Cloud Digital Leader Fundamental cloud concepts — Timed 10 Questions

Question 1

A company wants to use computing resources over the internet without managing physical servers. The cloud provider manages the underlying hardware and virtualization, while the company manages the operating system, middleware, and applications. Which cloud service model does this describe?

Accepted Answer

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). This scenario describes Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) because the cloud provider manages the physical hardware and virtualization layer, while the customer retains control over the operating system, middleware, and applications. In IaaS, the provider offers virtualized computing resources (e.g., virtual machines, storage, networks) via APIs or dashboards, and the customer is responsible for OS patches, application configuration, and middleware management. This matches the given split of responsibilities exactly.

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Software as a Service (SaaS)

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Platform as a Service (PaaS)

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Function as a Service (FaaS)

Question 2

A team uses Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Sheets) for their daily work. They do not manage any servers or software installation — Google maintains everything. Which cloud service model does Google Workspace represent?

Accepted Answer

Software as a Service (SaaS). Google Workspace is a classic example of Software as a Service (SaaS) because users access applications like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets via a web browser without managing the underlying infrastructure, operating systems, or software installations. Google handles all maintenance, security patching, and uptime, which aligns with the SaaS model where the provider delivers fully functional software over the internet. Unlike IaaS or PaaS, the end-user does not control the runtime environment or deploy custom code on the platform.

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Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

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Platform as a Service (PaaS)

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Database as a Service (DBaaS)

Question 3

A hospital runs a patient records system that must remain on-premises due to strict regulatory data residency requirements. However, they also want to use cloud-based AI for diagnostic imaging analysis. Which cloud deployment model best describes their architecture?

Accepted Answer

Hybrid cloud — combining on-premises infrastructure with public cloud services.. The hospital must keep patient records on-premises to comply with data residency regulations, but wants to leverage cloud-based AI for diagnostic imaging. A hybrid cloud model combines on-premises infrastructure (for sensitive data) with public cloud services (for AI processing), allowing data to remain resident while compute-intensive tasks are offloaded. This matches the scenario exactly, as hybrid cloud enables workload distribution across private and public environments.

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Public cloud — all workloads run in a provider's infrastructure.

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Private cloud — all workloads run in the hospital's own infrastructure.

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Multi-cloud — using multiple public cloud providers simultaneously.

Question 4

According to the NIST definition of cloud computing, which characteristic allows users to unilaterally provision computing resources such as server time and network storage without requiring human interaction with the service provider?

Accepted Answer

On-demand self-service. NIST's five essential characteristics of cloud computing are: on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service. 'On-demand self-service' specifically describes the ability for users to provision capabilities automatically without provider interaction — using a web console or API to spin up VMs, databases, or storage instantly, without calling a salesperson or waiting for manual provisioning.

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Broad network access

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Resource pooling

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Measured service

Question 5

An organization runs its entire infrastructure on a single public cloud provider (Google Cloud). All applications, data, and services live in Google Cloud's infrastructure. Which deployment model describes this?

Accepted Answer

Public cloud. Option B is correct because the organization is using a single public cloud provider, Google Cloud, which delivers computing resources over the public internet on a pay-as-you-go basis. In a public cloud deployment, the infrastructure is owned and operated by the cloud provider and shared across multiple tenants, which matches the scenario where all applications, data, and services reside in Google Cloud's infrastructure.

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Private cloud

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Hybrid cloud

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Community cloud

Question 6

What is virtualization in the context of cloud computing, and why is it fundamental to how cloud providers deliver services?

Accepted Answer

Virtualization abstracts physical hardware into multiple isolated virtual machines, enabling many customers to share physical infrastructure efficiently and securely.. Virtualization is fundamental to cloud computing because it decouples the operating system and applications from the underlying physical hardware through a hypervisor (e.g., VMware ESXi, KVM, Hyper-V). This abstraction allows a single physical server to host multiple isolated virtual machines (VMs), each with its own guest OS, enabling cloud providers to achieve high resource utilization, multi-tenancy, and rapid provisioning. Without virtualization, providers would be limited to one OS per physical server, drastically reducing efficiency and scalability.

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Virtualization is the process of converting physical servers into digital images for backup purposes.

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Virtualization is a networking technique that routes internet traffic more efficiently.

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Virtualization is a backup strategy where data is stored in multiple geographic locations.

Question 7

A company uses two different public cloud providers (AWS for their North American operations and Google Cloud for their European operations) to meet data residency requirements and avoid vendor lock-in. Which deployment model does this represent?

Accepted Answer

Multi-cloud. This scenario describes using two distinct public cloud providers (AWS and Google Cloud) to meet data residency and avoid vendor lock-in, which is the definition of a multi-cloud deployment model. Multi-cloud involves using multiple public cloud services from different vendors, as opposed to combining public and private infrastructure (hybrid cloud) or simply deploying across multiple regions within a single provider.

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Hybrid cloud

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Multi-region

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Distributed cloud

Question 8

An organization wants to modernize its on-premises applications. The IT team identifies three types of applications: legacy apps that can only move with significant refactoring, custom-built apps that can be containerized and moved as-is, and applications that can be replaced entirely by SaaS solutions. This categorization approach is called what?

Accepted Answer

Application portfolio assessment using migration strategies (the 6 Rs framework). The scenario describes categorizing applications based on their migration path: legacy apps requiring refactoring, custom apps suitable for containerization, and apps replaceable by SaaS. This directly aligns with the '6 Rs' framework (Rehost, Replatform, Refactor, Repurchase, Retire, Retain) used in application portfolio assessment for cloud migration. Option B is correct because the 6 Rs provide a structured way to evaluate and classify each application's optimal migration strategy.

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Disaster recovery planning

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Capacity planning for on-premises servers

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Software development lifecycle (SDLC) planning

Question 9

Which term describes the model where the cloud provider is responsible for the security of the cloud infrastructure, while the customer is responsible for security within their own cloud environment (data, applications, access management)?

Accepted Answer

Shared responsibility model. The shared responsibility model defines the division of security responsibilities between the cloud provider and the customer. Google secures the physical infrastructure, hardware, hypervisor, and core services. The customer secures what they put in the cloud: data classification, access control, application security, network configuration, and compliance. The boundary between provider and customer responsibility varies by service model (IaaS vs. PaaS vs. SaaS).

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Zero trust security model

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Defense in depth strategy

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Identity federation model

Question 10

A company is planning a cloud migration and wants to understand the difference between 'lift and shift' and 'cloud-native' approaches. Which statement correctly distinguishes these two migration strategies?

Accepted Answer

Lift and shift moves applications to the cloud with minimal changes; cloud-native re-architects applications to leverage cloud-specific features and managed services.. Option B is correct because 'lift and shift' (rehosting) involves moving applications to the cloud with minimal or no changes, often using Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) to replicate the on-premises environment. In contrast, 'cloud-native' (re-architecting) redesigns applications to use cloud-specific features like auto-scaling, managed databases, and serverless compute, fully leveraging the cloud's elasticity and pay-as-you-go model.

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Lift and shift uses containers; cloud-native uses virtual machines.

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Lift and shift is only possible for new applications; cloud-native is for existing applications.

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Lift and shift costs more long-term; cloud-native costs more short-term due to licensing.