Cloud Architecture and Design Flashcards

A financial services company is designing a cloud architecture for a critical trading application. The primary business requirement is that the application must continue to operate without any user-discernible interruption, even if an underlying component fails. Which of the following design principles is MOST critical to meet this requirement?

Answer: Fault tolerance

Fault tolerance is the ability of a system to continue operating without interruption when one or more of its components fail. This is distinct from high availability, which focuses on minimizing downtime but may involve a brief recovery period. For a critical trading application where no interruption is acceptable, fault tolerance is the most crucial design principle.

A retail company experiences massive, predictable traffic spikes to its e-commerce website during seasonal sales events. Their on-premises data center can handle normal traffic, but they want to leverage the public cloud to handle the peak loads in a cost-effective manner. Which cloud architecture model BEST describes this scenario?

Answer: Cloud bursting

Cloud bursting is a hybrid cloud deployment model where an application runs in a private cloud or on-premises data center and 'bursts' into a public cloud when the demand for computing capacity spikes. This allows the company to pay for the extra resources only when they are needed, making it a cost-effective solution for handling predictable traffic spikes.

When designing a cloud solution, an architect chooses to use different cloud service providers for different services to avoid dependency on a single vendor and to leverage the best-of-breed services from each. For example, they use one provider for IaaS, another for database services, and a third for machine learning capabilities. What is this architectural strategy called?

Answer: Multi-cloud

A multi-cloud strategy involves using multiple cloud computing services from more than one cloud provider in a single heterogeneous architecture. This approach allows organizations to prevent vendor lock-in and select the best services from each provider to fit specific needs, as described in the scenario.

A large enterprise wants to allow its employees to use their corporate Active Directory credentials to access several third-party SaaS applications. The goal is to provide a seamless single sign-on (SSO) experience and centralize identity management. Which cloud architecture concept would enable this functionality?

Answer: Federated Identity Management (FIM)

Federated Identity Management (FIM) is a system that allows users from different security domains to access resources across those domains using a single set of credentials. It establishes a trust relationship between the enterprise's identity provider (Active Directory) and the service providers (SaaS applications), enabling SSO.

Which of the following is a primary architectural benefit of designing a cloud application using a microservices architecture compared to a monolithic approach?

Answer: Improved scalability and independent component updates

A microservices architecture structures an application as a collection of loosely coupled services. This design allows individual services to be scaled, developed, and deployed independently. This provides greater flexibility and improved scalability compared to a monolithic architecture where the entire application must be redeployed for any change.

An architect is designing a cloud environment that combines an on-premises data center with public cloud services, allowing for data and application portability between them. The two environments are managed as a single, integrated entity. This design is BEST described as which type of cloud model?

Answer: Hybrid Cloud

A hybrid cloud integrates on-premises infrastructure (a private cloud) with public cloud services. This model allows data and applications to be shared between them, offering businesses greater flexibility and more deployment options. The key characteristic is the integration and orchestration between the private and public environments.