with a canary strategy that specifies percentages like [5, 10, 50, 100] and includes a verification step.
Option C is correct because Cloud Deploy natively supports canary deployments with traffic splitting for Cloud Run. By defining a canary strategy with incremental percentages (e.g., [5, 10, 50, 100]) and including a verification step, the pipeline automatically shifts traffic in stages, pausing for verification at each phase to ensure the new revision is healthy before progressing. This approach integrates directly with Cloud Deploy's delivery pipeline, eliminating the need for manual scripts or external API calls.
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.
✗
Use Cloud Build to deploy with a script that gradually increases traffic using the Cloud Run API.
Why it's wrong here
This is a custom solution and not a managed feature of Cloud Deploy.
✗
Use a Cloud Deploy pipeline with a blue-green strategy that swaps all traffic at once.
Why it's wrong here
Blue-green is an all-at-once switch, not gradual canary.
✓
Use a Cloud Deploy delivery pipeline with a canary strategy that specifies percentages like [5, 10, 50, 100] and includes a verification step.
Why this is correct
This leverages Cloud Deploy's built-in canary deployment capability with progressive traffic shifting.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use Cloud Run's built-in traffic splitting with `gcloud run deploy --traffic` and manage manually.
Why it's wrong here
This bypasses Cloud Deploy's automation and pipeline management.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Cloud Run's manual traffic splitting (`gcloud run deploy --traffic`) with Cloud Deploy's automated canary pipeline, assuming manual commands are sufficient for gradual shifts, but the exam requires understanding that Cloud Deploy provides the orchestration, verification, and rollback needed for production canary deployments.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Cloud Deploy's canary strategy for Cloud Run uses a rollout object that defines phases with traffic percentages and associated verification jobs (e.g., Cloud Build or Cloud Deploy's built-in verification). Under the hood, each phase updates the Cloud Run service's traffic configuration via the `run.googleapis.com/v1` API, setting `spec.traffic` with the new revision's percentage while the old revision retains the remainder. A real-world scenario is deploying a critical payment service where a 5% canary catches latency regressions before full rollout, with automated rollback if verification fails.
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
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
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.
Building and testing applications — This question tests Building and testing applications — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use a Cloud Deploy delivery pipeline with a canary strategy that specifies percentages like [5, 10, 50, 100] and includes a verification step. — Option C is correct because Cloud Deploy natively supports canary deployments with traffic splitting for Cloud Run. By defining a canary strategy with incremental percentages (e.g., [5, 10, 50, 100]) and including a verification step, the pipeline automatically shifts traffic in stages, pausing for verification at each phase to ensure the new revision is healthy before progressing. This approach integrates directly with Cloud Deploy's delivery pipeline, eliminating the need for manual scripts or external API calls.
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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