Question 944 of 1,000

PCDE Practice Question: Bootstrapping a Google Cloud Organisation for DevOps

This PCDE practice question tests your understanding of bootstrapping a google cloud organisation for devops. 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 DevOps engineer wants to manage Google Cloud resources as code using a declarative language. Which tool is the current industry standard and recommended by Google?

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

Terraform

Terraform is the current industry standard for Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and is recommended by Google for managing Google Cloud resources declaratively. It uses the HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL) to define cloud resources, supports state management for tracking resource changes, and provides a consistent workflow across multiple cloud providers. Google’s own documentation and professional certification materials explicitly endorse Terraform as the primary IaC tool for GCP.

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.

  • Terraform

    Why this is correct

    Terraform is widely adopted and recommended by Google for IaC on GCP.

    Related concept

    Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

  • Cloud Deployment Manager

    Why it's wrong here

    Deployment Manager is a legacy tool; Google recommends Terraform.

  • Pulumi

    Why it's wrong here

    Pulumi is an alternative but not the industry standard.

  • Ansible

    Why it's wrong here

    Ansible is configuration management, not declarative IaC for cloud resources.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates often confuse Cloud Deployment Manager as the recommended tool because it is Google’s native offering, but the question specifically asks for the 'current industry standard' and 'recommended by Google,' which points to Terraform due to its broader adoption and explicit endorsement in Google’s official IaC guidance.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

Terraform’s declarative model works by maintaining a state file (terraform.tfstate) that maps real-world GCP resources to your configuration, enabling drift detection and incremental updates. Under the hood, Terraform uses the Google Cloud Provider plugin, which makes API calls to GCP services (e.g., Compute Engine, Cloud Storage) via gRPC or REST, and supports features like `terraform plan` to preview changes before applying them. A real-world scenario is managing a multi-cloud infrastructure where Terraform’s provider-agnostic approach allows consistent workflows across GCP, AWS, and Azure, whereas Cloud Deployment Manager is locked into GCP.

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.

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FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this PCDE question test?

Bootstrapping a Google Cloud Organisation for DevOps — This question tests Bootstrapping a Google Cloud Organisation for DevOps — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Terraform — Terraform is the current industry standard for Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and is recommended by Google for managing Google Cloud resources declaratively. It uses the HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL) to define cloud resources, supports state management for tracking resource changes, and provides a consistent workflow across multiple cloud providers. Google’s own documentation and professional certification materials explicitly endorse Terraform as the primary IaC tool for GCP.

What should I do if I get this PCDE 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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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026

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This PCDE 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 PCDE exam.