SP Cloud and Virtualization Services 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is 'Infrastructure as a Service' (IaaS) in a cloud service provider context?
- Providing software applications over the internet
- Providing virtualized computing, storage, and networking resources on demand (Correct answer)
- Providing a development platform for applications
- Providing cybersecurity as an outsourced service
Correct answer: Providing virtualized computing, storage, and networking resources on demand
IaaS delivers fundamental computing infrastructure — virtual machines, storage, and networking — on a pay-per-use basis, allowing customers to build their own IT environments.
Question 2: In cloud services, what is the 'shared responsibility model'?
- Both provider and customer share equal billing for cloud resources
- A framework defining which security controls are the provider's responsibility versus the customer's (Correct answer)
- A model where customers share access to each other's cloud environments
- A co-managed NOC arrangement
Correct answer: A framework defining which security controls are the provider's responsibility versus the customer's
The shared responsibility model delineates security duties: the provider secures the cloud infrastructure itself, while the customer is responsible for securing data, access, and applications within the cloud.
Question 3: What is 'auto-scaling' in a cloud service provider environment?
- Automatically upgrading to larger server hardware
- Dynamically adding or removing compute resources in response to demand changes (Correct answer)
- Automatically renewing cloud service contracts
- Scaling security rules based on threat level
Correct answer: Dynamically adding or removing compute resources in response to demand changes
Auto-scaling automatically increases or decreases the number of compute instances based on real-time demand metrics, ensuring performance without over-provisioning.
Question 4: What does 'PaaS' (Platform as a Service) provide to application developers?
- Physical servers for co-location
- A managed platform with runtimes, databases, and middleware so developers focus only on writing code (Correct answer)
- Preconfigured desktop environments
- Hardware-level access to data center resources
Correct answer: A managed platform with runtimes, databases, and middleware so developers focus only on writing code
PaaS provides a complete managed environment including operating systems, runtime, middleware, and databases, freeing developers from infrastructure management.
Question 5: What is a 'hypervisor' in a virtualization context?
- A high-performance network switch
- Software that creates and manages virtual machines by abstracting physical hardware resources (Correct answer)
- A cloud monitoring agent installed on VMs
- A specialized load balancer for cloud workloads
Correct answer: Software that creates and manages virtual machines by abstracting physical hardware resources
A hypervisor is software that sits between physical hardware and virtual machines, abstracting hardware resources and enabling multiple VMs to run on a single physical host.
Question 6: What is 'cloud bursting' in a hybrid cloud architecture?
- Exceeding cloud storage quotas and triggering alerts
- Dynamically extending on-premises capacity into public cloud when local resources are exhausted (Correct answer)
- A cloud security breach requiring immediate containment
- Load balancing within a single cloud region
Correct answer: Dynamically extending on-premises capacity into public cloud when local resources are exhausted
Cloud bursting allows workloads running on private infrastructure to automatically overflow into public cloud capacity during peak demand, then scale back when demand drops.
SP Cloud and Virtualization Services 1
What is 'Infrastructure as a Service' (IaaS) in a cloud service provider context?