Cloud Computing and Virtualization Flashcards

What is 'Infrastructure as Code' (IaC) in the context of cloud computing?

Answer: Managing and provisioning cloud infrastructure through machine-readable configuration files

IaC (e.g., Terraform, CloudFormation) lets you define and version infrastructure in code for repeatable, automated deployments.

Which disaster recovery metric defines the maximum acceptable amount of data loss measured in time?

Answer: RPO (Recovery Point Objective)

RPO specifies how far back in time data can be lost; if RPO is 1 hour, backups must occur at least hourly.

In Kubernetes, what is a 'Pod'?

Answer: The smallest deployable unit, containing one or more containers sharing network and storage

A Pod is Kubernetes' atomic unit of deployment, wrapping one or more tightly coupled containers.

What does 'serverless computing' mean?

Answer: A model where developers deploy functions and the cloud provider manages all server provisioning and scaling

Serverless (e.g., AWS Lambda) abstracts server management; developers write functions and pay only for execution time.

Which cloud security concept follows the principle of 'never trust, always verify' regardless of network location?

Answer: Zero Trust Architecture

Zero Trust assumes no implicit trust based on network location and requires continuous verification of every user and device.

What is 'VM sprawl' in a virtualized environment?

Answer: The uncontrolled proliferation of virtual machines that leads to wasted resources and management complexity

VM sprawl occurs when VMs are created faster than they are decommissioned, consuming resources and increasing management overhead.

Which protocol is most commonly used to securely access and manage cloud-based Linux virtual machines remotely?

Answer: SSH (Secure Shell)

SSH provides encrypted command-line access to Linux servers, using key pairs for authentication in cloud environments.