The answer is the External HTTP(S) Load Balancer. This is the correct choice because it provides global load balancing across multiple regions using a single anycast IP address, allowing traffic to be automatically redirected to a secondary region when the primary region becomes unavailable, which is exactly what cross-region failover load balancing for regional outage requires. On the Google Professional Cloud Developer exam, this tests your understanding of how global versus regional load balancers handle disaster recovery; a common trap is selecting the Internal HTTP(S) Load Balancer or the Network Load Balancer, which are regional and cannot failover across regions. Remember that for any HTTP/S application that must survive a full regional outage, you need the global scope of the External HTTP(S) Load Balancer. Memory tip: think “Global HTTP for global failover.”
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 financial services company has a critical application that must survive a regional outage. They deployed on Compute Engine across multiple zones within a single region and now want to redirect traffic to a secondary region if the primary region becomes unavailable. Which load balancing solution should they use?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "primary"
Why it matters: Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
External HTTP(S) Load Balancer
The External HTTP(S) Load Balancer is the correct choice because it supports global load balancing across multiple regions, enabling traffic failover to a secondary region when the primary region becomes unavailable. It uses anycast IP addresses and is designed for HTTP/S traffic, making it suitable for a critical application that must survive a regional outage.
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.
✗
SSL Proxy Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
Regional for non-HTTP traffic, not suitable for multi-region failover.
✓
External HTTP(S) Load Balancer
Why this is correct
Global load balancer that can distribute traffic to backends in multiple regions and perform health-check-based failover.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "primary" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse regional load balancers (like Network Load Balancer or SSL Proxy) with global ones, assuming any load balancer can handle cross-region failover, but only the External HTTP(S) Load Balancer (and the External TCP/UDP Network Load Balancer with global access) supports multi-region failover for HTTP/S traffic.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The External HTTP(S) Load Balancer uses Google Front End (GFE) infrastructure with anycast IPs, allowing it to route traffic to the closest healthy backend region. Under the hood, it supports global backend services with failover configurations using health checks and traffic policies like 'failover ratio' to automatically shift traffic when the primary region's backends are unhealthy. In a real-world scenario, this enables seamless failover for web applications without DNS changes, as the anycast IP remains the same.
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: External HTTP(S) Load Balancer — The External HTTP(S) Load Balancer is the correct choice because it supports global load balancing across multiple regions, enabling traffic failover to a secondary region when the primary region becomes unavailable. It uses anycast IP addresses and is designed for HTTP/S traffic, making it suitable for a critical application that must survive a regional outage.
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: "primary". Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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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.
Question Discussion
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