- A
Use zonal persistent disks for stateful data.
Why wrong: Zonal persistent disks are replicated within a zone, not across regions, so they do not provide multi-region high availability.
- B
Use a global load balancer to distribute traffic across regions.
Global load balancers route traffic to the closest healthy backend, enabling multi-region high availability.
- C
Deploy a single instance group in one region for simplicity.
Why wrong: Single region deployment does not provide high availability across regions; a regional failure would cause downtime.
- D
Configure managed instance groups in multiple regions.
Managed instance groups provide autohealing and autoscaling, and deploying in multiple regions ensures resilience.
- E
Store all data in a single Cloud Storage bucket.
Why wrong: A single bucket is multi-regional by default, but the compute layer must also be multi-regional to achieve high availability.
Quick Answer
The answer is to configure managed instance groups in multiple regions and pair them with a global load balancer. This combination is correct because a global load balancer, such as the Google Cloud External HTTPS Load Balancer, can route traffic across regions to healthy backends, enabling cross-region failover and low-latency routing—the core pattern for multi-region high availability. On the Google Professional Cloud Developer exam, this tests your understanding of global versus regional load balancing and how to design for regional failure; a common trap is choosing regional load balancers or single-region instance groups, which cannot survive a full region outage. Remember the memory tip: “Global balancer, multi-region stance—if one region fails, another gets the chance.”
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. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 designing a highly available application on Google Cloud using multiple regions. Which TWO strategies should they implement to achieve this?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Use a global load balancer to distribute traffic across regions.
Option B is correct because a global load balancer (e.g., Google Cloud External HTTPS Load Balancer) can distribute traffic across multiple regions, providing cross-region failover and low-latency routing. This is a fundamental pattern for multi-region high availability, as it allows traffic to be directed to healthy backends in any region, even if an entire region fails.
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 zonal persistent disks for stateful data.
Why it's wrong here
Zonal persistent disks are replicated within a zone, not across regions, so they do not provide multi-region high availability.
- ✓
Use a global load balancer to distribute traffic across regions.
Why this is correct
Global load balancers route traffic to the closest healthy backend, enabling multi-region high availability.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Deploy a single instance group in one region for simplicity.
Why it's wrong here
Single region deployment does not provide high availability across regions; a regional failure would cause downtime.
- ✓
Configure managed instance groups in multiple regions.
Why this is correct
Managed instance groups provide autohealing and autoscaling, and deploying in multiple regions ensures resilience.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Store all data in a single Cloud Storage bucket.
Why it's wrong here
A single bucket is multi-regional by default, but the compute layer must also be multi-regional to achieve high availability.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse zonal resources (like persistent disks) with regional or multi-regional resources, or they assume that a single-region deployment with a load balancer is sufficient for high availability, ignoring the need for geographic redundancy.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Google Cloud's global load balancer uses Anycast IP addresses and the Google Front End (GFE) to route traffic to the closest healthy backend, leveraging the same global network that powers Google services. Managed instance groups (MIGs) in multiple regions, combined with autohealing and autoscaling, allow the application to survive regional outages by automatically replacing failed instances and scaling based on load. Under the hood, the load balancer performs health checks at the instance level and uses a global forwarding rule to direct traffic to the appropriate regional backend service.
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 media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
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.
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Designing highly scalable, available, and reliable cloud-native applications — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PCD question test?
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: Use a global load balancer to distribute traffic across regions. — Option B is correct because a global load balancer (e.g., Google Cloud External HTTPS Load Balancer) can distribute traffic across multiple regions, providing cross-region failover and low-latency routing. This is a fundamental pattern for multi-region high availability, as it allows traffic to be directed to healthy backends in any region, even if an entire region fails.
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.
About these practice questions
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 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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