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Question 1Cloud Computing Fundamentals
In a public cloud deployment, what does the term multi-tenancy primarily describe?
- Each customer receives a dedicated physical server that no other customer can access
- The cloud provider bills each tenant only for the storage they actually consume
- A single workload is automatically split across several cloud providers at once
- Multiple customers share the same physical infrastructure while their data and workloads remain logically isolated Correct answer.
Explanation
Multi-tenancy means the provider pools compute, storage, and network resources and partitions them logically so that many customers share the underlying hardware. Isolation is enforced through virtualization, network segmentation, and access controls rather than dedicated physical machines.
Question 2Cloud Computing Fundamentals
A startup wants to deploy code without provisioning or managing servers, paying only when its functions execute. Which cloud service model fits this requirement?
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Platform as a Service (PaaS)
- Function as a Service (FaaS) Correct answer.
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Explanation
FaaS is an event-driven serverless model in which the provider runs individual functions on demand and bills per invocation and execution time. The customer does not provision or patch any servers, which distinguishes it from IaaS and PaaS.
Question 3Cloud Computing Fundamentals
Which characteristic of cloud computing lets a provider rapidly add capacity to meet a sudden traffic spike and release it afterwards?
- Measured service
- Rapid elasticity Correct answer.
- Broad network access
- Resource pooling
Explanation
Rapid elasticity is the ability to scale resources outward and inward automatically or on demand to match current load. Capacity can be provisioned quickly and released when demand falls, which is what handles a traffic spike.
Question 4Cloud Computing Fundamentals
What is the primary difference between vertical scaling and horizontal scaling?
- Vertical scaling adds more instances behind a load balancer, while horizontal scaling adds CPU and memory to one instance
- Vertical scaling adds CPU, memory, or storage to a single instance, while horizontal scaling adds more instances Correct answer.
- Vertical scaling requires a multi-region deployment, while horizontal scaling works only within one availability zone
- Vertical scaling is only available in private clouds, while horizontal scaling is only available in public clouds
Explanation
Vertical scaling (scaling up) increases the size of an existing machine, whereas horizontal scaling (scaling out) adds more machines to distribute the load. Horizontal scaling generally requires the application to be stateless or to externalize session state.
Question 5Cloud Computing Fundamentals
Which statement correctly describes the responsibility boundary in the shared responsibility model for IaaS?
- The customer secures the physical data center, while the provider secures the guest operating system
- Both parties share every layer equally, so responsibility for each control is split 50/50
- The provider secures everything up to the application code, while the customer secures only the physical data center
- The provider secures the physical facilities, hosts, and hypervisor, while the customer secures the guest OS, patches, and data Correct answer.
Explanation
In IaaS the provider owns security of the cloud itself: facilities, hardware, network fabric, and hypervisor. The customer is responsible for security in the cloud, including the guest operating system, middleware, applications, and data.
Question 6Cloud Computing Fundamentals
What is the main purpose of an availability zone within a cloud region?
- To reduce egress charges between services in the same account
- To guarantee that all resources in the region share one physical power supply
- To provide a lower-cost tier of storage for archival data
- To isolate failures so that resources in one zone keep running when another zone fails Correct answer.
Explanation
A region is divided into availability zones that are physically separate, each with independent power, cooling, and networking. Deploying across zones keeps an application available when one zone experiences an outage.
Question 7Cloud Computing Fundamentals
Which storage category is best suited for storing millions of unstructured objects such as images and backups, accessed over HTTP APIs?
- Block storage volumes
- File storage shares
- In-memory data stores
- Object storage Correct answer.
Explanation
Object storage keeps data as discrete objects with metadata and unique keys, accessed through HTTP-based APIs, and scales to very large numbers of objects. It is the standard choice for images, media, and backups.
Question 8Cloud Computing Fundamentals
What does a content delivery network (CDN) primarily improve for a globally distributed web application?
- It encrypts data at rest in the origin database
- It replaces the need for a load balancer in front of the origin
- It automatically rewrites application source code for performance
- It caches content at edge locations close to users to reduce latency Correct answer.
Explanation
A CDN keeps cached copies of content in edge points of presence near end users, so requests are served with lower latency and the origin server bears less load. It does not replace compute, encryption, or application logic.
Question 9Cloud Computing Fundamentals
A team runs a stateless web tier behind a load balancer and wants to add capacity during peak hours. Which approach is most appropriate?
- Resize the single web server to a larger instance type each morning
- Configure horizontal auto scaling so additional instances launch based on demand metrics Correct answer.
- Move the web tier into a single availability zone to reduce latency
- Replace the load balancer with a CDN to distribute requests
Explanation
Because the tier is stateless, horizontal auto scaling can add or remove instances according to metrics such as CPU or request count. This matches capacity to demand without manual resizing or single points of failure.
Question 10Cloud Computing Fundamentals
A company must keep certain regulated records inside its home country while still using public cloud services. Which configuration satisfies this requirement?
- Deploy only in edge CDN locations nearest to the country
- Deploy the workload in a region located within that country and restrict replication to it Correct answer.
- Deploy in the cheapest region available and encrypt the records with a customer-managed key
- Deploy in any region and rely on the provider's global backbone for data residency
Explanation
Data residency is controlled by choosing where data is stored and processed, so the workload and its replicas must stay in a region inside the required jurisdiction. Encryption alone does not change where the data physically resides.
Question 11Cloud Computing Fundamentals
Which pair of practices most directly improves the fault tolerance of a database tier in a single cloud region?
- Using a larger instance type and enabling verbose logging
- Moving the database onto a CDN origin server
- Deploying a multi-zone replica and configuring automated failover Correct answer.
- Taking weekly snapshots and storing them in the same zone
Explanation
A standby or read replica in a different availability zone, combined with automated failover, lets the database continue serving traffic when one zone fails. Snapshots are useful for recovery but do not provide continuous availability.
Question 12Cloud Computing Fundamentals
A solution architect needs to estimate cost for a workload with unpredictable, bursty demand. Which purchasing approach typically minimizes cost while preserving flexibility?
- Spot instances for the primary production database
- On-demand or pay-as-you-go instances Correct answer.
- Reserved instances with a three-year commitment
- Dedicated hosts purchased outright
Explanation
On-demand pricing charges per unit of time with no long-term commitment, which suits workloads whose demand is unpredictable. Reserved capacity only saves money when usage is steady enough to justify the commitment.
Question 13Cloud Computing Fundamentals
What is the purpose of a virtual private cloud (VPC) in a public cloud environment?
- To host the provider's physical routers and switches
- To guarantee that all traffic stays on the physical hardware of one server
- To provide a logically isolated network in which the customer defines subnets, routes, and security controls Correct answer.
- To replace the need for identity and access management policies
Explanation
A VPC gives the customer a logically isolated virtual network with control over IP ranges, subnets, routing, and security groups or network ACLs. It is a software-defined network built on provider infrastructure.
Question 14Cloud Computing Fundamentals
Which control most directly restricts which users can delete objects from a cloud storage bucket?
- A bucket lifecycle policy
- A CDN cache invalidation rule
- A storage class transition rule
- An identity and access management policy granting delete permission only to a specific role Correct answer.
Explanation
IAM policies define which principals may perform which actions on which resources, so granting delete permission only to a named role restricts deletion. Lifecycle rules and storage-class transitions act on object age, not on user authorization.
Question 15Cloud Computing Fundamentals
A team wants to reduce the blast radius of a compromised credential in a cloud account. Which practice best supports this goal?
- Granting each workload a narrowly scoped role with least privilege and short-lived credentials Correct answer.
- Sharing one administrator account among all engineers to simplify auditing
- Embedding long-lived access keys in application source code
- Disabling logging so attackers cannot learn the account structure
Explanation
Least privilege limits what a stolen credential can do, and short-lived credentials reduce the window of exposure. Assigning distinct roles per workload also makes anomalous activity easier to attribute.
Question 16Cloud Computing Fundamentals
Which statement best distinguishes containers from virtual machines in a cloud environment?
- Containers provide stronger hardware isolation than virtual machines by default
- Containers each include a full guest operating system, while virtual machines share the host kernel
- Containers share the host operating system kernel and package application dependencies, while virtual machines run separate guest operating systems Correct answer.
- Containers can only run on bare-metal servers, while virtual machines require a hypervisor
Explanation
Containers package an application with its dependencies and share the host kernel, making them lighter and faster to start. Virtual machines each run a complete guest operating system on a hypervisor, which provides stronger isolation but more overhead.
Question 17Cloud Computing Fundamentals
A company wants a managed message queue to decouple a web front end from a background processing tier. Which design benefit does this decoupling primarily provide?
- It buffers bursts of work so producers and consumers can scale and fail independently Correct answer.
- It eliminates network latency between the two tiers
- It removes the need for any monitoring of the processing tier
- It guarantees exactly-once delivery for every message without configuration
Explanation
A queue absorbs spikes, letting the front end enqueue work without waiting for the processors, and each tier can scale or fail independently. Delivery guarantees depend on the queue's configuration and are not automatic.
Question 18Cloud Computing Fundamentals
Which approach best supports a disaster recovery objective of very low recovery time across regions?
- Running an active-passive deployment with continuous cross-region replication and automated failover Correct answer.
- Relying on provider status pages to notify customers during an outage
- Restoring from backups stored in cold archive storage after an outage
- Keeping all resources in one availability zone to simplify operations
Explanation
Low recovery time requires a standby environment kept current through continuous replication so traffic can be redirected quickly. Restoring from cold archives is slow and suits low-cost, high-RTO strategies.
Question 19Cloud Computing Fundamentals
What is the role of a cloud provider's service level agreement (SLA) for a compute service?
- It replaces the customer's obligation to design for high availability
- It specifies the exact source code of the hypervisor used by the provider
- It guarantees that customer applications will never experience downtime
- It documents the provider's committed availability and the remedies, such as service credits, if the commitment is missed Correct answer.
Explanation
An SLA states measurable commitments such as monthly uptime percentage and describes remedies like service credits when those targets are missed. It does not guarantee application-level availability, which remains a customer design responsibility.
Question 20Cloud Computing Fundamentals
A team wants to move a legacy monolithic application to the cloud with minimal code changes while gaining managed patching of the operating system. Which migration strategy fits best?
- Repurchase a different vendor product that offers the same function
- Retire the application and rebuild it from scratch
- Rehost the application onto managed platform services that handle OS patching Correct answer.
- Refactor the application into microservices before any migration
Explanation
Rehosting moves the application with minimal change, and choosing a managed platform shifts operating system patching to the provider. Refactoring or rebuilding delivers more long-term benefit but requires substantial code change.
Question 21Cloud Computing Fundamentals
An application writes session state to local instance disk and is scaled horizontally behind a load balancer. Users report being logged out intermittently. What is the most likely cause?
- The load balancer is distributing requests to different instances that do not share the session state Correct answer.
- The CDN is caching authenticated responses and serving them to other users
- The availability zones are too far apart geographically
- The database tier has insufficient read replicas
Explanation
When session data lives only on one instance's local disk, a request routed to a different instance cannot find the session, so the user appears logged out. Externalizing session state to a shared store or enabling sticky sessions resolves the issue.
Question 22Cloud Computing Fundamentals
A workload runs on spot or preemptible capacity and must tolerate sudden instance termination. Which design change is most effective?
- Storing all intermediate results on the instance's local disk until the job completes
- Disabling health checks so terminated instances are not replaced
- Making the work idempotent and checkpointing progress to durable shared storage Correct answer.
- Increasing the instance size so termination is less likely
Explanation
Spot capacity can be reclaimed at short notice, so work must be restartable without corrupting results. Idempotent processing plus checkpoints in durable storage lets a replacement instance resume where the previous one stopped.
Question 23Cloud Computing Fundamentals
A company needs to prove to auditors that data in object storage cannot be read by the cloud provider. Which combination best supports that claim?
- Server-side encryption with provider-managed keys and access logging
- Bucket versioning combined with lifecycle transition to an archive tier
- Cross-region replication with default provider encryption
- Client-side encryption with customer-held keys plus strict key access controls Correct answer.
Explanation
If data is encrypted before upload and the keys never leave customer control, the provider stores only ciphertext it cannot decrypt. Provider-managed keys allow the provider to decrypt, and versioning or replication do not change that.
Question 24Cloud Computing Fundamentals
An architect must choose between a single large region deployment and a multi-region active-active design for a global service with a strict recovery point objective near zero. Which consideration is decisive?
- Multi-region active-active requires cross-region data replication with conflict handling, which adds complexity but limits data loss Correct answer.
- A single region always provides a lower recovery point objective than multi-region
- Multi-region designs eliminate the need for any data replication strategy
- Recovery point objective is determined only by the instance type selected
Explanation
A near-zero recovery point objective means almost no committed data may be lost, which requires synchronous or near-synchronous replication across regions. Active-active multi-region designs must also resolve write conflicts, adding architectural complexity.
Question 25Cloud Computing Fundamentals
A team observes that costs rose sharply after enabling auto scaling, even though average CPU utilization stayed low. Which explanation is most plausible?
- Object storage costs increased because instances were terminated
- The load balancer stopped distributing traffic to healthy instances
- Auto scaling launched many short-lived instances because the scaling metric was too sensitive, and billing is per-second with a minimum charge Correct answer.
- Auto scaling permanently reduced the number of instances below the minimum
Explanation
Overly sensitive scaling policies can cause rapid scale-out and scale-in cycles, and per-second billing with minimum durations means many short-lived instances still accrue cost. Tuning cooldowns and using a more stable metric addresses this.
Question 26Cloud Computing Fundamentals
In cloud computing, what does the term elasticity describe about a provisioned resource pool?
- The ability to keep a fixed capacity reserved for the lifetime of the contract
- The ability to match capacity to current demand by adding or removing resources automatically Correct answer.
- The ability to migrate workloads between providers without reconfiguration
- The ability to bill customers only after the end of each fiscal quarter
Explanation
Elasticity is the property that lets a cloud environment scale resources out when demand rises and scale them back in when demand falls, ideally without manual intervention. It is closely tied to measured usage and automation such as auto scaling policies, which distinguishes it from static provisioning.
Question 27Cloud Computing Fundamentals
A startup is choosing a cloud service model for an application team that wants to deploy containerized code but does not want to manage servers, operating system patches, or the container runtime. Which model fits best?
- Software as a service, because the provider delivers a finished application to end users
- On-premises virtualization, because it keeps the runtime inside the team's own data center
- Platform as a service, because the provider manages the runtime and the team supplies application code Correct answer.
- Infrastructure as a service, because the team retains full control of the operating system
Explanation
Platform as a service sits between infrastructure and software: the provider operates the underlying servers, operating system, and runtime, while the customer focuses on application code and configuration. That division of responsibility removes patching and runtime administration from the team.
Question 28Cloud Computing Fundamentals
A team deploys an application across three availability zones in one region and uses a load balancer that distributes traffic to all healthy instances. One zone loses power. What is the expected outcome if the design is implemented correctly?
- The application continues serving traffic from the remaining zones while health checks remove the failed instances Correct answer.
- All requests fail until the failed zone returns, because the load balancer is hosted in that zone
- The remaining zones must be rebuilt from backups before traffic can resume
- The provider automatically relocates the failed zone's physical servers to another region
Explanation
Spreading instances across independent availability zones means a failure in one zone affects only that zone's capacity. Health checks detect unreachable instances and stop routing to them, so the surviving zones absorb the load, provided capacity was sized for zone loss.
Question 29Cloud Computing Fundamentals
A finance team needs to understand why its monthly cloud bill varies. Which practice gives the clearest attribution of cost to the teams and services that generate it?
- Consolidating all accounts into one billing account with no labels on resources
- Reviewing the total invoice once per quarter during budget planning
- Purchasing the largest available committed-use discount regardless of workload size
- Applying consistent tags to resources and enabling cost allocation reports grouped by those tags Correct answer.
Explanation
Tagging resources with dimensions such as team, environment, and application lets cost management tooling group spend by those dimensions. Without labels, charges appear as an undifferentiated total that cannot be traced to the owners who can act on them.
Question 30Cloud Computing Fundamentals
An architect is comparing block storage attached to a compute instance with object storage for a workload that writes many small random updates to a live database file. Which reasoning is sound?
- Object storage is preferable because objects are immutable and therefore cheaper to update frequently
- Object storage is preferable because it guarantees lower latency for small random writes than block storage
- Either is equivalent because both expose a POSIX file system to the operating system
- Block storage is preferable because it presents a low-latency device with in-place read and modify semantics Correct answer.
Explanation
Block storage exposes volumes that behave like local disks, so a database can read and overwrite individual blocks with low latency. Object storage works at the granularity of whole objects, where an update replaces the entire object, which is unsuitable for a live database file.
Question 31Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
In Terraform, which command creates an execution plan and shows what actions would be taken without applying any changes?
- terraform plan Correct answer.
- terraform init
- terraform refresh
- terraform apply
Explanation
terraform plan compares the desired configuration against the recorded state and any refreshed remote objects, then prints the proposed create, update, or destroy actions without executing them. It is the standard way to preview changes before applying.
Question 32Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
Which Terraform block is used to declare a provider such as AWS and pin its source and version?
- terraform Correct answer.
- variable
- provider
- resource
Explanation
Provider requirements are declared inside the terraform block using a required_providers block, where each provider gets a source address and a version constraint. The provider block itself configures a provider instance but does not pin its source or version.
Question 33Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
A configuration references a value with var.instance_type. What must exist for this reference to be valid?
- A locals block named instance_type
- An output block named instance_type
- A variable block named instance_type Correct answer.
- A resource named instance_type
Explanation
The var. prefix resolves to input variables, so a variable block with the matching name must be declared. Outputs use the output prefix and locals use local, so neither satisfies a var. reference.
Question 34Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
What is the primary purpose of the Terraform state file?
- To store the provider plugin binaries
- To record the CLI command history
- To map configuration resources to real remote objects Correct answer.
- To cache the module registry index
Explanation
State records the binding between resources declared in configuration and the actual remote objects, including their attributes. Terraform uses this mapping to compute diffs and decide which real objects to create, update, or delete.
Question 35Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
Which command downloads the providers and modules required by a configuration into the working directory?
- terraform validate
- terraform fmt
- terraform get
- terraform init Correct answer.
Explanation
terraform init prepares a working directory by installing required providers, downloading referenced modules, and configuring the backend. It is the first command run in any new or updated configuration directory.
Question 36Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
In HCL, which expression references an attribute named id of a resource declared as resource "aws_instance" "web"?
- resource.aws_instance.web.id
- aws_instance.web.id Correct answer.
- aws_instance.id.web
- web.aws_instance.id
Explanation
Resource attributes are referenced as type.name.attribute, so aws_instance.web.id resolves to the id attribute of that instance. The other orderings do not match HCL reference syntax.
Question 37Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
Which command reformats Terraform configuration files to the canonical style?
- terraform lint
- terraform style
- terraform validate
- terraform fmt Correct answer.
Explanation
terraform fmt rewrites .tf files into the canonical formatting used by HashiCorp, fixing indentation and alignment. It changes file contents, whereas validate only reports errors.
Question 38Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
What does the depends_on meta-argument do in a resource block?
- It imports an existing object into state
- It forces an explicit ordering dependency between resources Correct answer.
- It prevents a resource from being destroyed
- It marks a resource as count-based
Explanation
depends_on declares that one resource must be processed after another even when no attribute reference creates an implicit dependency. It affects ordering during plan and apply, not lifecycle protection or import.
Question 39Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
A configuration uses count = 3 on a resource. How are the resulting instances addressed?
- resource_type.name[0] through resource_type.name[2] Correct answer.
- resource_type.name.0 through resource_type.name.2
- resource_type.name{0} through resource_type.name{2}
- resource_type.name#0 through resource_type.name#2
Explanation
When count is set, each instance is indexed by position using square brackets starting at zero. The count.index value inside the block corresponds to that index.
Question 40Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
Why is for_each often preferred over count for resources that may be removed from the middle of a collection?
- for_each creates resources faster than count
- for_each disables the plan step
- for_each bypasses state entirely
- for_each keys instances by map key, so removals do not shift other instances Correct answer.
Explanation
With count, removing an item in the middle reindexes later instances, causing Terraform to destroy and recreate unrelated objects. for_each keys each instance by a stable map or set value, so only the removed key is affected.
Question 41Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
Which lifecycle setting prevents Terraform from destroying a specific resource, causing an error instead?
- ignore_changes = all
- prevent_destroy = true Correct answer.
- create_before_destroy = true
- replace_triggered_by = [self]
Explanation
Setting prevent_destroy to true makes any plan that would destroy the resource fail with an error, protecting critical objects. It must be removed deliberately before the resource can be deleted.
Question 42Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
A team wants Terraform to ignore out-of-band changes to a specific tag managed by another system. Which lifecycle argument addresses this?
- prevent_destroy = true
- create_before_destroy = true
- replace_triggered_by = [tags]
- ignore_changes = [tags] Correct answer.
Explanation
ignore_changes lists attributes Terraform should not compare against state, so external modifications to those attributes do not produce a diff. Listing tags keeps the resource from being updated when another tool edits tags.
Question 43Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
What is the effect of marking a variable with sensitive = true?
- It is excluded from all provider calls
- It is encrypted inside the state file
- Its value is redacted in plan and apply output Correct answer.
- It becomes read-only after the first apply
Explanation
The sensitive flag causes Terraform to redact the value in CLI output and error messages so it is not displayed. It does not encrypt state or prevent the value from being sent to providers.
Question 44Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
Which file extension is used for Terraform variable definition files that are automatically loaded?
- .tfstate
- .tfplan
- .tfbackend
- .tfvars Correct answer.
Explanation
Terraform automatically loads terraform.tfvars and files matching *.auto.tfvars to supply variable values. Other extensions such as .tfstate hold state and .tfplan holds a saved plan.
Question 45Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
A module block sets source = "./modules/network". What kind of module is this?
- A provider plugin source
- A remote Git module
- A local module referenced by a filesystem path Correct answer.
- A registry module pinned by version
Explanation
A source beginning with ./ or ../ refers to a directory on the local filesystem, making it a local module. Registry and Git sources use addresses such as a namespace/name/provider or a git URL.
Question 46Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
What does an output block with value referencing a module output accomplish for the root module?
- It exposes a value from a child module to the caller or CLI Correct answer.
- It writes the value into the state backend configuration
- It creates a new resource automatically
- It imports the module into the registry
Explanation
Outputs surface values so they can be displayed after apply or consumed by a parent module or automation. Referencing module.<name>.<output> in a root output exposes a child module's result.
Question 47Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
Which command produces a saved plan file that can later be applied exactly as reviewed?
- terraform apply -auto-approve
- terraform state list
- terraform plan -out=tfplan Correct answer.
- terraform show -json
Explanation
The -out flag writes the generated plan to a file, which can be passed to terraform apply to execute precisely the reviewed changes. This supports review gates in CI pipelines.
Question 48Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
What does terraform state mv accomplish?
- It moves the state file to a new backend
- It renames or relocates a resource address within state Correct answer.
- It migrates a resource to another provider
- It copies a resource into a different workspace
Explanation
state mv updates the address recorded in state so a resource matches a renamed or restructured configuration without being destroyed and recreated. It edits state addresses, not backend locations.
Question 49Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
A resource was created manually outside Terraform and must be brought under management without recreation. Which approach fits?
- Add an import block or run terraform import for the resource address Correct answer.
- Delete the object and let Terraform recreate it
- Run terraform apply -refresh-only
- Add the object to a .tfvars file
Explanation
Import associates an existing remote object with a resource address in state so Terraform can manage it going forward. After import, the configuration must describe the object so the next plan shows no unwanted changes.
Question 50Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
What is the role of a backend configuration in Terraform?
- It selects the cloud region for resources
- It declares the root module's variables
- It defines where and how state is stored and locked Correct answer.
- It pins provider plugin versions
Explanation
The backend block in the terraform block determines state storage, such as a remote object store, along with locking behavior. It does not configure providers or resource attributes.