220-1101 Virtualization and Cloud Computing Practice Test 8 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A cloud administrator can log into a web portal at any time, day or night, and immediately provision a new virtual server with the desired resources without having to contact the cloud provider's support team or wait for approval. Which essential characteristic of cloud computing does this scenario BEST describe?

Accepted Answer

On-demand self-service. The scenario describes on-demand self-service because the cloud administrator can provision a virtual server instantly via a web portal without human interaction. This characteristic, defined by NIST SP 800-145, allows users to automatically configure computing resources as needed, eliminating the need for manual approval or support tickets.

Answer

Broad network access

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Resource pooling

Answer

Measured service

Question 2

A company maintains a private cloud for processing sensitive financial data. To handle occasional spikes in demand, they establish a VPN connection to a public cloud provider. When the on-premises infrastructure reaches 80% CPU utilization, an automation script provisions additional virtual servers in the public cloud, processes the workload, and then terminates them. Once the load returns to normal, only the private cloud resources are used. This architecture is an example of which cloud deployment model?

Accepted Answer

Hybrid cloud. This architecture combines a private cloud (on-premises infrastructure for sensitive financial data) with a public cloud (virtual servers provisioned via VPN during demand spikes), orchestrated by automation to burst capacity. The key is the integration of both environments through a VPN connection, which is the defining characteristic of a hybrid cloud model. The private cloud handles steady-state workloads, while the public cloud provides elastic overflow, ensuring sensitive data remains on-premises under normal conditions.

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Community cloud

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Public cloud

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Virtual private cloud (VPC)

Question 3

A company hosts a web application on a public cloud. The application experiences unpredictable traffic spikes. The cloud provider automatically provisions additional virtual servers to handle increased load and decommissions them when traffic subsides. The company is billed only for the compute time actually consumed. Which cloud computing characteristic does this scenario BEST describe?

Accepted Answer

Elasticity. Elasticity is the correct answer because the scenario describes the ability to automatically provision and decommission virtual servers in response to unpredictable traffic spikes, with billing only for actual compute time consumed. This matches the cloud computing characteristic of elasticity, which specifically refers to dynamic scaling of resources up or down on demand, as opposed to scalability which is the capacity to handle growth over time.

Answer

Scalability

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High availability

Answer

Fault tolerance

Question 4

A company wants to move its email system to the cloud to reduce the burden of managing servers, operating systems, and software updates. The IT team wants to configure only user mailboxes, email rules, and spam settings through a web-based admin console. The cloud provider will handle all underlying infrastructure, platform, and application maintenance. Which cloud service model BEST meets these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Software as a Service (SaaS). Software as a Service (SaaS) delivers a fully managed application, including email, where the cloud provider handles all underlying infrastructure, platform, and application maintenance. The IT team only needs to configure user mailboxes, rules, and spam settings via a web-based admin console, which is the hallmark of SaaS. This model eliminates the burden of managing servers, operating systems, and software updates, directly matching the company's requirements.

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Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

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Platform as a Service (PaaS)

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Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

Question 5

A company hosts a virtualized application on a public cloud. The application uses a persistent block storage volume for its database. The IT team needs to move the virtual machine to a different availability zone to improve disaster recovery. Which of the following cloud characteristics allows the team to detach the block storage volume from the current VM and attach it to a new VM in the target availability zone without data loss?

Accepted Answer

Persistent block storage. Persistent block storage, such as Amazon EBS or similar services, is designed to be detached from one virtual machine and reattached to another without data loss because the storage volume exists independently of the VM's lifecycle. This allows the IT team to move the volume to a new VM in a different availability zone while preserving the database contents, as the data persists on the block device itself rather than being tied to the VM's ephemeral storage.

Answer

Elasticity

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High availability

Answer

Resource pooling

Question 6

A cloud administrator needs to increase the amount of RAM allocated to a running virtual machine (VM) from 4GB to 8GB to handle a temporary workload spike. The administrator logs into the cloud management console, selects the VM, and changes the instance type to one with 8GB of RAM. The change takes effect immediately without requiring a reboot. Which cloud computing characteristic does this scenario BEST illustrate?

Accepted Answer

Rapid elasticity. Rapid elasticity is the cloud characteristic that allows resources to be scaled up or down quickly and automatically, often without requiring a reboot. In this scenario, the administrator changes the instance type to one with 8GB of RAM, and the change takes effect immediately, demonstrating the rapid provisioning and de-provisioning of resources to meet workload demands.

Answer

Measured service

Answer

Resource pooling

Answer

On-demand self-service

Question 7

A cloud provider houses multiple customers' virtual machines on the same physical server hardware. Each customer's data and applications are logically isolated, and customers have no knowledge or control over exactly which physical resources they are using. This scenario best describes which essential characteristic of cloud computing?

Accepted Answer

Resource pooling. Resource pooling is the correct characteristic because it describes the cloud provider's ability to serve multiple customers (tenants) from the same physical hardware while maintaining logical isolation. The hypervisor (e.g., VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V) abstracts the underlying physical resources—CPU, RAM, storage—and dynamically allocates them to virtual machines as needed, without the customer knowing or controlling the exact physical hardware. This multi-tenant model is the essence of resource pooling, as defined by NIST SP 800-145.

Answer

On-demand self-service

Answer

Broad network access

Answer

Measured service

Question 8

A company runs a critical application on a virtual machine (VM) in a public cloud. The application requires a static private IP address and persistent block storage that must be retained if the VM is replaced. Due to performance issues, the IT team needs to migrate the application to a new VM with more vCPUs and RAM. Which of the following actions will achieve this with minimal downtime while preserving the static IP and data?

Accepted Answer

C) Detach the persistent storage volume from the old VM, create a new VM with the desired resources, attach the volume, and assign the static IP to the new VM. Option C is correct because it directly addresses the requirements: detaching the persistent block storage (e.g., a cloud volume like an EBS or persistent disk) preserves the data independently of the VM lifecycle, and assigning the static private IP to the new VM maintains network identity. This approach minimizes downtime by avoiding data transfer over the network and allows the new VM to be provisioned with the desired vCPUs and RAM while the old VM remains running until the cutover.

Answer

A) Create a new VM with the desired resources, then manually copy the application data over the network

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B) Migrate the existing VM to a different physical host within the same cloud region

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D) Take a snapshot of the current VM and deploy a new VM instance from that snapshot, then reconfigure the IP

Question 9

An organization runs a critical database server on a VM in a public cloud. The VM uses an attached persistent block storage volume. The database must be migrated to a new VM with more resources in a different availability zone within the same cloud provider, with minimal downtime. The cloud provider does not offer a live migration feature across availability zones. Which of the following strategies BEST achieves minimal downtime?

Accepted Answer

Set up database replication to a new VM in the target zone, then cut over traffic once replication is caught up.. Option D is correct because database replication (e.g., using native MySQL replication or PostgreSQL streaming replication) allows you to keep the new VM in the target zone synchronized with the source with minimal downtime. Once replication is caught up, you perform a brief cutover (seconds to minutes) by stopping writes on the source, applying any final changes, and redirecting traffic to the new VM. This avoids the hours of downtime required by snapshot-based or export/import methods.

Answer

Take a snapshot of the current volume, create a new volume from the snapshot in the target zone, and attach it to the new VM.

Answer

Use the cloud provider's live migration feature to move the VM to the target availability zone.

Answer

Export the VM as an OVA file, copy it to the target zone, and import it as a new VM.

Question 10

A company hosts a critical database on a virtual machine (VM) in a public cloud. The database uses a persistent block storage volume. The IT team needs to move the database to a new VM with more vCPUs and RAM in a different availability zone within the same region. The cloud provider does not support live migration across availability zones. Which of the following procedures will achieve the migration with the LEAST amount of downtime?

Accepted Answer

Detach the block storage volume, create a snapshot, launch a new VM in the target availability zone, create a new volume from the snapshot, and attach it to the new VM.. Option B is correct because detaching the persistent block storage volume, creating a snapshot, launching a new VM in the target availability zone, and creating a new volume from the snapshot minimizes downtime. The database data remains intact on the detached volume, and the snapshot captures a point-in-time state, allowing the new VM to be provisioned and the volume reattached quickly. This approach avoids the overhead of exporting/importing the entire VM and does not rely on unsupported live migration or complex replication setups.

Answer

Export the current VM as a virtual appliance, import it in the target availability zone, and assign the existing static IP to the new VM.

Answer

Use a third-party live migration tool that supports cross-zone VM migration without downtime.

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Set up database replication between the current VM and a new VM in the target zone, then fail over abruptly.

Question 11

A company hosts a critical web application on a virtual machine (VM) in a public cloud. The IT team needs to move the VM to a new physical host in the same datacenter to free up resources on the current host. The application must remain accessible via its existing private IP address, and downtime must be minimized. Which cloud feature BEST meets these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Live migration. Live migration (also known as vMotion in VMware environments) allows a running virtual machine to be moved from one physical host to another with no downtime and without changing its network identity, including the private IP address. This meets the requirement to free up resources on the current host while keeping the application accessible via its existing IP and minimizing disruption.

Answer

Elastic IP

Answer

Virtual private cloud (VPC)

Answer

Reserved instance

Question 12

A company must run a sensitive financial application that requires the application to be hosted on physical servers that are not shared with any other customer. The workload is highly variable and may require large amounts of resources for a few hours at a time. The company wants to minimize costs by paying only for the resources consumed. Which of the following cloud deployment models BEST meets these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Public cloud with dedicated hosts. A public cloud with dedicated hosts meets the requirement for physical server isolation (no resource sharing with other customers) while allowing the company to pay only for the resources consumed. The dedicated host option ensures the sensitive application runs on a physical server dedicated solely to that customer, and the public cloud's pay-as-you-go model supports the highly variable workload without long-term commitments.

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Private cloud

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Hybrid cloud

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Community cloud

Question 13

A company needs to move a virtual machine (VM) from one physical host to another in the same datacenter. The VM must remain accessible via its current private IP address, and downtime must be kept to an absolute minimum. Which cloud feature BEST enables this migration?

Accepted Answer

Live migration. Live migration (also known as vMotion in VMware environments) allows a running virtual machine to be moved from one physical host to another with zero downtime and without changing its network identity. The VM's memory and CPU state are transferred over a dedicated network while the disk storage remains shared, ensuring the private IP address remains accessible throughout the process.

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Load balancing

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Auto-scaling

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Elasticity

Question 14

A company hosts a critical web application on a virtual machine (VM) in a public cloud. The application experiences sudden, unpredictable traffic spikes that require additional CPU and memory resources for a few hours at a time. The cloud provider automatically provisions and releases these resources based on real-time demand, without any manual intervention from the IT team. Which essential characteristic of cloud computing does this scenario BEST describe?

Accepted Answer

Elasticity. The scenario describes elasticity, which is the ability of a cloud system to automatically scale resources (CPU, memory) up or down in real-time based on demand, without manual intervention. This is a core characteristic of cloud computing, distinct from high availability or fault tolerance, as it focuses on dynamic resource provisioning to match workload spikes.

Answer

High availability

Answer

Load balancing

Answer

Fault tolerance

Question 15

A company hosts a web application on a virtual machine in a public cloud. During lunch hours, traffic increases dramatically, and the cloud provider automatically provisions additional compute resources to handle the load. When traffic subsides, the extra resources are automatically released. Which essential characteristic of cloud computing does this scenario BEST describe?

Accepted Answer

Rapid elasticity. The scenario describes automatic scaling up and down of compute resources in response to demand, which is the defining behavior of rapid elasticity. This characteristic allows cloud resources to be provisioned and released quickly, often automatically, to match workload fluctuations. The key here is the dynamic, automated scaling triggered by traffic changes, not just the ability to request resources manually.

Answer

Resource pooling

Answer

Measured service

Answer

On-demand self-service