- A
Use Istio mTLS for all service-to-service communication
Why wrong: mTLS adds encryption overhead, increasing latency rather than reducing it.
- B
Increase the number of nodes in the cluster
Why wrong: More nodes may help with capacity but not necessarily reduce inter-service latency; could even add hops.
- C
Implement caching at the API gateway to reduce redundant requests
Caching at the gateway avoids repeated processing, lowering latency for frequent requests.
- D
Enable HTTP/2 and gRPC for inter-service communication
HTTP/2 multiplexes streams, and gRPC uses binary protocol, reducing latency and CPU usage.
- E
Use headless services for direct pod-to-pod communication
Headless services allow direct pod IP resolution, bypassing kube-proxy and reducing routing hops.
PCDOE Optimizing service performance Practice Question
This PCDOE practice question tests your understanding of optimizing service performance. 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 company runs a microservices architecture on GKE and notices high network latency between services. Which THREE actions can improve inter-service communication performance?
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
Implement caching at the API gateway to reduce redundant requests
Option C is correct because implementing caching at the API gateway reduces redundant requests, which directly decreases network round trips and lowers latency for repeated data retrievals. This is a common performance optimization in microservices architectures, as it offloads backend services and minimizes inter-service chatter.
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 Istio mTLS for all service-to-service communication
Why it's wrong here
mTLS adds encryption overhead, increasing latency rather than reducing it.
- ✗
Increase the number of nodes in the cluster
Why it's wrong here
More nodes may help with capacity but not necessarily reduce inter-service latency; could even add hops.
- ✓
Implement caching at the API gateway to reduce redundant requests
Why this is correct
Caching at the gateway avoids repeated processing, lowering latency for frequent requests.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✓
Enable HTTP/2 and gRPC for inter-service communication
Why this is correct
HTTP/2 multiplexes streams, and gRPC uses binary protocol, reducing latency and CPU usage.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✓
Use headless services for direct pod-to-pod communication
Why this is correct
Headless services allow direct pod IP resolution, bypassing kube-proxy and reducing routing hops.
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 security features like mTLS always improve performance, when in reality they add computational cost, and that scaling nodes always reduces latency, ignoring the potential for increased cross-node traffic.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
HTTP/2 multiplexes multiple streams over a single TCP connection, reducing head-of-line blocking and connection overhead, while gRPC uses HTTP/2 and Protocol Buffers for efficient binary serialization, significantly lowering latency compared to JSON over HTTP/1.1. Headless services (with clusterIP: None) allow direct pod-to-pod communication via DNS, bypassing kube-proxy and iptables rules, which reduces network hops and latency in high-throughput scenarios.
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 healthcare organisation deploys an application with a public-facing web tier and a private database tier. The database subnet has no public IP and only accepts connections from the web tier's security group. Questions like this test whether you can design cloud network isolation using VNets/VPCs, subnets, and security group rules.
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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Optimizing service performance — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PCDOE question test?
Optimizing service performance — This question tests Optimizing service performance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Implement caching at the API gateway to reduce redundant requests — Option C is correct because implementing caching at the API gateway reduces redundant requests, which directly decreases network round trips and lowers latency for repeated data retrievals. This is a common performance optimization in microservices architectures, as it offloads backend services and minimizes inter-service chatter.
What should I do if I get this PCDOE 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 30, 2026
This PCDOE 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 PCDOE exam.
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