Free Google Professional Cloud Database Engineer Actual Exam Questions - Question 11 Discussion

Question No. 11
You are running a mission-critical application on a Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL database with a multi-
zonal setup. The primary and read replica instances are in the same region but in different zones. You
need to ensure that you split the application load between both instances. What should you do?
Select one option, then reveal solution.
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CF
Carlos F.
2026-01-20

B/D? PgBouncer (B) is a solid pick since it’s built for connection pooling and can help route read queries to replicas, which matches the load-splitting goal. The Cloud SQL Auth proxy (D) mainly handles secure connections and authentication, not really load balancing or pooling between instances. So even though D is useful for security, it doesn’t directly address splitting the load. A and C are definitely out because they’re meant for web traffic, not database connections.

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CF
Carlos F.
2026-01-17

This one’s tricky, but I’d rule out A and C since Cloud Load Balancing is for HTTP/HTTPS traffic, not database connections. Between B and D, PgBouncer (B) is specifically designed for connection pooling and can be configured to route read queries to replicas, making it a good fit for splitting loads in a database setup. The Cloud SQL Auth proxy (D) mainly handles secure connections, not load distribution. So I’d go with B here.

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YX
Yasir X.
2026-01-16

Option B makes sense because PgBouncer can manage connection pooling and also direct read queries to replicas, which helps distribute load. Cloud Load Balancing (A) is meant for HTTP/HTTPS traffic, not database connections, so it wouldn't work here. Options C and D are about load balancing and authentication proxy but don’t handle splitting read/write loads across primary and replicas. PgBouncer is the common tool for this kind of task in PostgreSQL setups on Cloud SQL.

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YX
Yasir X.
2026-01-15

B feels right since PgBouncer handles pooling, but not sure about load balancing here.

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