PCDOE Implementing service monitoring strategies Practice Question
This PCDOE practice question tests your understanding of implementing service monitoring strategies. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 notices that some Compute Engine instances are not reporting metrics to Cloud Monitoring. Which two potential causes should they investigate? (Choose two.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The instances have insufficient IAM permissions to write metrics.
Option C is correct because Compute Engine instances require the appropriate IAM permissions (e.g., roles/monitoring.metricWriter) to write metrics to Cloud Monitoring. Without these permissions, the API calls to ingest metric data are denied, even if the Ops Agent is installed and running.
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.
✗
The instances are in a different region and Cloud Monitoring doesn't support cross-region.
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Monitoring supports all GCP regions globally.
✗
The instances are preemptible and automatically stop reporting after 24 hours.
Why it's wrong here
Preemptible instances report metrics while running, with no 24-hour limit.
✓
The instances have insufficient IAM permissions to write metrics.
Why this is correct
Instances need the roles/monitoring.metricWriter role to send metrics.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The instances are in a different project and not peered.
Why it's wrong here
Cross-project monitoring is supported through metrics scopes without peering.
✓
The Ops Agent is not installed on the instances.
Why this is correct
The Ops Agent is required to collect and send system metrics to Cloud Monitoring.
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 preemptible instances have a built-in metric reporting cutoff, when in fact they can report metrics normally until they are preempted, and the real issue is often IAM permissions or missing agent installation.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The Ops Agent (option E) is the recommended way to collect system and application metrics from Compute Engine instances, using the fluent-bit and ops-agent services to send data to Cloud Monitoring via the monitoring.googleapis.com API. Without the agent, only a limited set of default metrics (e.g., CPU utilization) are available via the guest-agent. The IAM role roles/monitoring.metricWriter grants the necessary permission (monitoring.metricDescriptors.create) to write custom and agent-collected metrics.
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 company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
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.
Implementing service monitoring strategies — This question tests Implementing service monitoring strategies — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The instances have insufficient IAM permissions to write metrics. — Option C is correct because Compute Engine instances require the appropriate IAM permissions (e.g., roles/monitoring.metricWriter) to write metrics to Cloud Monitoring. Without these permissions, the API calls to ingest metric data are denied, even if the Ops Agent is installed and running.
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.
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Question Discussion
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