The correct choice is Dedicated Interconnect with two 10 Gbps circuits to different edge locations, as this directly satisfies both the 10 Gbps bandwidth requirement and the need for high availability. Dedicated Interconnect provides direct, private physical connections between your on-premises network and Google Cloud, with each circuit supporting up to 10 Gbps or 100 Gbps, and by deploying two circuits to distinct edge availability domains, you achieve automatic failover and an SLA-backed 99.99% uptime. On the Google Professional Cloud Network Engineer exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how Dedicated Interconnect differs from Partner Interconnect, which typically caps at 1 Gbps per VLAN attachment and lacks the same physical diversity for high availability. A common trap is assuming Partner Interconnect can scale to 10 Gbps, but its bandwidth is limited by the partner’s aggregation, while Cloud VPN maxes out at 3 Gbps per tunnel and Direct Peering offers no SLA. Remember the memory tip: “Two tens to two edges” — two 10 Gbps circuits to two different edge locations for true high availability.
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. 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 is designing a hybrid network architecture to connect their on-premises data center to Google Cloud. They need high availability and bandwidth of at least 10 Gbps. Which connectivity option meets these requirements?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "least"
Why it matters: You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Dedicated Interconnect with two circuits (each 10 Gbps) to different edge locations
Dedicated Interconnect with two 10 Gbps circuits to different edge locations meets the 10 Gbps bandwidth requirement and provides high availability through diverse physical paths. Cloud VPN maxes out at 3 Gbps per tunnel, Direct Peering does not offer SLA-backed bandwidth or support for 10 Gbps single connections, and Partner Interconnect typically caps at 1 Gbps per VLAN attachment.
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.
✗
Cloud VPN with two tunnels to different gateways
Why it's wrong here
Cloud VPN provides up to 3 Gbps per tunnel and requires multiple tunnels for HA, but bandwidth is insufficient for 10 Gbps.
✓
Dedicated Interconnect with two circuits (each 10 Gbps) to different edge locations
Why this is correct
Dedicated Interconnect offers 10 Gbps per circuit and with two circuits provides HA and meets bandwidth requirement.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "least" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Direct Peering with multiple BGP sessions
Why it's wrong here
Direct Peering is not an SLA-backed connectivity option and bandwidth is not guaranteed for production.
✗
Partner Interconnect with 1 Gbps VLAN attachments
Why it's wrong here
Partner Interconnect can provide 10 Gbps but typically requires multiple VLAN attachments; however, 1 Gbps is below requirement.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that Cloud VPN can achieve 10 Gbps by using multiple tunnels, but the per-tunnel and per-VPN gateway throughput limits (typically 3 Gbps) make it unsuitable for sustained 10 Gbps traffic, while Dedicated Interconnect provides dedicated physical circuits with guaranteed bandwidth.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Dedicated Interconnect uses IEEE 802.1Q VLAN tagging over physical cross-connects to Google's MPLS backbone, with each circuit supporting up to 10 Gbps (or 100 Gbps) via 10GBASE-LR optics. For high availability, Google recommends two circuits to different edge availability domains (e.g., different metro locations) with BGP multipath to load balance traffic; if one circuit fails, the other continues to carry traffic with no loss of SLA. In practice, this architecture is used for latency-sensitive workloads like real-time data replication or video transcoding where sub-50 ms failover is required.
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
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
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: Dedicated Interconnect with two circuits (each 10 Gbps) to different edge locations — Dedicated Interconnect with two 10 Gbps circuits to different edge locations meets the 10 Gbps bandwidth requirement and provides high availability through diverse physical paths. Cloud VPN maxes out at 3 Gbps per tunnel, Direct Peering does not offer SLA-backed bandwidth or support for 10 Gbps single connections, and Partner Interconnect typically caps at 1 Gbps per VLAN attachment.
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: "least". You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company is designing a hybrid network architecture to connect their on-premises data center to Google Cloud. They need high availability and bandwidth up to 10 Gbps. Which connectivity option should they choose?
medium
A.VPN with Cloud Router
B.Direct Peering
C.Dedicated Interconnect with a single connection
✓ D.Partner Interconnect with redundant connections
Why D: Option D is correct because the requirement for high availability (redundancy) and bandwidth up to 10 Gbps is best met by Partner Interconnect with redundant connections. Partner Interconnect supports bandwidths from 50 Mbps to 10 Gbps and allows you to connect through a supported service provider, while redundant connections ensure failover and meet the high-availability requirement. Dedicated Interconnect offers up to 10 Gbps per circuit but requires two separate connections for high availability, not a single connection.
Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
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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.
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