MS-900 Describe cloud concepts Practice Test 2 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company wants to provide its employees with access to email, calendar, and document editing tools through a web browser without installing any software. The provider manages all maintenance, updates, and security of the applications. Which cloud service model best describes this scenario?

Accepted Answer

Software as a Service (SaaS). This scenario describes Software as a Service (SaaS) because the provider delivers fully functional applications—such as email, calendar, and document editing—over the web, with no local installation required. The provider handles all maintenance, updates, and security, which is the defining characteristic of SaaS. Examples include Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online, Outlook, Word Online) and Google Workspace.

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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 2

A hospital must store patient medical records on-premises to comply with strict data sovereignty regulations. However, they also want to use advanced analytics tools hosted on a public cloud platform. Which cloud deployment model best meets their needs?

Accepted Answer

Hybrid cloud. Option C (Hybrid cloud) is correct because it allows the hospital to keep sensitive patient medical records on-premises to satisfy strict data sovereignty regulations, while leveraging public cloud services for advanced analytics. This model combines private and public cloud resources, enabling data to remain compliant without sacrificing access to cloud-hosted analytics tools.

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Private cloud

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Public cloud

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Community cloud

Question 3

In a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, which of the following responsibilities is typically handled by the cloud provider?

Accepted Answer

Patching the underlying operating system and application. In a SaaS model, the cloud provider is responsible for managing the underlying infrastructure, including patching the operating system and the application itself. This is a core tenet of the shared responsibility model, where the provider handles the security and maintenance of the software stack, while the customer is responsible for data and user access. For example, in Microsoft 365, Microsoft automatically applies security updates to Exchange Online and SharePoint without customer intervention.

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Managing user passwords and accounts

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Configuring application settings for the organization

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Backing up customer data

Question 4

A company uses a cloud service where they can provision virtual machines, install any operating system, and manage all software on those machines. The cloud provider is responsible for the physical hardware, data center security, and network infrastructure. Which cloud service model does this represent?

Accepted Answer

IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). This scenario describes Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) because the customer has full control over virtual machines, including the operating system and all installed software, while the cloud provider manages the underlying physical hardware, data center security, and network infrastructure. In IaaS, the provider offers virtualized computing resources over the internet, and the customer is responsible for everything above the hypervisor layer, such as OS patches, application configuration, and middleware.

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PaaS (Platform as a Service)

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SaaS (Software as a Service)

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FaaS (Function as a Service)

Question 5

A company wants to move its IT infrastructure to the cloud but must keep all customer data within a specific geographic region due to data residency laws. They also want to avoid paying for large upfront hardware costs. Which cloud characteristic best supports this need?

Accepted Answer

Geographic distribution (regional data centers). Option A is correct because geographic distribution refers to cloud providers operating multiple data centers across different regions, enabling customers to choose a specific region to store data and comply with data residency laws. This characteristic directly addresses the requirement to keep customer data within a specific geographic region while avoiding upfront hardware costs, as the cloud provider owns and manages the infrastructure.

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Elasticity

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High availability

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Self-service

Question 6

A company subscribes to a cloud service where they can provision virtual machines, choose the operating system, install any software, and manage all applications. The cloud provider is responsible for the underlying physical hardware and network infrastructure. Which cloud service model is being used?

Accepted Answer

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). This scenario describes Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) because the customer provisions virtual machines, chooses the operating system, installs software, and manages applications, while the cloud provider is responsible for the underlying physical hardware and network infrastructure. In IaaS, the provider delivers virtualized computing resources over the internet, and the customer retains control over the OS, storage, and deployed applications, which matches the description exactly.

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Platform as a Service (PaaS)

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Software as a Service (SaaS)

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On-premises

Question 7

A company wants to deploy a cloud solution where they have the maximum control over the operating system, installed software, and security configurations, but they do not want to manage physical servers or data center facilities. Which cloud service model best meets this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides virtualized computing resources over the internet, giving the customer full administrative control over the operating system, installed software, and security configurations (e.g., firewall rules, patch management) while the cloud provider manages the physical servers, storage, and networking hardware. This model aligns with the requirement for maximum control without managing physical infrastructure.

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Platform as a Service (PaaS)

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Software as a Service (SaaS)

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Hybrid cloud

Question 8

A company needs to ensure that their cloud data and applications remain available even if an entire Azure region experiences an outage. They also want to minimize latency by hosting resources in multiple geographic locations. Which cloud concept addresses these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Geo-redundancy. Geo-redundancy (Option B) is correct because it specifically addresses the requirement for data and application availability during an entire Azure region outage by replicating resources across multiple geographically separated regions, such as Azure paired regions (e.g., East US and West US). This also minimizes latency by allowing traffic to be routed to the nearest available region, leveraging Azure Traffic Manager or Azure Front Door for global load balancing.

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Scalability

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Measured service

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Resource pooling

Question 9

A company wants to reduce hardware maintenance costs by moving to the cloud. They need to maintain full control over the operating system, applications, and security configurations, but do not want to manage physical servers or data center facilities. Which cloud service model should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides virtualized computing resources over the internet, allowing the company to deploy and manage their own operating systems, applications, and security configurations while offloading the physical hardware and data center management to the cloud provider. This model gives the highest level of control over the software stack without the burden of maintaining physical servers, aligning perfectly with the requirement to reduce hardware maintenance costs while retaining full administrative access.

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Software as a Service (SaaS)

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Platform as a Service (PaaS)

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On-premises

Question 10

A healthcare organization must keep sensitive patient data on-premises due to regulatory compliance, but wants to use cloud services for other applications like customer relationship management and collaboration. Which cloud deployment model best meets this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Hybrid cloud. The hybrid cloud model is correct because it allows the healthcare organization to keep sensitive patient data on-premises (private cloud) for regulatory compliance (e.g., HIPAA), while leveraging public cloud services for customer relationship management and collaboration tools like Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365. This deployment model provides a unified environment where workloads can be distributed across on-premises and cloud infrastructure, ensuring data sovereignty and compliance without sacrificing scalability or cost efficiency.

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Public cloud

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Private cloud

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Community cloud

Question 11

Which cloud deployment model exclusively uses resources that are owned and managed by a single organization, and is often chosen for its high level of control and compliance?

Accepted Answer

Private cloud. The private cloud deployment model is correct because it is defined as a cloud infrastructure that is provisioned for exclusive use by a single organization. This model provides the highest level of control over data, security, and compliance, as the organization owns and manages the underlying hardware and software, often within its own data center or via a dedicated hosted environment.

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Public cloud

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Hybrid cloud

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Community cloud

Question 12

A company wants to use a cloud service that provides ready-to-use business applications such as email, collaboration, and customer relationship management without managing the underlying infrastructure. Which cloud service model is this?

Accepted Answer

Software as a Service (SaaS). Option C (SaaS) is correct because Software as a Service delivers ready-to-use business applications like Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online for email, Teams for collaboration, Dynamics 365 for CRM) over the internet, with the provider managing all underlying infrastructure, including servers, storage, and networking. The customer simply accesses the software via a web browser or client app without any responsibility for patching, scaling, or hardware maintenance.

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Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

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Platform as a Service (PaaS)

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Private cloud

Question 13

A financial services company uses a public cloud provider for its development and testing environments, but keeps its production data and applications on-premises due to strict regulatory requirements. Which cloud deployment model is the company using?

Accepted Answer

Hybrid cloud. The company uses a hybrid cloud model because it combines on-premises infrastructure (private cloud) for production workloads with a public cloud provider for development and testing. This allows the organization to meet strict regulatory requirements for data residency and security while leveraging the scalability and cost benefits of the public cloud for non-sensitive workloads.

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Public cloud

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Private cloud

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Community cloud

Question 14

A development team wants to build a custom web application. They choose a cloud service that provides the runtime environment, operating system, and middleware, but the team is responsible for writing and deploying their own code. The provider automatically applies patches to the underlying infrastructure. Which cloud service model best describes this approach?

Accepted Answer

Platform as a Service (PaaS). Platform as a Service (PaaS) provides the runtime environment, operating system, and middleware, allowing developers to focus on writing and deploying their own code while the cloud provider manages the underlying infrastructure, including automatic patching. This model abstracts the hardware and OS layer, giving the team full control over application code but not the platform stack.

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Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

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Software as a Service (SaaS)

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Function as a Service (FaaS)

Question 15

A financial services firm uses a public cloud provider for its customer-facing web application, but stores sensitive client data on its own on-premises servers. A secure VPN connection is used to transfer anonymized data from the public cloud to the on-premises environment for processing. Which cloud deployment model does this describe?

Accepted Answer

Hybrid cloud. This scenario describes a hybrid cloud because it combines a public cloud provider for the customer-facing web application with an on-premises private cloud for sensitive client data, connected via a secure VPN. The hybrid cloud model enables organizations to leverage the scalability and cost-efficiency of public cloud resources while maintaining strict control over sensitive data in a private environment. The use of a VPN to transfer anonymized data between the two environments is a key characteristic of hybrid cloud architecture, as it ensures secure communication across the boundary.

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Public cloud

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Private cloud

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Community cloud