The answer is to enable automatic backups with a retention period of 7 days and to configure a cross-region read replica. These two actions directly address Cloud SQL high availability best practices by providing both point-in-time recovery and disaster recovery across regions. Automatic backups with a 7-day retention allow you to restore to any point within that window, mitigating data loss from corruption or accidental deletion, while a read replica in a different region ensures you can promote it to a primary instance during a regional outage. On the Google Professional Data Engineer exam, this question tests your ability to distinguish between high availability (HA) within a region, achieved by a failover replica, and true disaster recovery (DR) across regions, which requires a cross-region replica. A common trap is confusing a same-zone failover replica for DR—it protects against zonal failure but not regional failure. Memory tip: think “Backups for time, cross-region for place” to remember that backups handle temporal recovery, while cross-region replicas handle geographic failover.
PDE Ensuring solution quality Practice Question
This PDE practice question tests your understanding of ensuring solution quality. Compare every option against the stated constraints before choosing — the best answer satisfies all requirements, not just the most obvious one. 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 wants to ensure high availability for their Cloud SQL instance. Which TWO actions are most appropriate? (Choose two.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create a read replica in a different region.
Options A and B are correct: A read replica in a different region provides disaster recovery, and automatic backups allow point-in-time recovery. Option C (failover replica in same region) provides HA but not DR. Option D (increased memory) does not improve availability. Option E (horizontal scaling with read replicas) does not provide failover for writes.
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.
✓
Create a read replica in a different region.
Why this is correct
A cross-region read replica can be promoted to a standalone instance in a disaster, providing DR.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Configure a failover replica in the same region.
Why it's wrong here
A same-region failover replica provides high availability but not disaster recovery across regions.
✓
Enable automatic backups with a retention period of 7 days.
Why this is correct
Automatic backups allow point-in-time recovery and restore in case of data loss.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Increase the instance's memory and storage size.
Why it's wrong here
Scaling up improves performance but not availability.
✗
Set up horizontal scaling with multiple read replicas.
Why it's wrong here
Read replicas offload reads but do not provide automatic failover for write operations.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→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 media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which PDE exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Ensuring solution quality — This question tests Ensuring solution quality — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create a read replica in a different region. — Options A and B are correct: A read replica in a different region provides disaster recovery, and automatic backups allow point-in-time recovery. Option C (failover replica in same region) provides HA but not DR. Option D (increased memory) does not improve availability. Option E (horizontal scaling with read replicas) does not provide failover for writes.
What should I do if I get this PDE question wrong?
Identify which PDE exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
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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