A DevOps team manages container images in Google Cloud Artifact Registry for microservices deployed across multiple Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) clusters in us-central1 and us-east4. Frequent CI/CD pipeline builds have caused storage costs to escalate significantly. The team must implement an automated repository configuration that satisfies the following requirements: Provide low-latency image pulls and high availability across all deployment clusters in the US without managing custom replication pipelines. Retain the 5 most recently uploaded images tagged with the prefix release- at all times, regardless of age. Retain all images tagged with stable indefinitely. Automatically delete all untagged images older than 14 days. Which configuration should the DevOps team implement?

Create the repository in the 'us' multi-region location. Define Artifact Registry cleanup policies containing a KEEP rule with 'mostRecentVersions.keepCount' set to 5 and 'tagPrefixes' set to ['release-'], a KEEP rule matching tagPrefixes ['stable'], and a DELETE rule matching tagState 'UNTAGGED' with 'olderThan' set to '14d'.: ### What Artifact Registry Multi-Region and Cleanup Policies Are **Artifact Registry** is Google Cloud's fully managed universal package manager and container registry. It allows repositories to be created in single regions (such as `us-central1`) or **multi-regions** (such as `us`, `europe`, or `asia`). Artifact Registry includes native **Cleanup Policies** (lifecycle rules) that evaluate container image tags, version counts, and artifact ages without requiring custom scripts or external schedulers. ### How It Meets the Requirements - **High Availability & Low-Latency Access:** Setting repository location to the `us` **multi-region** automatically stores and replicates artifacts across multiple data centers in the United States, providing low-latency pulls to GKE clusters in `us-central1` and `us-east4` without needing custom replication syncs. - **Protecting Recent Releases:** A **KEEP rule** using `mostRecentVersions` with `keepCount: 5` and `tagPrefixes: ["release-"]` guarantees that the 5 latest versions matching that tag prefix are preserved even if they would otherwise match deletion criteria. - **Indefinite Retention:** A **KEEP rule** targeting `tagPrefixes: ["stable"]` ensures that any version bearing the `stable` tag is never removed, as **KEEP** rules always take precedence over **DELETE** rules in Artifact Registry policy evaluation. - **Automated Deletion of Untagged Images:** A **DELETE rule** targeting `tagState: "UNTAGGED"` with `olderThan: "14d"` automatically cleans up intermediate and dangling layers after two weeks. ### Key Advantages and Capabilities - **Deterministic Rule Precedence:** In Artifact Registry cleanup logic, **KEEP** policies evaluate before **DELETE** policies, preventing accidental deletion of mission-critical artifacts. - **Native Multi-Region Redundancy:** Provides automatic cross-regional resilience against localized regional service disruptions. - **Declarative Policy Management:** Cleanup policies can be managed directly via `gcloud`, Terraform, or the Cloud Console using JSON/YAML policy definitions. ### Why This Is Optimal This solution relies entirely on native, declarative Google Cloud Artifact Registry features, eliminating custom script maintenance while ensuring strict governance over image lifecycle costs and multi-region availability.

Artifact Registry Lifecycle Policies Multi Region | Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer

Artifact Registry Lifecycle Policies Multi Region

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A DevOps team manages container images in Google Cloud Artifact Registry for microservices deployed across multiple Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) clusters in us-central1 and us-east4. Frequent CI/CD pipeline builds have caused storage costs to escalate significantly.

The team must implement an automated repository configuration that satisfies the following requirements:

Provide low-latency image pulls and high availability across all deployment clusters in the US without managing custom replication pipelines.
Retain the 5 most recently uploaded images tagged with the prefix release- at all times, regardless of age.
Retain all images tagged with stable indefinitely.
Automatically delete all untagged images older than 14 days.

Which configuration should the DevOps team implement?

Create the repository in the 'us' multi-region location. Configure a single DELETE rule targeting untagged artifacts older than 14 days, and apply Cloud IAM read-only locks to all packages with 'release-' and 'stable' tags.

Create two separate regional repositories in 'us-central1' and 'us-east4' and synchronize them using Cloud Storage Transfer Service. Apply Cloud Storage object lifecycle rules directly on the underlying storage buckets with a 14-day deletion condition.

Create a regional repository in 'us-central1' with an Artifact Registry remote repository configured in 'us-east4'. Deploy a Cloud Function triggered by Cloud Pub/Sub on an hourly schedule to query tags, count versions, and invoke the deletion API.

Create the repository in the 'us' multi-region location. Define Artifact Registry cleanup policies containing a KEEP rule with 'mostRecentVersions.keepCount' set to 5 and 'tagPrefixes' set to ['release-'], a KEEP rule matching tagPrefixes ['stable'], and a DELETE rule matching tagState 'UNTAGGED' with 'olderThan' set to '14d'.

Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer

Artifact Registry Lifecycle Policies Multi Region

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