PCD Managing application performance monitoring Practice Question
This PCD practice question tests your understanding of managing application performance monitoring. 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.
Which TWO are correct ways to reduce logging costs in Google Cloud? (Choose two.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Set log bucket retention to a shorter period
Option A is correct because reducing the retention period for log buckets directly decreases the amount of log data stored, which lowers storage costs in Cloud Logging. Logs are billed based on volume ingested and stored; shorter retention means older logs are deleted sooner, reducing the total storage footprint and associated charges.
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.
✓
Set log bucket retention to a shorter period
Why this is correct
Shorter retention reduces storage costs.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Disable all audit logs to reduce volume
Why it's wrong here
Audit logs are required for security and compliance.
✗
Export all logs to BigQuery for analysis
Why it's wrong here
Exporting adds BigQuery storage and query costs.
✗
Increase the retention period from 30 days to 365 days
Why it's wrong here
Longer retention increases storage costs.
✓
Use exclusion filters to drop debug logs
Why this is correct
Excluding logs reduces ingestion volume.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that exporting logs to an external system like BigQuery reduces costs, when in fact it adds additional costs for the export destination, and the trap is that candidates confuse 'analysis' with 'cost reduction'.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Cloud Logging uses log buckets with configurable retention policies; by default, the _Default bucket retains logs for 30 days. Reducing retention to, say, 7 days means logs are automatically deleted after that period, freeing storage. Exclusion filters (Option E) work at ingestion time, using a filter expression (e.g., `severity=DEBUG`) to drop matching log entries before they are stored, thus reducing both ingestion and storage costs. Under the hood, exclusion filters are evaluated before the log entry is written to the bucket, so they can significantly lower the log volume without affecting other log entries.
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 startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
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.
Managing application performance monitoring — This question tests Managing application performance monitoring — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Set log bucket retention to a shorter period — Option A is correct because reducing the retention period for log buckets directly decreases the amount of log data stored, which lowers storage costs in Cloud Logging. Logs are billed based on volume ingested and stored; shorter retention means older logs are deleted sooner, reducing the total storage footprint and associated charges.
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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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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