Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer Exam 2026 - Free Practice Questions and Study Guide

Implementing high availability for a Cloud SQL instance is a highly effective way to ensure minimal downtime. High availability configurations allow for automatic failover to a standby instance in the event of an outage or failure of the primary instance. This means that if something goes wrong, the system can quickly switch to another instance without significant disruption to service, ensuring that applications continue to run smoothly.

High availability in Cloud SQL involves setting up multiple instances across different zones in a region, which provides redundancy and enhances reliability. In contrast, while backups are essential for data recovery, they do not address the immediate need for uptime during outages. Replication can offer some level of availability but typically does not provide automatic failover capabilities as robustly as a high availability setup. Therefore, configuring high availability is the best approach for minimizing downtime in a Cloud SQL instance.