Hosting setup and deployment in Firebase - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ service_behavior

intermediate

Firebase Hosting: Default Behavior of index.html

When you deploy a Firebase Hosting site without specifying any rewrite rules, what happens when a user visits the root URL of your site?

A Firebase redirects the user to a default Firebase welcome page hosted externally.

B Firebase serves the index.html file from the public directory by default.

C Firebase returns a 404 error because no rewrite rules are set.

D Firebase serves a blank page with no content.

💡 Hint

Think about what file Firebase Hosting looks for by default in your public folder.

Firebase Hosting automatically serves the index.html file located in the public directory when the root URL is accessed, unless you configure rewrites or redirects.

❓ Configuration

intermediate

firebase.json: Correct Hosting Configuration

Which firebase.json configuration snippet correctly sets the public directory to 'dist' and enables single-page app (SPA) fallback to index.html?

A { "hosting": { "public": "dist", "rewrites": [{ "source": "**", "destination": "/index.html" }] } }

B { "hosting": { "public": "dist", "redirects": [{ "source": "**", "destination": "/index.html" }] } }

C { "hosting": { "public": "dist", "ignore": ["**/index.html"] } }

D { "hosting": { "public": "dist", "rewrites": [{ "source": "/index.html", "destination": "**" }] } }

💡 Hint

Look for the setting that rewrites all routes to index.html for SPA support.

The rewrites array with source '**' and destination '/index.html' tells Firebase Hosting to serve index.html for all routes, enabling SPA fallback.

❓ Architecture

advanced

Choosing Firebase Hosting for a Multi-Region App

You want to deploy a web app globally with Firebase Hosting to ensure fast load times worldwide. Which Firebase Hosting feature helps achieve this?

A Firebase Hosting only serves content from a single region, so you must use a third-party CDN.

B Firebase Hosting requires manual setup of multiple hosting sites in different regions.

C Firebase Hosting automatically uses a global CDN to serve content from edge locations closest to users.

D Firebase Hosting uses regional load balancers to route traffic to the nearest server.

💡 Hint

Think about how Firebase Hosting delivers static content quickly worldwide.

Firebase Hosting uses a global content delivery network (CDN) that caches and serves your content from edge locations near users automatically.

❓ security

advanced

Securing Firebase Hosting with HTTPS and Custom Domains

After adding a custom domain to your Firebase Hosting site, what does Firebase do to ensure secure HTTPS connections?

A Firebase automatically provisions and renews SSL certificates for your custom domain.

B You must manually upload your own SSL certificates to Firebase Hosting.

C Firebase only supports HTTP on custom domains unless you use a third-party CDN.

D Firebase requires you to configure DNS records to point to a secure proxy server.

💡 Hint

Consider how Firebase simplifies HTTPS setup for custom domains.

Firebase Hosting automatically provisions SSL certificates via Let's Encrypt for custom domains and renews them without user intervention.

✅ Best Practice

expert

Optimizing Firebase Hosting Deployments for Large Sites

You have a large site with thousands of static files. To speed up deployment times and reduce bandwidth, which approach is best when using Firebase Hosting?

A Disable caching in firebase.json to force fresh downloads on every user visit.

B Delete the entire public directory before each deploy to ensure a clean upload.

C Manually upload files via the Firebase console instead of using the CLI.

D Use the --only hosting:<site> flag to deploy only the hosting site you updated.

💡 Hint

Think about how to deploy only what changed to save time.

Using the --only hosting: flag deploys only the specified hosting site, avoiding unnecessary uploads and speeding deployment.