Chapter 1: Overview of Google Cloud Platform

1. B. The basic unit for purchasing computing resources is the virtual machine
(VM). A
physical server underlies VMs, but the resources of a physical server are allocated
to VMs.
Blocks and subnets are not relevant to the fundamental unit of computing.

##########################################################
2. D. When using managed clusters, the cloud provider will monitor the health of
nodes in the
cluster, set up networking between nodes in the cluster, and configure firewall and
other
security controls.

##########################################################
3. B. App Engine is a serverless platform for running applications, while Cloud
Functions is a
service for executing short-running functions in response to events. Kubernetes
Engine is a
managed cluster service, and both Kubernetes Engine and Compute Engine require you
to
configure servers.

##########################################################
4. B. Object storage, like Cloud Storage, provides redundantly stored objects
without limits
on the amount of data you can store, which makes option B correct. Since file
system
functionality is not required, option D is not a good option. Block storage could
be used,
but you would have to manage your own replication to ensure high availability.
Caches are
transient, in-memory storage and are not high-availability, persistent storage
systems.

##########################################################
5. D. Block sizes in a block storage system can vary; therefore, option D is the
correct answer.
Block size is established when a file system is created. 4KB block sizes are
commonly used
in Linux.

##########################################################
6. C. Firewalls in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) are software-defined network
controls that
limit the flow of traffic into and out of a network or subnetwork, so option C is
the correct
answer. Routers are used to move traffic to appropriate destinations on the
network. Identity
access management is used for authenticating and authorizing users; it is not
relevant to
network controls between subnetworks. IP address tables are not a security control.

##########################################################
7. C. Option C is correct because specialized services in GCP are serverless.
Google manages
the compute resources used by the services. There is no need for a user to allocate
or
monitor VMs.

##########################################################
8. B. Option B is correct; investing in servers works well when an organization can
accurately
predict the number of servers and other equipment it will need for an extended
period and
can utilize that equipment consistently. Startups are not established businesses
with histories
that can guide expected needs in three to five years. It does not matter if a
budget is
fixed or variable; investing in servers should be based on demand for server
capacity.

##########################################################
9. B. The characteristics of the server, such as the number of virtual servers, the
amount of
memory, and the region where you run the VM, influence the cost, so option B is
correct.
Time of day is not a factor, nor is the type of application you run on the VM.

##########################################################
10. D. Cloud Vision is one of GCP’s specialized services. Users of the service do
not need to
configure any VMs to use the service.

##########################################################
11. B. Containers give the most flexibility for using the resources of a cluster
efficiently and
orchestration platforms reduce the operations overhead, which makes option B
correct.
Running in a single cluster is not recommended because if the server fails, all
services will
be down. Using two VMs with one read-only is not useful. Read-only servers are
sometimes
used with databases, but there was no mention of databases in the question. Using a
small
VM and upgrading when it is no longer able to keep up with the workload delivers
poorquality
service to users and should be avoided.

##########################################################
12. D. All of the operations are available to a system administrator after creating
a VM,
so option D is correct.

##########################################################
13. A. Option A is correct; Cloud Filestore is based on Network Filesystem (NSF),
which is a
distributed file management system. The other options are file systems supported by
Linux
but are not the foundation of Cloud Filestore.
##########################################################
14. A. When you create a network, it is treated as a virtual private cloud, which
makes option
A correct. Resources are added to the VPC and are not accessible outside the VPC
unless
you explicitly configure them to be. A subdomain is related to web domains and not
related
to GPC network configuration. Clusters, such as Kubernetes clusters, may be in your
network,
but are not a characteristic of the network.

##########################################################
15. D. Caches use memory, and that makes them the fastest storage type for reading
data, so
option D is right. Caches are data stores on the backend of distributed systems,
not the clients.
A cache would have no effect on client-side JavaScript execution. Caches do not
store
data in a cache if power is lost; the data would have to be reloaded. Caches can
get out of
sync with the system of truth because the system of truth could be updated, but the
cache
may not be updated. Caches have faster read times than SSDs and HDDs.

##########################################################
16. B. Option B is correct; cloud providers have large capacity and can quickly
allocate
those resources to different customers. With a mix of customers and workloads, they
can
optimize the allocation of resources. Option A is incorrect; cloud providers do not
take
resources from one customer to give them to another, with the exception of
preemptible
instances. Option C is incorrect; cloud providers usually offer discounts for
increased use.

##########################################################
17. C. Specialized services are monitored by Google so users do not have to monitor
them;
therefore, option C is correct. Specialized services provide a specific compute
functionality
but do not require the user to configure any resources. They also provide APIs.
##########################################################
18. B. Attached drives are block storage devices. Cloud Storage is the object
storage service
and does not attach directly to a VM. NoSQL is a type of database, not a storage
system.
Attached drives may be either SSDs or hard drives.

##########################################################
19. C. Databases require persistent storage on block devices. Object storage does
not provide
data block or file system storage, making option C the correct answer. Data storage
is not a
type of storage system. Caches are often used with databases to improve read
performance,
but they are volatile and are not suitable for persistently storing data files.

##########################################################
20. B. All three services are serverless, so the user does not need to configure
VMs; therefore,
option B is correct. Cloud Storage is charged based on time and size of data
stored. App
Engine Standard and Cloud Functions are not restricted to just the Go language.