GCP Google Cloud Platform (GCP) CE 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A developer needs to call a GCP API from a Compute Engine VM without storing service account keys on disk. What is the recommended approach?
- Download a JSON key file and store it in /etc/gcp/
- Use the VM's attached service account and Application Default Credentials (Correct answer)
- Hard-code the API key in the application environment variables
- Generate a short-lived OAuth token with gcloud each time
Correct answer: Use the VM's attached service account and Application Default Credentials
Attaching a service account to a Compute Engine VM and using Application Default Credentials (ADC) is the recommended keyless authentication approach.
Question 2: Which Cloud Storage feature enables you to automatically transition objects to cheaper storage classes over time?
- Object Versioning
- Retention Policies
- Lifecycle Management Rules (Correct answer)
- Object Hold
Correct answer: Lifecycle Management Rules
Cloud Storage Lifecycle Management Rules allow automatic transitions of objects to Nearline, Coldline, or Archive storage classes based on age or other conditions.
Question 3: What is the maximum duration for which a GCP Preemptible VM can run before being automatically terminated by Google?
- 6 hours
- 12 hours
- 24 hours (Correct answer)
- 48 hours
Correct answer: 24 hours
Preemptible VMs are terminated by Google after a maximum of 24 hours, and may be reclaimed sooner when Compute Engine needs capacity.
Question 4: Which GCP tool helps you understand and optimize your cloud spending by providing cost allocation, budgets, and recommendations?
- Cloud Billing Reports with Cost Table (Correct answer)
- Active Assist Recommender
- Cloud Cost Management (formerly Cost Optimization Hub)
- Cloud Billing Budget API only
Correct answer: Cloud Billing Reports with Cost Table
Cloud Billing Reports with Cost Table provides detailed cost allocation, filtering, and grouping to understand and optimize GCP spending.
Question 5: Which feature of Cloud Run allows it to automatically scale down to zero instances when there is no traffic?
- Cloud Run's always-on minimum instance setting
- Serverless autoscaling with concurrency-based request buffering (Correct answer)
- Cloud Armor's traffic shaping rules
- Cloud Endpoints rate limiting
Correct answer: Serverless autoscaling with concurrency-based request buffering
Cloud Run uses serverless autoscaling that scales to zero instances during idle periods and buffers incoming requests while new instances start.
Question 6: An organization requires that all GCP resources be created only in specific geographic regions. Which control enforces this?
- VPC firewall rules restricted to region CIDRs
- Cloud Armor geo-restriction policies
- Organization Policy constraints/gcp.resourceLocations (Correct answer)
- IAM conditions on location attributes
Correct answer: Organization Policy constraints/gcp.resourceLocations
The Organization Policy constraint `constraints/gcp.resourceLocations` restricts resource creation to a defined list of allowed regions or multi-regions.
Question 7: What is the role of Cloud Interconnect compared to Cloud VPN when connecting on-premises networks to GCP?
- Cloud Interconnect uses the public internet; Cloud VPN uses dedicated fiber
- Cloud Interconnect provides dedicated physical connections with higher throughput and lower latency; Cloud VPN tunnels over the public internet (Correct answer)
- They are equivalent options with different pricing models only
- Cloud VPN supports BGP routing; Cloud Interconnect does not
Correct answer: Cloud Interconnect provides dedicated physical connections with higher throughput and lower latency; Cloud VPN tunnels over the public internet
Cloud Interconnect provides dedicated or partner connections with guaranteed bandwidth and lower latency, while Cloud VPN encrypts traffic over the public internet.
GCP Google Cloud Platform (GCP) CE 4
A developer needs to call a GCP API from a Compute Engine VM without storing service account keys on disk.
What is the recommended approach?