- A
Private cloud
Why wrong: Private cloud is hosted on-premises or in a dedicated environment managed by the organization.
- B
Hybrid cloud
Why wrong: Hybrid cloud combines on-premises (private) infrastructure with public cloud services.
- C
Public cloud
Public cloud means AWS owns and manages all hardware; customers consume services without managing physical infrastructure.
- D
Community cloud
Why wrong: Community cloud is shared among organizations with common concerns; AWS is a public cloud.
Question 181 of 1,024
CLF-C02 Cloud Concepts Practice Question
This CLF-C02 practice question tests your understanding of cloud concepts. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which cloud deployment model involves running applications on AWS infrastructure managed entirely by AWS, where the customer does not manage any physical hardware?
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
✓
Public cloud
The public cloud deployment model is defined by infrastructure that is owned, managed, and maintained by a third-party cloud provider (in this case, AWS). The customer has no responsibility for the physical hardware, such as servers, storage, or networking equipment, and accesses resources on-demand via the internet. This matches the scenario where AWS manages everything, and the customer only interacts with virtualized services.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Private cloud
Why it's wrong here
Private cloud is hosted on-premises or in a dedicated environment managed by the organization.
- ✗
Hybrid cloud
Why it's wrong here
Hybrid cloud combines on-premises (private) infrastructure with public cloud services.
- ✓
Public cloud
Why this is correct
Public cloud means AWS owns and manages all hardware; customers consume services without managing physical infrastructure.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Community cloud
Why it's wrong here
Community cloud is shared among organizations with common concerns; AWS is a public cloud.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
AWS often tests the misconception that a private cloud means the customer manages no hardware, but in reality, private clouds can be on-premises with the customer owning the hardware, or hosted with dedicated hardware, which still involves customer control or visibility into physical resources.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, AWS public cloud services run on a multi-tenant architecture where physical resources are abstracted via hypervisors (e.g., Xen, KVM) and orchestrated by AWS's internal control plane (e.g., AWS Nitro System). The customer's virtual machines, storage volumes, and networking are isolated using technologies like VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) with subnets, security groups, and network ACLs, but the underlying physical hosts, cables, and power are entirely AWS's responsibility. A real-world scenario is launching an EC2 instance: the customer selects an AMI and instance type, but never touches the physical server; AWS handles hardware failures transparently via automated instance migration.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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Cloud Concepts — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-C02 question test?
Cloud Concepts — This question tests Cloud Concepts — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Public cloud — The public cloud deployment model is defined by infrastructure that is owned, managed, and maintained by a third-party cloud provider (in this case, AWS). The customer has no responsibility for the physical hardware, such as servers, storage, or networking equipment, and accesses resources on-demand via the internet. This matches the scenario where AWS manages everything, and the customer only interacts with virtualized services.
What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
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.
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