Google Professional Cloud Network Engineer Practice Exam
Preparing for the Google Professional Cloud Network Engineer Exam requires a solid understanding of designing, implementing, and managing network architectures on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). At Exam Sage, we provide you with a comprehensive, expertly crafted practice exam designed to boost your confidence and sharpen your skills before the real test.
What is the Google Professional Cloud Network Engineer Exam?
This certification exam validates your expertise in deploying and managing network solutions in Google Cloud. It covers essential concepts such as Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) design, hybrid connectivity, network services, and security configurations. Passing this exam demonstrates your ability to design scalable and highly available cloud networks that meet business requirements.
What Will You Learn?
Our practice exam covers all critical topics to help you thoroughly prepare for the official certification:
VPC Architecture & Design: Understand VPC creation, subnetting, IP address management, and designing efficient, scalable networks.
Hybrid Connectivity: Master VPN, Cloud Interconnect, and Cloud Router configuration to connect on-premises and cloud networks seamlessly.
Routing & Traffic Management: Learn dynamic routing with BGP, static routes, and route priorities to optimize network traffic flow.
Load Balancing: Get hands-on knowledge about Google Cloud’s load balancing services, including internal and external HTTP(S), TCP/UDP, and SSL proxy load balancers.
Network Security: Dive deep into firewall rules, Cloud Armor, private access options, and best practices for securing your cloud infrastructure.
Monitoring & Troubleshooting: Explore Google Cloud tools for network monitoring, logging, and diagnosing connectivity issues.
Why Choose Exam Sage for Your Exam Preparation?
Exam Sage is dedicated to delivering high-quality, reliable practice exams tailored specifically for IT certifications like the Google Professional Cloud Network Engineer. Our questions are designed by subject matter experts who understand the exam objectives and real-world applications. Every question includes detailed explanations to help you grasp concepts thoroughly, enabling deeper learning beyond memorization.
With Exam Sage, you get:
Extensive coverage of all exam topics based on the latest Google Cloud exam guide.
Realistic exam experience that mirrors the question style and difficulty of the actual test.
Instant feedback and detailed answers to help identify strengths and weaknesses.
Flexible online access allowing you to practice anytime, anywhere.
Who Should Take This Practice Exam?
This practice test is ideal for network engineers, cloud architects, and IT professionals aiming to validate their cloud networking expertise with Google Cloud certification. Whether you are new to cloud networking or looking to solidify your skills, this exam prep material is an invaluable resource for exam readiness and career advancement.
Invest in your future today by using Exam Sage’s Google Professional Cloud Network Engineer Practice Exam. Achieve certification success and demonstrate your proficiency in designing and managing Google Cloud network solutions with confidence!
Sample Questions and Answers
1. What is the primary purpose of a VPC network in Google Cloud Platform (GCP)?
A) To store data in the cloud
B) To provide a virtual private network for Compute Engine instances
C) To deploy Kubernetes clusters
D) To manage access control policies
Answer: B
Explanation: A Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) network provides an isolated, private network within Google Cloud, allowing Compute Engine instances and other resources to communicate securely.
2. Which Google Cloud service would you use to connect your on-premises network to a Google Cloud VPC via a private, high-bandwidth connection?
A) Cloud VPN
B) Cloud Interconnect
C) Cloud CDN
D) Cloud Load Balancing
Answer: B
Explanation: Cloud Interconnect offers dedicated physical connections between your on-premises data center and Google Cloud, suitable for high bandwidth and low latency requirements.
3. What is a key advantage of using Global HTTP(S) Load Balancing in GCP?
A) Load balancing only within a single region
B) Ability to balance traffic across multiple regions
C) Supports only TCP traffic
D) Requires manual scaling of backend instances
Answer: B
Explanation: Global HTTP(S) Load Balancing enables distributing traffic across backend instances deployed in multiple regions, providing high availability and low latency for users worldwide.
4. When configuring Cloud Router, what routing protocol is supported for dynamic route exchange?
A) OSPF
B) BGP
C) RIP
D) EIGRP
Answer: B
Explanation: Cloud Router uses Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to dynamically exchange routes between your on-premises network and Google Cloud.
5. What firewall rule priority in GCP is evaluated first?
A) 65535
B) 1000
C) 0
D) 1
Answer: C
Explanation: Firewall rules in GCP are evaluated in order of ascending priority; lower numbers are evaluated first. Priority 0 is highest.
6. Which GCP product provides DNS management for your domain with integration into the Google Cloud network?
A) Cloud CDN
B) Cloud DNS
C) Cloud Storage
D) Cloud Functions
Answer: B
Explanation: Cloud DNS is a scalable, reliable, and managed DNS service that integrates with Google Cloud networking.
7. Which feature allows you to enforce security policies on VPC traffic based on attributes such as source IP or protocol?
A) Firewall Rules
B) IAM Policies
C) Cloud Armor
D) Service Accounts
Answer: A
Explanation: Firewall rules in GCP allow fine-grained control of incoming and outgoing traffic to VPC resources based on IPs, ports, and protocols.
8. How does GCP ensure high availability for Cloud VPN tunnels?
A) Using a single VPN tunnel with auto-reconnect
B) Configuring HA VPN with multiple tunnels across regions
C) Using Cloud CDN to cache VPN data
D) Deploying firewall rules to block VPN traffic
Answer: B
Explanation: High Availability (HA) VPN allows you to create multiple tunnels in active/active or active/passive modes across multiple regions for failover.
9. Which of the following is a benefit of using a Shared VPC?
A) Enables separate billing accounts for projects
B) Allows multiple projects to use the same VPC network resources
C) Prevents projects from communicating with each other
D) Removes IAM controls for network resources
Answer: B
Explanation: Shared VPC allows multiple projects to attach to a common VPC, centralizing network administration while isolating workloads.
10. What is the default maximum number of routes in a GCP VPC network?
A) 500
B) 1000
C) 100
D) 10000
Answer: B
Explanation: By default, a GCP VPC network supports up to 1000 static routes.
11. What GCP feature helps reduce latency and improves availability by caching content closer to users globally?
A) Cloud Load Balancing
B) Cloud CDN
C) Cloud VPN
D) Cloud Router
Answer: B
Explanation: Cloud CDN caches HTTP(S) content at Google’s edge locations worldwide, reducing latency for end users.
12. Which GCP service provides end-to-end encryption of traffic inside Google’s network?
A) Cloud VPN
B) VPC Service Controls
C) Private Google Access
D) Google’s backbone network
Answer: D
Explanation: Traffic on Google’s backbone network is encrypted in transit by default, ensuring security within Google’s infrastructure.
13. What is the best practice to connect multiple VPC networks in GCP for communication?
A) Use VPN between VPCs
B) Use VPC Peering
C) Use Cloud CDN
D) Use Cloud Load Balancing
Answer: B
Explanation: VPC Peering allows direct, private connectivity between two VPC networks in GCP.
14. Which statement best describes Private Google Access?
A) Allows VMs without external IPs to reach Google APIs via internal IPs
B) Provides private access to user data stored on Google Drive
C) Enables access to Google Cloud from on-premises private network
D) Routes traffic to Google APIs over the public internet
Answer: A
Explanation: Private Google Access enables VMs that lack external IPs to access Google APIs securely over internal IP addresses.
15. Which protocol does Cloud VPN use for secure tunneling?
A) SSL
B) IPsec
C) HTTP
D) SSH
Answer: B
Explanation: Cloud VPN uses IPsec protocol to establish encrypted tunnels between GCP and on-premises networks.
16. What does a subnet in a VPC define?
A) The security policies applied to VM instances
B) A range of IP addresses in a region within the VPC
C) The firewall rules for a project
D) The IAM roles assigned to the network
Answer: B
Explanation: A subnet is a defined IP address range within a specific region in a VPC.
17. How are routes prioritized in GCP networking?
A) Longest prefix match first
B) Shortest prefix match first
C) Random order
D) Based on firewall rule priority
Answer: A
Explanation: GCP routes are prioritized based on longest prefix match to determine the best route for traffic.
18. What is the function of Cloud Network Intelligence Center?
A) To create VPN tunnels
B) To monitor, analyze, and troubleshoot network issues
C) To assign IAM roles
D) To deploy Kubernetes clusters
Answer: B
Explanation: Network Intelligence Center provides visibility and diagnostics for your GCP network infrastructure.
19. What Google Cloud feature would you use to protect your applications from DDoS attacks?
A) Cloud Armor
B) Cloud CDN
C) Cloud Router
D) Cloud Functions
Answer: A
Explanation: Cloud Armor provides DDoS protection and WAF capabilities to safeguard applications.
20. How do you enable communication between two subnets in different regions within the same VPC?
A) Configure VPN tunnels
B) Use VPC Peering
C) Routes are automatically created for inter-region communication
D) Use Cloud Interconnect
Answer: C
Explanation: GCP automatically enables routing between subnets in different regions within the same VPC.
21. Which command-line tool can be used to manage GCP networking resources?
A) gsutil
B) gcloud
C) kubectl
D) bq
Answer: B
Explanation: The gcloud CLI tool is used to manage GCP networking and other resources.
22. What is the maximum size of a custom route prefix you can define in GCP?
A) /8
B) /16
C) /24
D) /32
Answer: C
Explanation: Custom routes must specify prefixes between /8 and /24, with /24 being the smallest subnet you can define.
23. What is the main function of a Cloud NAT?
A) To translate internal IPs to external IPs for outbound traffic without external IPs on VMs
B) To encrypt traffic between VPCs
C) To load balance incoming traffic
D) To route VPN traffic
Answer: A
Explanation: Cloud NAT enables instances without external IPs to access the internet for outbound connections.
24. Which Google Cloud product allows you to define and enforce service-level networking security perimeters?
A) Cloud Armor
B) VPC Service Controls
C) Cloud CDN
D) Cloud Interconnect
Answer: B
Explanation: VPC Service Controls define security perimeters around resources to mitigate data exfiltration risks.
25. What is the recommended way to share VPC resources across projects?
A) VPC Peering
B) Shared VPC
C) Cloud VPN
D) Cloud Load Balancing
Answer: B
Explanation: Shared VPC allows multiple projects to use a centrally managed VPC network.
26. Which of the following is true about Google Cloud Router?
A) It requires manual route management only
B) It supports dynamic route exchange using BGP
C) It only works with Cloud VPN and not Interconnect
D) It replaces Cloud Load Balancing
Answer: B
Explanation: Cloud Router dynamically exchanges routes using BGP with on-premises routers for VPN or Interconnect connections.
27. What is the effect of setting the “logging” option in a firewall rule?
A) Enables logging for all network traffic
B) Enables logging for traffic that matches the firewall rule
C) Disables firewall rule
D) Encrypts the traffic
Answer: B
Explanation: Enabling logging in firewall rules logs only the traffic matching that rule.
28. What kind of load balancing does Internal TCP/UDP Load Balancing provide?
A) Global HTTP(S) load balancing
B) Regional Layer 4 load balancing
C) External SSL Proxy load balancing
D) DNS load balancing
Answer: B
Explanation: Internal TCP/UDP Load Balancing is a regional, Layer 4 load balancer for private IPs inside a VPC.
29. How can you prevent VM instances in a subnet from accessing the internet?
A) Remove external IPs and disable Cloud NAT
B) Block all firewall rules
C) Enable Cloud CDN
D) Use VPC Peering
Answer: A
Explanation: Without external IPs and Cloud NAT disabled, VMs have no route to the internet.
30. Which protocol does Google Cloud Load Balancing primarily use for global HTTP(S) load balancing?
A) TCP
B) UDP
C) HTTP/2
D) FTP
Answer: C
Explanation: Google Cloud HTTP(S) Load Balancer supports HTTP/2 for efficient connection management and lower latency.
31. What is the maximum number of VPC networks you can create per GCP project by default?
A) 1
B) 5
C) 10
D) 25
Answer: C
Explanation: By default, you can create up to 10 VPC networks per project, but this limit can be increased by requesting a quota increase.
32. Which GCP product would you use to ensure high-performance, private connectivity between Google Cloud and partner networks?
A) Cloud VPN
B) Dedicated Interconnect
C) Cloud Router
D) Cloud CDN
Answer: B
Explanation: Dedicated Interconnect provides high-throughput, low-latency private connectivity between Google Cloud and partner or on-premises networks.
33. What is the role of a firewall rule with an “allow” action and a priority of 1000 in GCP?
A) It denies all traffic with priority 1000
B) It allows traffic that matches the rule and is evaluated after rules with lower priority numbers
C) It allows traffic with the highest precedence
D) It automatically logs the traffic
Answer: B
Explanation: Firewall rules with lower priority numbers are evaluated first; a priority of 1000 is evaluated after rules with lower priority values.
34. What is the default behavior for ingress traffic in a newly created GCP VPC network?
A) All ingress traffic is allowed
B) All ingress traffic is denied
C) Only ICMP ingress traffic is allowed
D) Only SSH ingress traffic is allowed
Answer: B
Explanation: By default, ingress traffic is denied unless explicitly allowed by firewall rules.
35. What GCP feature allows you to route traffic between different cloud regions without going over the public internet?
A) Cloud Interconnect
B) Global VPC
C) Cloud VPN
D) Cloud CDN
Answer: B
Explanation: GCP’s Global VPC network enables routing between different regions over Google’s private backbone.
36. Which of the following is a limitation of VPC Peering?
A) It supports transitive peering
B) It supports overlapping IP ranges
C) It does not support transitive peering
D) It allows peering across different organizations by default
Answer: C
Explanation: VPC Peering does not support transitive peering, meaning traffic cannot flow through one VPC peering connection to reach another.
37. What does the term “subnet secondary IP range” mean in GCP?
A) Additional IP ranges assigned to a subnet for alias IPs or GKE clusters
B) Backup IP ranges for disaster recovery
C) IP ranges for VPN connections
D) The primary IP range of a subnet
Answer: A
Explanation: Secondary IP ranges are used for alias IPs and Kubernetes cluster pods within a subnet.
38. When should you use Cloud VPN instead of Dedicated Interconnect?
A) For high-bandwidth, low-latency connections
B) For temporary or low-throughput encrypted connections over the public internet
C) When connecting between GCP regions
D) When using internal IP addresses only
Answer: B
Explanation: Cloud VPN is suitable for encrypted, lower-bandwidth connections over the internet or temporary setups.
39. What is the maximum number of firewall rules allowed per VPC network?
A) 100
B) 200
C) 1500
D) 5000
Answer: C
Explanation: GCP allows up to 1500 firewall rules per VPC network.
40. How can you enforce identity-based access control on Google Cloud networking resources?
A) Using IAM roles and policies
B) Using firewall rules only
C) By creating subnet IP ranges
D) Through Cloud CDN
Answer: A
Explanation: IAM controls access to resources including network components by assigning roles to users or service accounts.
41. What is the function of a route with next hop set to “default internet gateway”?
A) Routes traffic to an on-premises VPN
B) Routes traffic destined for the internet
C) Routes traffic within the VPC
D) Routes traffic to Cloud CDN
Answer: B
Explanation: The default internet gateway route sends traffic destined for outside the VPC (internet-bound) to the internet gateway.
42. What feature allows you to create a custom route advertisement to your on-premises network via Cloud Router?
A) Route priorities
B) Custom BGP advertisements
C) VPC peering
D) Firewall rules
Answer: B
Explanation: Cloud Router supports custom BGP advertisements to control routes advertised to on-premises routers.
43. What GCP product can you use to inspect and filter traffic at the edge of your VPC?
A) Cloud Armor
B) Cloud Router
C) Cloud CDN
D) Cloud Storage
Answer: A
Explanation: Cloud Armor acts as a Web Application Firewall and DDoS mitigation service to filter incoming traffic.
44. Which GCP load balancer type supports SSL offloading?
A) Network Load Balancer
B) Internal TCP/UDP Load Balancer
C) HTTP(S) Load Balancer
D) TCP Proxy Load Balancer
Answer: C
Explanation: HTTP(S) Load Balancer supports SSL offloading at the edge.
45. How do you restrict VM instances from being assigned external IP addresses automatically?
A) By disabling external IP assignment in subnet configuration
B) By removing firewall rules
C) By enabling Private Google Access
D) By using Cloud NAT
Answer: A
Explanation: You can disable automatic external IP assignment for subnets so VMs launched inside do not get public IPs.
46. Which is a key benefit of using Regional Managed Instance Groups with load balancing?
A) Provides zero-downtime deployments across regions
B) Only supports single-region traffic
C) Allows automatic scaling and healing within a region
D) Requires manual load balancing
Answer: C
Explanation: Regional Managed Instance Groups can automatically scale and heal instances within a region and integrate with load balancing.
47. What is the use of “priority” in a GCP firewall rule?
A) Defines which network the firewall applies to
B) Determines the order of rule evaluation; lower number = higher priority
C) Sets the logging level for the firewall
D) Limits the bandwidth of allowed traffic
Answer: B
Explanation: Firewall rules are processed in order of priority, with the lowest priority number processed first.
48. What is the difference between Internal TCP/UDP Load Balancing and External TCP/UDP Load Balancing?
A) Internal LB balances traffic only inside VPCs; External LB exposes to the internet
B) Internal LB supports SSL offloading; External LB does not
C) Both balance traffic over the internet
D) Internal LB is global; External LB is regional
Answer: A
Explanation: Internal TCP/UDP Load Balancing manages traffic within a VPC, while External TCP/UDP Load Balancing handles internet-facing traffic.
49. Which tool can help you identify network bottlenecks and performance issues in GCP?
A) Stackdriver Logging
B) Network Intelligence Center
C) Cloud CDN
D) Cloud Storage
Answer: B
Explanation: Network Intelligence Center provides tools like Connectivity Tests and Network Topology to diagnose network issues.
50. What does the “connection draining” feature in load balancers do?
A) Terminates all current connections immediately during maintenance
B) Gracefully drains existing connections before removing backend instances
C) Encrypts data before sending to backend
D) Redirects traffic to other regions
Answer: B
Explanation: Connection draining allows existing connections to complete before backend instances are removed from the load balancer.
51. Which tool in GCP allows automation of networking infrastructure as code?
A) Cloud Deployment Manager
B) Cloud Functions
C) Cloud Console
D) BigQuery
Answer: A
Explanation: Cloud Deployment Manager enables you to define and manage GCP resources using templates and scripts.
52. What is the purpose of Private Service Connect?
A) To allow private communication between services without exposing IPs publicly
B) To connect VPCs across projects
C) To cache content closer to users
D) To load balance HTTP traffic
Answer: A
Explanation: Private Service Connect enables private, secure service-to-service communication within Google Cloud.
53. How does a GCP Cloud Router improve network management?
A) Enables static routing only
B) Provides dynamic routing updates using BGP, reducing manual configuration
C) Is used to configure firewall rules
D) Is a replacement for Cloud VPN
Answer: B
Explanation: Cloud Router automates route updates with dynamic BGP protocol between GCP and on-premises.
54. What is the maximum number of forwarding rules allowed per project in GCP?
A) 50
B) 200
C) 500
D) 1000
Answer: B
Explanation: By default, projects can have up to 200 forwarding rules, but this can be increased.
55. Which Google Cloud product supports global load balancing for both HTTP and HTTPS traffic?
A) Internal TCP/UDP Load Balancer
B) Network Load Balancer
C) HTTP(S) Load Balancer
D) SSL Proxy Load Balancer
Answer: C
Explanation: HTTP(S) Load Balancer supports global load balancing for HTTP and HTTPS protocols.
56. What type of IP address is assigned to VM instances without an external IP?
A) Public IP
B) Private IP
C) Elastic IP
D) Reserved IP
Answer: B
Explanation: VMs without external IPs are assigned private IP addresses within the VPC subnet.
57. What is a key consideration when setting up interconnect attachments for VLANs?
A) The VLAN attachment must match the project’s billing account
B) VLAN attachments require matching IP ranges
C) VLAN attachments represent Layer 2 connectivity between on-premises and GCP
D) VLAN attachments cannot be used with Cloud Router
Answer: C
Explanation: VLAN attachments create Layer 2 links between your on-premises network and Google Cloud for Dedicated Interconnect.
58. What is the role of a global forwarding rule in GCP?
A) Routes internal traffic only
B) Routes traffic to regional backend services for global load balancers
C) Directs traffic to VPN gateways
D) Routes traffic based on IP address alone
Answer: B
Explanation: Global forwarding rules route traffic from external clients to global load balancers spanning multiple regions.
59. Which GCP service helps secure service-to-service communication by providing identity-based access and encryption?
A) Cloud Armor
B) VPC Service Controls
C) Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP)
D) Cloud CDN
Answer: C
Explanation: IAP secures service access based on user identity and context.
60. What is the advantage of enabling “flow logs” on a subnet?
A) Enables packet capture for all traffic
B) Records metadata about network traffic to and from VM instances for analysis
C) Automatically blocks suspicious traffic
D) Enables faster internet access
Answer: B
Explanation: Flow logs provide metadata about network traffic flows, which helps in troubleshooting and security auditing.
