Cloud Concepts Quiz 1

An organization uses Office 365 for email, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel. Which cloud service model does this represent?

1. 
   

• 1. Platform as a Service (PaaS)

  
  

• 1. Software as a Service (SaaS)

  
  

• 1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

  
  

• 1. Anything as a Service (XaaS)

  
  

Answer explanation

The correct answer is Software as a Service (SaaS). Office 365, which includes email, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel, is a cloud-based service provided by Microsoft. It falls under the SaaS model as it provides software over the internet on a subscription basis, eliminating the need for users to install and run applications on their own devices or servers.

Which of the following specifies how quickly recovery needs to occur after a disaster to maintain business continuity?

1. 
   

• 1. Recovery Time Objective (RTO)

  
  

• 1. Recovery Point Objective (RPO)

  
  

• 1. Disaster recovery

• 1. High availability

  
  

Answer explanation

Recovery Time Objective (RTO) specifies how quickly recovery needs to occur after a disaster to maintain business continuity. This explains how long a business can continue to function in the event of a disaster.

Recovery Point Objective (RPO) specifies a quantity of time between the most recent backup of data and the disaster. It is an understanding of how much data the organization can acceptably lose.

Disaster Recovery refers to the ability to restore services in the event of a failure. The disaster may be as small as a single server failure or as large as a major natural catastrophe.

High availability refers to a measure of downtime for a given service.

Which cloud service model typically supports multiple development environments and programming languages?

1. 
   

• 1. Platform as a Service (PaaS)

• 1. Software as a Service (SaaS)

  
  

• 1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

  
  

• 1. Anything as a Service (XaaS)

  
  

Answer explanation

The Platform as a Service (PaaS) model consists of the service structure being provided by the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) while the consumer is responsible for all content. PaaS solutions typically support multiple development environments and programming languages and are often aimed at developers and database administrators (DBAs).

The Software as a Service (SaaS) model provides the consumer with the direct use of software.

The Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model is used when a CSP provides only hardware infrastructure to the consumer.

The Anything as a Service (XaaS) model is a catch-all phrase for technology solutions that are moved to the cloud. One example is Database as a Service (DBaaS).

Question

An organization currently employs a Cloud Service Provider (CSP) to provide a 32 virtual Central Processing Unit (vCPU) virtual machine for web services. Organizational changes and growth result in the organization requesting to increase the size of the vCPU to 64. In terms of cloud design aspects, which of the following does the organization require?

• Horizontal Scaling

• Scale-up

• High Availability

• Redundancy

Answer explanation

The organization is requesting to scale-up. To scale-up means to add more resources to the existing deployment. The organization is requesting to increase the size of the virtual Central Processing Unit of the virtual machine. This will add more resources to the existing machine.

To scale-out means to add more resources in a distributed environment. If the organization requested additional web servers the request would be to scale-out since that would require additional hardware, versus upgrading current resources.

High availability refers to a measure of downtime for a given service.

Redundancy refers to having more than one resource available in the event of the failure of one resource.

Question

A Cloud Service Provider (CSP) has the capability to store 100 terabytes of data. The CSP adjusts the storage space allocated to each customer on an on-demand basis. Which characteristic of cloud computing does this simulate?

• Rapid Elasticity

• Measured Service

• On-demand self-service

• Resource Pooling

Answer explanation

Resource pooling is accomplished by the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) pooling resources in a multi-tenant model and adjusting resource allocation on an on-demand basis. The specific distribution of hardware resources are abstracted from the consumer. The consumer does not know where the resources might be physically located and each time the resources are accessed the locations may have changed.

Rapid elasticity is described as resources being provisioned and released to adjust for changes in demand and consumption. The process can be automatic or manual.

A measured service is when the metering of resources is monitored, controlled, and billable.

On-demand self-service allows consumers to provision resources as needed and automatically.

Which cloud deployment model allocates resources to external, unaffiliated customers?

• Private

• Community

• Public

• Hybrid

Answer explanation

A Public Cloud deployment model allocates resources to external, unaffiliated customers. The customers share the public cloud's resources without knowing precisely where their data is in relation to that of any other organization.

A Private Cloud deployment model services only to a single organization. Typically, this is an internal deployment with the company retaining complete control of the cloud.

A Community Cloud deployment model services several organizations that have similar service needs but are otherwise autonomous.

A Hybrid Cloud deployment model is a combination of two or more of the private, public, or community deployments.

Organization A uses a Cloud Service Provider (CSP) for virtual machine hardware profiles. Organization B uses the same CSP and has hardware profiles that are no longer in use. Organization A is offered the additional profiles at a discounted rate. What is the CSP offering organization A?

• Spot Instance

• Reserved Instance

• Chargeback

• Tagging

Answer explanation

Spot instances are hardware profiles that may be currently unused by the Cloud Service Provider's (CSP's) other customers and are then made available to another organization at a significant discount.

Reserved instances are hardware profiles that an organization commits to, usually for a period of one to three years. CSPs offer significant discounts for such commitments.

Chargebacks bill business units for the IT services that they consume.

Tagging provides the ability to label particular cloud resources in a flexible and customized manner. An organization can design a tagging strategy that can associate consumption with departments, projects, or owner.

An organization is considering moving some portions of IT support to a Cloud Service Provider (CSP). What specific areas should be taken into consideration when determining appropriate IT staff training? (Select all that apply)

• Personnel responsible for IT security will have a different role for data that is in the cloud.

• The development for cloud-ready applications will have the same concerns as the on-premises development.

• The Cloud Service Provider (CSP) will handle the technical issues when migrating services, applications and data to the cloud.

• 1. D.The Development Operations (DevOps) processes will be more flexible in cloud deployments.

Answer explanation

Security in the cloud differs from traditional on-premises data security. Personnel that are assigned to the role of Information Assurance (IA) will likely require training on the new processes and requirements.

Development Operations (DevOps) processes will become more flexible in cloud deployments. Personnel may require training to adapt to the changes.

Development for cloud-ready applications includes different concerns than on-premises development. These concerns will need to be addressed and training provided.

There are many technical issues to address when migrating services, applications, and data to the cloud. It is likely that most IT team members will not have experience with migrations and these team members will handle the migration.

An organization uses the cloud to access an application without supporting the underlying application installation, updates, operating system, and hardware issues. Which of the following cloud service models does the organization employ?

• PaaS

• IaaS

• XaaS

• SaaS

Answer explanation

Software as a Service (SaaS) results in a simplified, pay-as-you-go licensing model and offloads the software support to the Cloud Service Provider (CSP).

Platform as a Service (PaaS) provides an organization with a flexible, standardized, and usable development environment with the need for IT staff or developers to build and maintain the platform support.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides an agile and scalable hardware platform from which server administrators can create virtual servers quickly and easily.

Anything as a Service (XaaS) is a catch-all phrase for technology solutions that are moved to the cloud.

What do many Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) offer to help an organization ensure it remains compliant without overspending for licenses?

• Perpetual License

• Subscription Licensing

• License Manager

• Bring Your Own L:icense

Answer explanation

Many Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) have license management software to help organizations ensure it remains compliant without overspending for licenses.

Perpetual licenses permit software to be used indefinitely. It is a permanent purchase of the right to use the software. There is no guarantee that the business will get value from the software.

Subscription licensing is the standard for cloud services, and most are pay per month or pay per year. This model allows a business to cancel the subscription which provides flexibility.

Bring Your Own License (BYOL) plans are used for software, services, or operating systems for which an organization already owns licenses for.