CLF-C02 Cloud Concepts Practice Question
A company is migrating to AWS and wants to understand the different types of cloud service models. Which model describes a service where the provider manages everything including the application, and the customer only manages their data and user access?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse PaaS with SaaS because both involve managed services, but PaaS still requires the customer to manage the application code and data, whereas SaaS offloads the entire application management to the provider.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Software as a Service (SaaS)
In the Software as a Service (SaaS) model, the cloud provider manages the entire application stack, including infrastructure, platform, and application software. The customer is responsible only for their data and user access, typically through a web browser or API. This aligns with the description where the provider manages everything including the application.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Why it's wrong here
IaaS (e.g., Amazon EC2) delivers raw virtualized compute, storage, and networking, leaving you to manage the guest OS, runtime, middleware, and applications. Because you still have full control over the entire stack above the hypervisor, it represents the lowest abstraction level and puts the heaviest operational burden on your team. That makes IaaS a poor fit for a scenario where the provider already runs the application itself.
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Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Why it's wrong here
PaaS (e.g., AWS Elastic Beanstalk) abstracts away the underlying infrastructure and lets you focus on deploying your own application code while the provider manages the OS, runtime, and scaling. You retain responsibility for the application logic and data, but you do not receive a fully finished, ready-to-use product. This distinguishes PaaS from SaaS, where the provider delivers the complete application to end users.
- ✓
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Why this is correct
SaaS delivers a fully functional, cloud-hosted application (e.g., Salesforce, Google Workspace) that users access over the internet with no installation or management of underlying resources. The provider is responsible for everything from hardware and virtualization through the application runtime, while customers only manage their organization's data, users, and configuration settings. This matches the scenario exactly because the provider handles all layers of the stack, and the consumer simply uses the software as-is.
- ✗
Function as a Service (FaaS)
Why it's wrong here
FaaS (e.g., AWS Lambda) offers serverless, event-driven execution of small code functions while the provider manages the servers and runtime. Although it is a highly abstracted compute model, you still write, upload, and maintain the function logic, so you remain responsible for the application itself. FaaS is a compute service categorized under serverless computing—not a complete, turnkey application the way SaaS is.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CLF-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CLF-C02 exam.