PCDBE practice questions 91–100

1. Question 91 · 170 in bank

   Your organization has a security policy to ensure that all Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL databases are secure. You want to protect sensitive data by using a key that meets specific locality or residency requirements. Your organization needs to control the key's lifecycle activities. You need to ensure that data is encrypted at rest and in transit. What should you do?

   • ACreate the database with Google-managed encryption keys.
   • BCreate the database with customer-managed encryption keys.
   • CCreate the database persistent disk with Google-managed encryption keys.
   • DCreate the database persistent disk with customer-managed encryption keys.

   Show answer

   Answer: B

   Explanation

   Despite that you select CMEK in the Storage section, it says: This instance is encrypted with a Google-managed key by default. If you need to manage your encryption, you can use a customer-managed key instead. Also, you don't need to create persistent disk, google does that.

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — chelbsik

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation

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2. Question 92 · 170 in bank

   Your organization has an existing app that just went viral. The app uses a Cloud SQL for MySQL backend database that is experiencing slow disk performance while using hard disk drives (HDDs). You need to improve performance and reduce disk I/O wait times. What should you do?

   • AExport the data from the existing instance, and import the data into a new instance with solid-state drives (SSDs).
   • BEdit the instance to change the storage type from HDD to SSD.
   • CCreate a high availability (HA) failover instance with SSDs, and perform a failover to the new instance.
   • DCreate a read replica of the instance with SSDs, and perform a failover to the new instance

   Show answer

   Answer: A

   Explanation

   Switch between SSD and HDD storage When you create a Cloud SQL instance, your choice of SSD or HDD storage for the instance is permanent. If you need to convert an existing HDD instance to SSD, or conversely, you can export the data from the existing instance and import the data into a new instance. Keep in mind that migrating an entire instance takes time. https://cloud.google.com/sql/docs/mysql/choosing-ssd-hdd

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — PrtkKA

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation

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3. Question 93 · 170 in bank

   You are configuring a new application that has access to an existing Cloud Spanner database. The new application reads from this database to gather statistics for a dashboard. You want to follow Google-recommended practices when granting Identity and Access Management (IAM) permissions. What should you do?

   • AReuse the existing service account that populates this database.
   • BCreate a new service account, and grant it the Cloud Spanner Database Admin role.
   • CCreate a new service account, and grant it the Cloud Spanner Database Reader role.
   • DCreate a new service account, and grant it the spanner.databases.select permission.

   Show answer

   Answer: C

   Explanation

   C. A new application should have its own service account. Eliminate A. The Admin role is too broad. Eliminate B. D grants an individual permission not a role. Granting permissions in IAM is done via a role. From Google’s documentation: “In IAM, permission to access a resource isn't granted directly to the end user. Instead, permissions are grouped into roles, and roles are granted to authenticated principals.” https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/overview

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — dynamic_dba

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation

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4. Question 94 · 170 in bank

   Your retail organization is preparing for the holiday season. Use of catalog services is increasing, and your DevOps team is supporting the Cloud SQL databases that power a microservices-based application. The DevOps team has added instrumentation through Sqlcommenter. You need to identify the root cause of why certain microservice calls are failing. What should you do?

   • AWatch Query Insights for long running queries.
   • BWatch the Cloud SQL instance monitor for CPU utilization metrics.
   • CWatch the Cloud SQL recommenders for overprovisioned instances.
   • DWatch Cloud Trace for application requests that are failing.

   Show answer

   Answer: A

   Explanation

   A. Cloud Trace doesn’t support Cloud SQL. Eliminate D. Cloud SQL recommenders for overprovisioned instances would tell you about Cloud SQL instances which are too large for their workload. Eliminate C. Monitoring CPU utilization wouldn’t tell you why microservice calls are failing. Eliminate B. SQLcommenter integrates with Query Insights. So A is the best answer. https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/developers-practitioners/introducing-sqlcommenter-open-source-orm-auto-instrumentation-library

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — dynamic_dba

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation

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5. Question 95 · 170 in bank

   You are designing a database architecture for a global application that stores information about public parks worldwide. The application uses the database for read-only purposes, and a centralized batch job updates the database nightly. You want to select an open source, SQL-compliant database. What should you do?

   • AUse Bigtable with multi-region clusters.
   • BUse Memorystore for Redis with multi-zones within a region.
   • CUse Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL with cross-region replicas.
   • DUse Cloud Spanner with multi-region configuration.

   Show answer

   Answer: C

   Explanation

   C. Bigtable doesn’t support SQL. Eliminate A. Even if Memorystore could scale, B says single region. Eliminate B. Cloud Spanner supports Google Standard SQL and PostgreSQL dialects. That’s not the same thing as a natively open source database. Eliminate D. That leaves C.

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — dynamic_dba

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6. Question 96 · 170 in bank

   Your company is migrating their MySQL database to Cloud SQL and cannot afford any planned downtime during the month of December. The company is also concerned with cost, so you need the most cost-effective solution. What should you do?

   • AOpen a support ticket in Google Cloud to prevent any maintenance in that MySQL instance during the month of December.
   • BUse Cloud SQL maintenance settings to prevent any maintenance during the month of December.
   • CCreate MySQL read replicas in different zones so that, if any downtime occurs, the read replicas will act as the primary instance during the month of December.
   • DCreate a MySQL regional instance so that, if any downtime occurs, the standby instance will act as the primary instance during the month of December.

   Show answer

   Answer: B

   Explanation

   B. You don’t open a support ticket to prevent maintenance on a managed Cloud SQL instance. Eliminate A. C and D both involve additional costs which the question says is a concern. That leaves B. In Maintenance - Advanced Options you can define a maintenance deny period which can be up to 90 days. So B is the right answer.

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — dynamic_dba

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation

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7. Question 97 · 170 in bank

   Your online delivery business that primarily serves retail customers uses Cloud SQL for MySQL for its inventory and scheduling application. The required recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) must be in minutes rather than hours as a part of your high availability and disaster recovery design. You need a high availability configuration that can recover without data loss during a zonal or a regional failure. What should you do?

   • ASet up all read replicas in a different region using asynchronous replication.
   • BSet up all read replicas in the same region as the primary instance with synchronous replication.
   • CSet up read replicas in different zones of the same region as the primary instance with synchronous replication, and set up read replicas in different regions with asynchronous replication.
   • DSet up read replicas in different zones of the same region as the primary instance with asynchronous replication, and set up read replicas in different regions with synchronous replication.

   Show answer

   Answer: A

   Explanation

   A. Google’s documentation (https://cloud.google.com/sql/faq) states MySQL read replicas use asynchronous replication. That eliminates B, C and D because they all say to use read replicas with synchronous replication. That leaves A. A states read replicas (plural) in a different region which suggests more than one read replica, each in a different zone. With the primary instance in region A (zone 1) and presumably a failover replica also in region A (zone 2), read replicas in region B (zone 1 and 2) would provide HA in the event of a region or zone failure.

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — dynamic_dba

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation

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8. Question 98 · 170 in bank

   Your hotel booking company is expanding into Country A, where personally identifiable information (PII) must comply with regional data residency requirements and audits. You need to isolate customer data in Country A from the rest of the customer data. You want to design a multi-tenancy strategy to efficiently manage costs and operations. What should you do?

   • AApply a schema data management pattern.
   • BApply an instance data management pattern.
   • CApply a table data management pattern.
   • DApply a database data management pattern.

   Show answer

   Answer: B

   Explanation

   B. From the question, it appears the multi-tenancy solution needs to be multi-regional. That suggests Spanner as the database platform. Within a multi-region instance, you cannot place a database into a specific region (D). The same is also true for a table (C) and a schema (A). That leaves B. Makes sense that you would have an instance specific to a given region to comply with the data residency requirements. Even if you did this with Cloud SQL - using the same database/schema/table design everywhere, you would still need to deploy into a specific region to satisfy the data regulations. So B still makes sense.

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — dynamic_dba

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation

   Next question

9. Question 99 · 170 in bank

   Your organization is running a MySQL workload in Cloud SQL. Suddenly you see a degradation in database performance. You need to identify the root cause of the performance degradation. What should you do?

   • AUse Logs Explorer to analyze log data.
   • BUse Cloud Monitoring to monitor CPU, memory, and storage utilization metrics.
   • CUse Error Reporting to count, analyze, and aggregate the data.
   • DUse Cloud Debugger to inspect the state of an application.

   Show answer

   Answer: B

   Explanation

   If your instance stops responding to connections or performance is degraded, make sure it conforms to the Operational Guidelines https://cloud.google.com/sql/docs/mysql/diagnose-issues#:~:text=If%20your%20instance%20stops%20responding%20to%20connections%20or%20performance%20is%20degraded%2C%20make%20sure%20it%20conforms%20to%20the%20Operational%20Guidelines And then checking resource constraints: Storage full CPU overloaded Too many database tables https://cloud.google.com/sql/docs/mysql/operational-guidelines#resource_constraints Cloud Monitoring seems like the only way to check 2/3 of those, so for me answer is B

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — chelbsik

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation

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10. Question 100 · 170 in bank

    You work for a financial services company that wants to use fully managed database services. Traffic volume for your consumer services products has increased annually at a constant rate with occasional spikes around holidays. You frequently need to upgrade the capacity of your database. You want to use Cloud Spanner and include an automated method to increase your hardware capacity to support a higher level of concurrency. What should you do?

    • AUse linear scaling to implement the Autoscaler-based architecture
    • BUse direct scaling to implement the Autoscaler-based architecture.
    • CUpgrade the Cloud Spanner instance on a periodic basis during the scheduled maintenance window.
    • DSet up alerts that are triggered when Cloud Spanner utilization metrics breach the threshold, and then schedule an upgrade during the scheduled maintenance window.

    Show answer

    Answer: A

    Explanation

    A. An automated method eliminates C and D. Autoscaler is the way to go. Autoscaler has 3 scaling methods. Stepwise, linear and direct. From Google’s documentation: Stepwise - Stepwise scaling is useful for workloads that have small or multiple peaks. Linear - Linear scaling is best used with load patterns that change more gradually or have a few large peaks. Direct - Direct scaling provides an immediate increase in capacity. A is the obvious answer. https://cloud.google.com/spanner/docs/autoscaling-overview

    Source: Adapted from community discussion — dynamic_dba

    References

    • Google Cloud documentation
    • Google Cloud documentation
    • Google Cloud documentation

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PCDBE practice, question 91. 170 questions available.