EXIN Cloud Computing Foundation key terms

A model for delivering computing resources such as servers, storage, networks, and applications over a network, provisioned on demand with minimal provider interaction and paid for according to use.

The five defining traits of cloud computing: on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service. A service lacking these is not truly cloud under the standard definition.

The ability of a consumer to obtain computing capabilities such as server time or storage automatically, without requiring human interaction with the service provider.

A provider's practice of serving multiple consumers from a shared pool of physical and virtual resources, dynamically assigning and reassigning them so customers generally have no knowledge of exact resource location.

The capability to scale resources outward and inward quickly, often automatically, so capacity can closely follow demand and appears unlimited to the consumer.

Automatic control and reporting of resource usage, typically through metering, so that consumers are billed or charged back according to what they actually consume.

An architecture in which a single instance of software or infrastructure serves several customers, whose data and configuration are logically separated even though physical resources are shared.

Infrastructure as a Service: the consumer provisions and controls fundamental computing resources such as virtual machines, storage, and networks, while the provider manages the underlying physical infrastructure.

Platform as a Service: the provider supplies a managed runtime, middleware, and development tools so the consumer can deploy applications without managing servers, operating systems, or the platform itself.

Software as a Service: a complete application delivered over a network and used through a client interface, with the provider managing the application, platform, and infrastructure.

The way cloud infrastructure is made available to users, typically classified as public, private, community, or hybrid, based on ownership, access, and how resources are shared.

Cloud infrastructure provisioned for open use by the general public and owned by a provider, with resources shared across many unrelated customers.

Cloud infrastructure provisioned for exclusive use by a single organization, whether operated on its premises or by a third party, offering greater control over data and configuration.

A composition of two or more distinct cloud deployments that remain unique entities but are bound by technology enabling data and application portability between them.

Technology that abstracts physical hardware so multiple isolated virtual environments, such as virtual machines, can run on one physical host, improving utilization and flexibility.

Software that creates and runs virtual machines by allocating physical resources among them and keeping their execution isolated from one another.

A software-defined computer with its own operating system that runs on a hypervisor and consumes allocated CPU, memory, storage, and network resources from a host.

A lightweight, isolated unit that packages an application with its dependencies and shares the host operating system kernel, starting faster and using fewer resources than a virtual machine.

Automated coordination of many resources or services, such as scheduling containers, scaling them, and recovering failed instances according to declared desired state.

A control mechanism that automatically adds or removes resources based on demand signals such as CPU load or queue length, helping match capacity to workload while controlling cost.

A contract between provider and customer that states measurable service levels, such as availability or response time, and the remedies owed if those levels are missed.

A specific, measurable target for a service attribute, such as 99.9 percent monthly availability, that supports an SLA and guides operational decisions.

The proportion of time a service is usable, commonly expressed as a percentage per period and often converted into allowed downtime, such as about 43 minutes per month for 99.9 percent.

The ability of a system to withstand faults and continue delivering service, often through redundancy, replication, and automated recovery from component failures.

The set of plans and technical measures for restoring services and data after a major disruption, characterized by recovery time and recovery point targets.

Recovery Time Objective: the maximum acceptable duration of service interruption after a disruption, defining how quickly a service must be restored.

Recovery Point Objective: the maximum acceptable amount of data loss measured in time, indicating how recent a recovery point must be.

A copy of data kept separately so it can be restored after loss, corruption, or attack, with retention and restore testing determining its real value.

A pricing approach in which the customer is charged only for resources consumed over a period, such as hours of compute or gigabytes stored, rather than a fixed upfront fee.

The practice of allocating actual cloud costs back to the departments or teams that consumed them, encouraging accountability and informed consumption.

The ongoing practice of reducing cloud spend without harming required service levels, through right-sizing, removing idle resources, and choosing suitable pricing options.

Total Cost of Ownership: the full lifetime cost of an option, including acquisition, operations, staffing, migration, and exit costs, used to compare cloud with on-premises alternatives fairly.

The process of moving applications, data, and workloads from on-premises environments or one cloud to another, often following strategies such as rehosting, replatforming, or rebuilding.

Dependence on a provider's proprietary interfaces or services that makes moving elsewhere costly or difficult, reducing negotiating power and flexibility.

The ease with which applications and data can be moved between providers or environments, supported by open formats, standards, and avoiding proprietary dependencies.

A division of security duties between provider and customer, where the provider secures the underlying infrastructure and the customer secures data, identities, and configuration in its control.

The policies and systems that authenticate users and services and authorize what each may do, forming the primary control boundary in cloud environments.

The principle of granting each identity only the permissions needed for its task and no more, limiting the damage possible if credentials are misused.

Transforming data using a key so that only authorized parties can read it, applied in transit over networks and at rest on storage to protect confidentiality.

The controlled lifecycle of cryptographic keys, including generation, storage, rotation, and destruction, which determines whether encryption actually protects data.

Separation between tenants, workloads, or networks so that activity in one cannot observe or affect another, a core requirement when infrastructure is shared.

Dividing a network into zones with controlled traffic between them, limiting how far an attacker can move after compromising one component.

Conformance with laws, regulations, standards, and contractual obligations that apply to data and services, demonstrated through audits, evidence, and controls.

Requirements or choices about the geographic location where data is stored and processed, driven by law, contract, or risk appetite.

A systematic examination of controls, logs, and evidence to verify that security and compliance requirements are actually met, often performed by an independent party.

Recording events and actions across systems so they can be reviewed, correlated, and used as evidence for troubleshooting, security investigation, and audit.

Continuous observation of metrics, logs, and health signals to detect degradation or incidents early and to inform capacity and performance decisions.

A user-facing interface through which consumers request, configure, and manage cloud resources without manual intervention by the provider's staff.

A curated list of approved services and offerings, with their options and terms, from which users can request resources in a governed way.

The policies, roles, and decision processes that direct how cloud is used, ensuring it aligns with business objectives, risk limits, and regulatory duties.