Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate (ACA) Cloud Computing — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does system integration mean in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate elastic computing service?
- Disabling connections between departments
- Connecting different systems so they can work together and share data seamlessly (Correct answer)
- Operating each system independently without data sharing
- Replacing all systems with a single application
Correct answer: Connecting different systems so they can work together and share data seamlessly
System integration connects different technology systems to work together seamlessly, enabling data sharing, reducing redundancy, and improving workflow efficiency across the organization.
Question 2: What is the primary consideration when implementing new technology in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate?
- Implementing without user input or testing
- Selecting the most expensive option available
- Ensuring compatibility with existing systems and meeting user requirements (Correct answer)
- Choosing based on brand popularity alone
Correct answer: Ensuring compatibility with existing systems and meeting user requirements
Successful technology implementation requires ensuring compatibility with existing infrastructure, meeting actual user needs, providing adequate training, and following a structured deployment plan.
Question 3: What is the relationship between theory and practice in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate load balancing?
- Theory provides the foundation and framework that guides effective practical application (Correct answer)
- Theory replaces the need for any practical experience
- Theory and practice are completely unrelated
- Practice is only important; theory is unnecessary
Correct answer: Theory provides the foundation and framework that guides effective practical application
Theory and practice are complementary: theoretical knowledge provides the conceptual framework and understanding that guides effective, evidence-based practical application in professional settings.
Question 4: Which method is not supported by OSS to create a bucket?
- Through ECS instance filesystem directory operation
- Through OSS API/SDK
- Through a cloud console
- Through the OSS cmd tool (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Through the OSS cmd tool
Explanation: <br> "Through OSS cmd tool," is not supported because OSS cmd tools typically focus on managing objects within buckets rather than creating buckets directly.
Question 5: MaxCompute is a general purpose, fully managed, multi-tenancy data processing platform for large-scale data warehousing, and it is mainly used for storage and computing of batch structured data. Which of the following is not a use case for MaxCompute?
- Real-time Stream Processing
- Date Warehouse (Correct answer)
- Data Analysis and Mining
- ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)
Correct answer: Date Warehouse
Explanation: <br> MaxCompute is primarily used for ETL (Extract, Transform, Load), data analysis and mining, and real-time stream processing tasks. While it can support data warehousing activities to some extent, it is not typically the primary use case for MaxCompute. Data warehousing solutions may involve other technologies or specialized platforms tailored specifically for data warehousing purposes.
Question 6: Which storage option is recommended for sharing persistent data between multiple pods in an ACK cluster within the same availability zone?
- Alibaba Cloud NAS (Network Attached Storage) mounted as a PersistentVolume (Correct answer)
- Alibaba Cloud OSS mounted as a volume
- Elastic Block Storage (EBS) shared between pods
- Local node disk storage accessed via HostPath
Correct answer: Alibaba Cloud NAS (Network Attached Storage) mounted as a PersistentVolume
NAS supports ReadWriteMany (RWX) access mode, allowing multiple pods to mount the same file system simultaneously, unlike block storage which is single-attach.
Question 7: What is a best practice in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate object storage service?
- A method or technique recognized as superior based on evidence and expert consensus (Correct answer)
- A practice used only by large organizations
- Any practice that is easy to implement
- The cheapest available approach
Correct answer: A method or technique recognized as superior based on evidence and expert consensus
Best practices are methods, techniques, or approaches that are recognized through evidence, research, and expert consensus as producing superior results and are recommended for adoption.
Question 8: What is the primary objective of load balancing in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate?
- To replace practical experience entirely
- To generate revenue for testing organizations
- To ensure competence and proficiency in core load balancing concepts (Correct answer)
- To limit access to the profession
Correct answer: To ensure competence and proficiency in core load balancing concepts
The primary objective of load balancing knowledge is to ensure practitioners have the competence and proficiency needed to perform effectively and safely in their professional roles.
Question 9: What is a best practice in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate virtual private cloud?
- The cheapest available approach
- A practice used only by large organizations
- Any practice that is easy to implement
- A method or technique recognized as superior based on evidence and expert consensus (Correct answer)
Correct answer: A method or technique recognized as superior based on evidence and expert consensus
Best practices are methods, techniques, or approaches that are recognized through evidence, research, and expert consensus as producing superior results and are recommended for adoption.
Question 10: What is the primary consideration when implementing new technology in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate?
- Choosing based on brand popularity alone
- Implementing without user input or testing
- Selecting the most expensive option available
- Ensuring compatibility with existing systems and meeting user requirements (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Ensuring compatibility with existing systems and meeting user requirements
Successful technology implementation requires ensuring compatibility with existing infrastructure, meeting actual user needs, providing adequate training, and following a structured deployment plan.
Question 11: What is the relationship between theory and practice in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate virtual private cloud?
- Practice is only important; theory is unnecessary
- Theory provides the foundation and framework that guides effective practical application (Correct answer)
- Theory replaces the need for any practical experience
- Theory and practice are completely unrelated
Correct answer: Theory provides the foundation and framework that guides effective practical application
Theory and practice are complementary: theoretical knowledge provides the conceptual framework and understanding that guides effective, evidence-based practical application in professional settings.
Question 12: In Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate, what does "statistical significance" mean?
- The findings confirm the researcher's hypothesis
- The result is practically important in real-world terms
- The study used a large sample size
- The result is unlikely to have occurred by chance alone (typically p < 0.05) (Correct answer)
Correct answer: The result is unlikely to have occurred by chance alone (typically p < 0.05)
Statistical significance indicates that an observed result is unlikely to have occurred by random chance, typically when the p-value is less than 0.05 (5% probability of occurring by chance).
Question 13: E-MapReduce on Alibaba Cloud is built on top of which open-source framework?
- Apache Kafka
- Apache Flink
- Apache Hadoop and Spark (Correct answer)
- Apache Cassandra
Correct answer: Apache Hadoop and Spark
E-MapReduce (EMR) is Alibaba Cloud's managed big data cluster service built on Apache Hadoop, Spark, and other open-source components.
Question 14: Which node type in DataWorks can edit the Python code to operate data in MaxCompute?
- SQL Node
- Data Integration Node
- Data Analytics Node
- PyODPS Node (Correct answer)
Correct answer: PyODPS Node
Explanation: <br> The PyODPS Node in DataWorks allows users to edit Python code to operate data in MaxCompute. This node type provides the capability to write custom Python scripts for data processing, analysis, and manipulation tasks within the DataWorks environment, enabling advanced data processing operations on MaxCompute tables.
Question 15: Which Alibaba Cloud service is a fully managed, serverless big data computing platform designed for large-scale data warehousing and batch analytics?
- DataWorks
- DataV
- MaxCompute (Correct answer)
- Quick BI
Correct answer: MaxCompute
MaxCompute (formerly ODPS) is Alibaba Cloud's fully managed, serverless data warehouse service for large-scale data processing and analytics.
Question 16: In Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate, why is load balancing knowledge important for professional certification?
- It is only required for administrative purposes
- It has no practical relevance to daily work
- It demonstrates competence and ensures practitioners meet established standards (Correct answer)
- It is important only for entry-level positions
Correct answer: It demonstrates competence and ensures practitioners meet established standards
Professional certification in specific knowledge areas demonstrates that practitioners have met established competency standards, ensuring quality of service and public protection.
Question 17: In Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate, what is the purpose of an audit trail in information systems?
- To increase system processing speed
- To maintain a chronological record of system activities and changes (Correct answer)
- To reduce storage requirements
- To track employee personal social media usage
Correct answer: To maintain a chronological record of system activities and changes
An audit trail creates a chronological record of all system activities, including who accessed the system, what changes were made, and when, supporting accountability and compliance.
Question 18: What happens when a RAM user has no policies attached?
- The user has no permissions and cannot perform any actions (Correct answer)
- The user automatically receives read-only access to all services
- The user has access to all free-tier services
- The user inherits the permissions of the root account
Correct answer: The user has no permissions and cannot perform any actions
Alibaba Cloud RAM follows a default-deny model, meaning RAM users with no attached policies have zero permissions by default.
Question 19: In Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate, what is the primary benefit of implementing automated content delivery network?
- Eliminating the need for skilled professionals
- Increasing manual processing requirements
- Reducing quality standards
- Increased efficiency, accuracy, and consistency in operations (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Increased efficiency, accuracy, and consistency in operations
Automation improves operational efficiency by reducing human error, increasing processing speed, ensuring consistency, and freeing professionals to focus on tasks requiring human judgment.
Question 20: What billing model does MaxCompute primarily offer for query costs?
- Pay only for storage, compute is free
- Fixed monthly fee regardless of usage
- Per-query flat fee independent of data size
- Pay-as-you-go based on data scanned (CU consumption) or subscription reserved CUs (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Pay-as-you-go based on data scanned (CU consumption) or subscription reserved CUs
MaxCompute offers pay-as-you-go billing based on computing units (CUs) consumed per task, as well as subscription packages with reserved CUs for predictable workloads.
Question 21: Which of the following is true about the Alibaba Cloud account root user (primary account)?
- It should be used for all day-to-day operations
- It can be deleted and replaced by a RAM user for security
- It has the same permission level as a RAM administrator user
- It has unrestricted access to all resources and should be protected carefully (Correct answer)
Correct answer: It has unrestricted access to all resources and should be protected carefully
The root account has full, unrestricted access to all Alibaba Cloud services and billing, so best practice is to use RAM users for daily tasks and secure the root account with MFA.
Question 22: Server Load Balancer can help protect from _________________ attack.
- SQL injection
- Ransomware
- Virus
- DDoS (Correct answer)
Correct answer: DDoS
Explanation: <br> Server Load Balancer (SLB) can help mitigate DDoS attacks by distributing incoming traffic across multiple backend servers, thereby reducing the impact of a large volume of malicious traffic targeting a single server. SLB can detect and filter out abnormal traffic patterns associated with DDoS attacks, helping to ensure the availability and performance of the backend servers even during an attack.
Question 23: What is the purpose of peer review in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate database services?
- To guarantee that all research is approved
- To have qualified experts evaluate research quality before publication (Correct answer)
- To speed up the publication process
- To allow friends to proofread for spelling errors
Correct answer: To have qualified experts evaluate research quality before publication
Peer review involves independent evaluation of research by qualified experts in the field, assessing methodology, validity, significance, and contribution to knowledge before publication.
Question 24: In Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate, why is object storage service knowledge important for professional certification?
- It is important only for entry-level positions
- It demonstrates competence and ensures practitioners meet established standards (Correct answer)
- It is only required for administrative purposes
- It has no practical relevance to daily work
Correct answer: It demonstrates competence and ensures practitioners meet established standards
Professional certification in specific knowledge areas demonstrates that practitioners have met established competency standards, ensuring quality of service and public protection.
Question 25: What is a best practice in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate auto scaling?
- Any practice that is easy to implement
- The cheapest available approach
- A method or technique recognized as superior based on evidence and expert consensus (Correct answer)
- A practice used only by large organizations
Correct answer: A method or technique recognized as superior based on evidence and expert consensus
Best practices are methods, techniques, or approaches that are recognized through evidence, research, and expert consensus as producing superior results and are recommended for adoption.
Question 26: What is the purpose of access controls in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate content delivery network?
- To track employee lunch breaks
- To ensure only authorized users can view or modify sensitive data and systems (Correct answer)
- To make systems slower and less convenient
- To reduce the number of system users
Correct answer: To ensure only authorized users can view or modify sensitive data and systems
Access controls restrict system and data access to authorized personnel, protecting sensitive information from unauthorized viewing, modification, or deletion.
Question 27: In a typical Alibaba Cloud big data pipeline, what role does Log Service (SLS) play?
- Data visualization
- Columnar storage for analytics
- Centralized log collection, storage, querying, and real-time analysis of machine-generated data (Correct answer)
- Hadoop cluster management
Correct answer: Centralized log collection, storage, querying, and real-time analysis of machine-generated data
Log Service (SLS) is Alibaba Cloud's platform for collecting, storing, indexing, and analyzing log and metric data from applications, servers, and services in real time.
Question 28: Which component in DataWorks is responsible for defining and triggering task execution on a schedule?
- Data Integration
- Task Scheduler (Scheduling and Operations center) (Correct answer)
- Data Map
- Data Quality
Correct answer: Task Scheduler (Scheduling and Operations center)
DataWorks' Scheduling and Operations Center handles defining cron-based schedules, task dependencies, and monitoring the execution of data pipeline tasks.
Question 29: Which Alibaba Cloud service provides a fully managed platform for building, training, and deploying machine learning models?
- DataWorks
- Quick BI
- MaxCompute
- Machine Learning Platform for AI (PAI) (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Machine Learning Platform for AI (PAI)
Platform for AI (PAI) is Alibaba Cloud's end-to-end machine learning platform covering data preparation, model training, evaluation, and online/batch inference deployment.
Question 30: Which backup strategy in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate provides the most comprehensive data protection?
- Backing up data only once a year
- Regular incremental backups combined with periodic full backups (Correct answer)
- Storing all data on a single device
- Printing all records on paper only
Correct answer: Regular incremental backups combined with periodic full backups
A combination of regular incremental backups (capturing changes) and periodic full backups provides comprehensive data protection, balancing storage efficiency with recovery capability.
Question 31: Which backup strategy in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate provides the most comprehensive data protection?
- Printing all records on paper only
- Regular incremental backups combined with periodic full backups (Correct answer)
- Storing all data on a single device
- Backing up data only once a year
Correct answer: Regular incremental backups combined with periodic full backups
A combination of regular incremental backups (capturing changes) and periodic full backups provides comprehensive data protection, balancing storage efficiency with recovery capability.
Question 32: Which approach is most effective for mastering cloud monitoring in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate?
- Relying solely on on-the-job experience
- Studying only immediately before examinations
- Combining theoretical study with practical application and regular review (Correct answer)
- Memorizing textbook definitions without understanding
Correct answer: Combining theoretical study with practical application and regular review
The most effective approach combines theoretical understanding with practical application, reinforced by regular review and assessment, enabling deeper comprehension and long-term retention.
Question 33: Which ACK cluster type provides the highest level of managed infrastructure by running worker nodes as serverless ECI pods?
- Dedicated Kubernetes Cluster
- Edge Kubernetes Cluster
- Serverless Kubernetes Cluster (ASK) (Correct answer)
- Managed Kubernetes Cluster
Correct answer: Serverless Kubernetes Cluster (ASK)
Alibaba Cloud Serverless Kubernetes (ASK) runs workloads directly on ECI, eliminating both master and worker node management for a fully serverless Kubernetes experience.
Question 34: What is a best practice in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate load balancing?
- The cheapest available approach
- A method or technique recognized as superior based on evidence and expert consensus (Correct answer)
- A practice used only by large organizations
- Any practice that is easy to implement
Correct answer: A method or technique recognized as superior based on evidence and expert consensus
Best practices are methods, techniques, or approaches that are recognized through evidence, research, and expert consensus as producing superior results and are recommended for adoption.
Question 35: What is the purpose of Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA) in an ACK cluster?
- To distribute pods evenly across availability zones
- To scale the number of pod replicas up or down based on CPU/memory or custom metrics (Correct answer)
- To upgrade the Kubernetes version automatically
- To automatically provision new ACK worker nodes based on CPU demand
Correct answer: To scale the number of pod replicas up or down based on CPU/memory or custom metrics
HPA monitors pod-level metrics and automatically adjusts the replica count of a deployment to match current workload demand.
Question 36: Which Alibaba Cloud feature allows you to deploy an ACK application across multiple regions for disaster recovery?
- ACK built-in geo-replication with automatic failover
- ACK Federation with multi-cluster management via ARMS
- Alibaba Cloud Multi-Region Kubernetes Federation (using YAML replication across clusters)
- Global Traffic Manager (GTM) combined with independent ACK clusters per region (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Global Traffic Manager (GTM) combined with independent ACK clusters per region
Multi-region ACK deployments typically use Global Traffic Manager (GTM) or Alibaba Cloud DNS for traffic routing across independently deployed ACK clusters in different regions.
Question 37: In Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate, what is sampling bias?
- Selecting a perfectly representative sample
- A systematic error where some members of a population are more likely to be selected than others (Correct answer)
- Randomly selecting participants from the entire population
- Using the largest possible sample size
Correct answer: A systematic error where some members of a population are more likely to be selected than others
Sampling bias occurs when the method of selecting participants systematically favors certain characteristics over others, resulting in a sample that does not accurately represent the target population.
Question 38: In Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate, what role does continuing education play in load balancing?
- To replace initial certification requirements
- To keep professionals current with evolving standards, technologies, and best practices (Correct answer)
- To prevent professionals from advancing in their careers
- To increase testing frequency for compliance purposes
Correct answer: To keep professionals current with evolving standards, technologies, and best practices
Continuing education ensures professionals stay current with new developments, evolving standards, and emerging best practices in their field, maintaining competence throughout their careers.
Question 39: What is the primary consideration when implementing new technology in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate?
- Implementing without user input or testing
- Choosing based on brand popularity alone
- Ensuring compatibility with existing systems and meeting user requirements (Correct answer)
- Selecting the most expensive option available
Correct answer: Ensuring compatibility with existing systems and meeting user requirements
Successful technology implementation requires ensuring compatibility with existing infrastructure, meeting actual user needs, providing adequate training, and following a structured deployment plan.
Question 40: In Alibaba Cloud's big data ecosystem, what is the primary purpose of DataWorks?
- Data development, scheduling, and operations platform for data pipelines (Correct answer)
- NoSQL data storage
- Business intelligence dashboards
- Real-time stream processing
Correct answer: Data development, scheduling, and operations platform for data pipelines
DataWorks is an integrated data development and operations platform used to build and schedule ETL/ELT pipelines, manage workflows, and govern data assets on Alibaba Cloud.
Question 41: In Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate, what should be the first action when discovering a security breach?
- Assess the situation and follow established incident response procedures (Correct answer)
- Wait until the end of shift to report it
- Immediately pursue the perpetrator alone
- Assume it is a false alarm
Correct answer: Assess the situation and follow established incident response procedures
The proper response to a security breach begins with assessing the situation to determine the nature and scope, then following established protocols to ensure appropriate notification, response, and documentation.
Question 42: What is the role of de-escalation techniques in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate security best practices?
- To assert authority through physical force
- To ignore confrontational situations
- To transfer all conflicts to law enforcement
- To reduce the intensity of a conflict situation and prevent escalation to violence (Correct answer)
Correct answer: To reduce the intensity of a conflict situation and prevent escalation to violence
De-escalation techniques use communication skills, body language, and calm demeanor to reduce tension and aggression, resolving situations peacefully before they escalate to physical confrontation.
Question 43: What is the role of Alibaba Cloud ACK's Cluster Autoscaler?
- Scales Kubernetes deployments based on HTTP request rate
- Automatically adds or removes worker nodes based on pending pod resource requests (Correct answer)
- Rebalances pods across nodes for even CPU utilization
- Upgrades Kubernetes node OS versions automatically
Correct answer: Automatically adds or removes worker nodes based on pending pod resource requests
The Cluster Autoscaler monitors pending pods that cannot be scheduled due to insufficient resources and automatically scales the node pool up or down accordingly.
Question 44: What is the primary objective of virtual private cloud in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate?
- To replace practical experience entirely
- To generate revenue for testing organizations
- To ensure competence and proficiency in core virtual private cloud concepts (Correct answer)
- To limit access to the profession
Correct answer: To ensure competence and proficiency in core virtual private cloud concepts
The primary objective of virtual private cloud knowledge is to ensure practitioners have the competence and proficiency needed to perform effectively and safely in their professional roles.
Question 45: What is the primary objective of object storage service in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate?
- To ensure competence and proficiency in core object storage service concepts (Correct answer)
- To limit access to the profession
- To replace practical experience entirely
- To generate revenue for testing organizations
Correct answer: To ensure competence and proficiency in core object storage service concepts
The primary objective of object storage service knowledge is to ensure practitioners have the competence and proficiency needed to perform effectively and safely in their professional roles.
Question 46: A/An _________________ is a copy of data on a disk at a certain point in time.
- snapshot (Correct answer)
- EIP
- template
- image
Correct answer: snapshot
Explanation: <br> A snapshot is a point-in-time copy of data on a disk. It captures the state of the disk at the moment the snapshot is taken, allowing you to create a backup or restore the data to that specific state if needed. Snapshots are commonly used for data backup, disaster recovery, and creating consistent images of data for testing or development purposes.
Question 47: Which approach is most effective for mastering object storage service in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate?
- Combining theoretical study with practical application and regular review (Correct answer)
- Studying only immediately before examinations
- Memorizing textbook definitions without understanding
- Relying solely on on-the-job experience
Correct answer: Combining theoretical study with practical application and regular review
The most effective approach combines theoretical understanding with practical application, reinforced by regular review and assessment, enabling deeper comprehension and long-term retention.
Question 48: Your website has oscillating traffic peaks that are difficult to predict in advance. In this scenario, it is recommended to use SLB and __________________ together with ECS.
- VPC
- MaxCompute
- Auto Scaling (Correct answer)
- RDS
Correct answer: Auto Scaling
Explanation: <br> SLB (Server Load Balancer) helps distribute incoming traffic across multiple ECS instances, ensuring load balancing and redundancy. Auto Scaling automatically adjusts the number of ECS instances based on fluctuating traffic demands, allowing your system to efficiently handle traffic peaks and troughs. By combining SLB and Auto Scaling, your system can dynamically scale resources up or down in response to traffic changes, maintaining performance and availability even during unpredictable traffic oscillations.
Question 49: Where is the metadata (e.g., table schemas) in Hive stored?
- Stored in the RDBMS like MySQL (Correct answer)
- Stored in the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS)
- Stored in the cloud storage like Alibaba Cloud OSS
- Stored in the Hive metastore database
Correct answer: Stored in the RDBMS like MySQL
Explanation: <br> In Hive, metadata such as table schemas, column names, and data types are stored in an RDBMS like MySQL, which serves as the Hive metastore database. The metastore database acts as a central repository for storing metadata related to Hive tables and partitions. This architecture allows Hive to separate metadata management from data storage, providing scalability and flexibility in managing large datasets.
Question 50: What is the relationship between theory and practice in Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate object storage service?
- Theory provides the foundation and framework that guides effective practical application (Correct answer)
- Practice is only important; theory is unnecessary
- Theory and practice are completely unrelated
- Theory replaces the need for any practical experience
Correct answer: Theory provides the foundation and framework that guides effective practical application
Theory and practice are complementary: theoretical knowledge provides the conceptual framework and understanding that guides effective, evidence-based practical application in professional settings.
Question 51: Which RAM policy element is used to specify the Alibaba Cloud resource an action applies to?
- Resource (Correct answer)
- Action
- Effect
- Condition
Correct answer: Resource
The Resource element in a RAM policy uses an ARN (Alibaba Cloud Resource Name) format to identify the specific resource the policy statement applies to.
Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate (ACA) Cloud Computing
The ACA Cloud Computing certification validates foundational knowledge of Alibaba Cloud services including compute, storage, networking, databases, and security. It is designed for engineers and architects who work with or plan to deploy Alibaba Cloud solutions.
Exam Rules
- You can skip questions and return to them later
- Flag questions for review before submitting
- No feedback shown until you submit the entire exam
- Unanswered questions count as wrong — answer everything
- 10 pretest questions are mixed in and don't affect your score
- Timer auto-submits when time runs out
- Your progress is auto-saved every 30 seconds