Cloud Run for containerized services in GCP - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ service_behavior

intermediate

How does Cloud Run handle incoming requests?

Cloud Run automatically scales container instances based on incoming requests. What happens when there are no requests?

A Cloud Run keeps at least one container instance running at all times.

B Cloud Run shuts down the service completely until manually restarted.

C Cloud Run queues requests until a container instance becomes available.

D Cloud Run scales down to zero container instances to save resources.

💡 Hint

Think about how serverless services save costs when idle.

Cloud Run scales down to zero instances when there are no requests, saving resources and cost. It automatically starts instances when new requests arrive.

❓ Configuration

intermediate

Which Cloud Run configuration sets the maximum number of container instances?

You want to limit the maximum number of container instances Cloud Run can create for your service. Which configuration option do you set?

A min-instances

B max-instances

C concurrency

D memory-limit

💡 Hint

Look for the setting that controls the upper limit of instances.

The max-instances setting limits how many container instances Cloud Run can create, controlling scaling upper bound.

❓ Architecture

advanced

What is the best architecture to securely connect Cloud Run to a private Cloud SQL instance?

You have a Cloud Run service that needs to connect to a Cloud SQL database that is not publicly accessible. Which architecture ensures secure connectivity?

A Configure Cloud Run to use a Serverless VPC Connector and connect via private IP.

B Use Cloud SQL Proxy sidecar container inside Cloud Run service.

C Expose Cloud SQL with a public IP and restrict access by IP whitelist.

D Connect directly using Cloud SQL public IP without additional security.

💡 Hint

Think about private network connectivity options for serverless.

Using a Serverless VPC Connector allows Cloud Run to connect privately to Cloud SQL via private IP, avoiding public exposure and improving security.

❓ security

advanced

How to restrict Cloud Run service access to only authenticated users?

You want your Cloud Run service to only allow requests from users who have signed in with Google accounts. Which setting enforces this?

A Enable IAM-based authentication and remove 'allUsers' from invoker role.

B Use a firewall rule to block all external traffic.

C Set the service to allow unauthenticated invocations.

D Deploy the service in a private subnet.

💡 Hint

Think about Cloud Run's integration with IAM permissions.

Removing 'allUsers' from the Cloud Run invoker role and enabling IAM authentication restricts access to authenticated users only.

✅ Best Practice

expert

What is the recommended concurrency setting for a Cloud Run service handling CPU-intensive tasks?

Your Cloud Run service runs CPU-heavy computations. Which concurrency setting optimizes performance and resource usage?

A Set concurrency to 0 to disable concurrency and allow unlimited requests.

B Set concurrency to 80 (default) to maximize instance utilization.

C Set concurrency to 1 to dedicate one request per container instance.

D Set concurrency to 10 to balance between throughput and CPU usage.

💡 Hint

Consider how concurrency affects CPU-bound workloads.

For CPU-intensive tasks, setting concurrency to 1 ensures each container handles one request at a time, preventing CPU contention and improving performance.