Cloud Computing & Services Flashcards

What is the purpose of Informatica Cloud's 'Cloud Mass Ingestion' service?

Answer: To bulk-ingest large volumes of data from databases, files, or streaming sources into cloud storage or data warehouses

Cloud Mass Ingestion automates the high-volume, high-speed movement of data from on-premises or cloud sources into cloud targets such as data lakes and data warehouses.

Which cloud storage class is most cost-effective for data that is accessed less than once per year?

Answer: Archive/Glacier storage

Archive-tier storage (e.g., AWS Glacier, Azure Archive) has the lowest storage cost but highest retrieval latency and cost, making it ideal for rarely accessed data.

In IICS, what does the 'pushdown optimization' feature do?

Answer: Pushes mapping logic execution down to the source or target database engine

Pushdown optimization translates mapping logic into native SQL and executes it on the source or target database, reducing data movement and improving performance.

Which NIST cloud characteristic allows users to provision computing resources unilaterally without requiring human interaction with the service provider?

Answer: On-demand self-service

On-demand self-service means consumers can automatically provision capabilities such as server time and storage as needed without service-provider interaction.

What is the role of an API gateway in a cloud microservices architecture?

Answer: Acts as a single entry point that routes, authenticates, and rate-limits client requests to backend services

An API gateway sits in front of microservices to handle cross-cutting concerns like authentication, SSL termination, rate limiting, and request routing.

Which IICS task type is used to execute a sequence of mapping tasks, decision steps, and notifications in a defined order?

Answer: Linear taskflow

A linear taskflow (or taskflow) in IICS orchestrates multiple tasks in sequence, supporting conditional branching, notifications, and error handling between steps.

What distinguishes 'cloud-native' applications from traditional applications 'lifted and shifted' to the cloud?

Answer: Cloud-native apps are architected to exploit cloud features like auto-scaling and managed services from the ground up

Cloud-native applications are designed from the start to leverage cloud capabilities—microservices, containers, managed services, and auto-scaling—rather than simply running existing apps on cloud VMs.