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. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 an external HTTP(S) load balancer with a backend service pointing to an instance group in us-east1. They enable Cloud CDN to improve performance for global users. After enabling, they observe that users in Asia still experience high latency. They verify that the backend instances respond with Cache-Control headers that allow caching. What is the most likely reason for the high latency?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The load balancer is a regional load balancer, not a global one.
Option C is correct because an external HTTP(S) load balancer that is regional (e.g., a regional external HTTP(S) load balancer) cannot serve traffic globally with low latency; it is confined to a single region. Cloud CDN caches content at edge locations, but if the load balancer itself is regional, the cache points are also regional, so users in Asia still route to us-east1 for cache misses or even for cache hits if the edge is not globally distributed. Only a global external HTTP(S) load balancer (with a global anycast IP) can leverage Cloud CDN's global edge cache locations to serve users from the nearest point of presence.
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 cache TTL is too short.
Why it's wrong here
TTL would affect cache hit ratio, not initial latency from origin.
✗
Cloud CDN is not enabled on the correct backend.
Why it's wrong here
It is enabled as stated.
✓
The load balancer is a regional load balancer, not a global one.
Why this is correct
Regional load balancers do not have global anycast IP, so users far away experience high latency.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The backend instances are in us-east1, too far from Asia.
Why it's wrong here
Cloud CDN should cache at edge locations, but if the load balancer is regional, edges are limited.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume Cloud CDN automatically provides global low latency regardless of the load balancer type, but Cisco tests the distinction between regional and global external HTTP(S) load balancers and their impact on CDN edge placement.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
A regional external HTTP(S) load balancer uses a regional forwarding rule with a regional IP address, so traffic from Asia must traverse the internet to us-east1 before reaching the load balancer and cache. In contrast, a global external HTTP(S) load balancer uses a global anycast IP (e.g., 34.96.0.0/16 range) that routes users to the nearest Google Cloud edge location, where Cloud CDN can serve cached content. The Cache-Control headers from the backend are irrelevant if the load balancer's architecture prevents global edge caching; Cloud CDN only caches at the edge locations associated with the load balancer's scope.
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.
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: The load balancer is a regional load balancer, not a global one. — Option C is correct because an external HTTP(S) load balancer that is regional (e.g., a regional external HTTP(S) load balancer) cannot serve traffic globally with low latency; it is confined to a single region. Cloud CDN caches content at edge locations, but if the load balancer itself is regional, the cache points are also regional, so users in Asia still route to us-east1 for cache misses or even for cache hits if the edge is not globally distributed. Only a global external HTTP(S) load balancer (with a global anycast IP) can leverage Cloud CDN's global edge cache locations to serve users from the nearest point of presence.
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: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
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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