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 DevOps team wants to monitor the performance of a Cloud SQL database. Which two metrics should they track? (Select TWO.)
Auto-increment counter
Why wrong: Application-specific and not a general performance metric.
Query error rate
Why wrong: Error rate is more about correctness than performance.
CPU utilization
High CPU may indicate inefficient queries or need for scaling.
Number of active connections
Why wrong: Connection count relates to capacity, not performance directly.
Disk read/write latency
High latency indicates I/O bottlenecks.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
CPU utilization
CPU utilization (C) is a critical metric for Cloud SQL because high CPU usage indicates that the database instance is struggling to process queries, often due to inefficient queries or insufficient compute capacity. Monitoring CPU utilization helps teams decide when to scale up or optimize query performance.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Auto-increment counter
Why it's wrong here
Application-specific and not a general performance metric.
Query error rate
Why it's wrong here
Error rate is more about correctness than performance.
CPU utilization
Why this is correct
High CPU may indicate inefficient queries or need for scaling.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Number of active connections
Why it's wrong here
Connection count relates to capacity, not performance directly.
Disk read/write latency
Why this is correct
High latency indicates I/O bottlenecks.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Google Cloud often tests the distinction between metrics that measure performance (e.g., CPU, latency) versus metrics that measure capacity or configuration (e.g., active connections, auto-increment), leading candidates to select D because they conflate 'active connections' with performance impact.
Detailed technical explanation
Disk read/write latency (E) directly impacts query response times, especially for I/O-bound workloads; Cloud SQL uses persistent disks (e.g., SSD) where high latency can indicate throttling due to exceeding provisioned IOPS limits. Under the hood, Cloud SQL instances rely on the underlying storage layer (e.g., Google's Persistent Disk), and monitoring latency helps detect issues like disk queue depth saturation or network bottlenecks between the compute and storage tiers.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
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FAQ
Optimizing service performance — This question tests Optimizing service performance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: CPU utilization — CPU utilization (C) is a critical metric for Cloud SQL because high CPU usage indicates that the database instance is struggling to process queries, often due to inefficient queries or insufficient compute capacity. Monitoring CPU utilization helps teams decide when to scale up or optimize query performance.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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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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