PCNE Practice Question: Designing, planning, and prototyping a GCP network
This PCNE practice question tests your understanding of designing, planning, and prototyping a gcp network. 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 company has a complex on-premises network with multiple BGP AS numbers. They are connecting to GCP using Cloud VPN and wish to advertise specific prefixes. They want to ensure that only selected on-prem prefixes are advertised to GCP and no other prefixes leak. What is the best approach?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Configure Cloud Router with custom advertised route maps to filter prefixes
Cloud Router with custom advertised route maps allows you to explicitly define which on-premises prefixes are advertised to GCP via Cloud VPN. This ensures only the selected prefixes are propagated, preventing route leaks. Unlike relying on GCP's import policy, this approach gives you direct control over outbound advertisements from your on-premises network.
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 route advertisements from on-prem routers and rely on GCP's route import policy
Why it's wrong here
On-prem routers may advertise more than intended; GCP import policy is not granular.
✓
Configure Cloud Router with custom advertised route maps to filter prefixes
Why this is correct
Cloud Router can be configured to accept only specific BGP prefixes.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use VPC firewall rules to restrict incoming traffic
Why it's wrong here
Firewall rules affect traffic, not routing advertisements.
✗
Set up a separate Cloud Router for each prefix
Why it's wrong here
Overly complex and does not prevent unwanted advertisements.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse route advertisement control with traffic filtering, assuming firewall rules can solve a routing protocol issue, or they overcomplicate the solution by creating multiple Cloud Routers instead of using a single router with proper filtering.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Cloud Router uses BGP to exchange routes with on-premises routers over Cloud VPN tunnels. Custom advertised route maps leverage BGP outbound route filtering (ORF) or prefix-list-based filtering to restrict which prefixes are sent in BGP UPDATE messages. This is analogous to using a route-map with match ip address prefix-list on a Cisco router to control outbound advertisements, ensuring strict prefix control.
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.
Designing, planning, and prototyping a GCP network — This question tests Designing, planning, and prototyping a GCP network — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Configure Cloud Router with custom advertised route maps to filter prefixes — Cloud Router with custom advertised route maps allows you to explicitly define which on-premises prefixes are advertised to GCP via Cloud VPN. This ensures only the selected prefixes are propagated, preventing route leaks. Unlike relying on GCP's import policy, this approach gives you direct control over outbound advertisements from your on-premises network.
What should I do if I get this PCNE question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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This PCNE 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 PCNE exam.
Question Discussion
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