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220-1201 Practice Question: A technician is setting up a cloud-based…
A technician is setting up a cloud-based application that must handle unpredictable spikes in user traffic. The application should automatically add more virtual servers during peak times and remove them when traffic decreases. Which cloud concept is this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse scalability with elasticity; candidates often pick scalability because both involve handling increased load, but elasticity specifically implies automatic, dynamic adjustment based on demand.
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
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Elasticity
Elasticity is the cloud concept that automatically scales resources up or down based on real-time demand, such as unpredictable traffic spikes. It matches the requirement to add virtual servers during peak times and remove them when traffic decreases. Scalability refers to the ability to handle growth, but not necessarily automatic, dynamic adjustment.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Scalability
Why it's wrong here
Scalability refers to a system's inherent capability to handle an increasing workload or its potential to be enlarged to accommodate growth in demand. While it describes the ability to expand resources, it is a broader concept that can involve both manual upgrades and automatic adjustments. However, the term itself does not inherently imply the automatic, real-time provisioning and de-provisioning of resources based on fluctuating demand, which is a key characteristic of elasticity.
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Elasticity
Why this is correct
Elasticity is the specific characteristic of cloud computing that enables a system to automatically and dynamically provision or de-provision computing resources, such as virtual machines or containers, in response to real-time changes in workload demand. This automatic scaling up during traffic spikes and scaling down during lulls ensures optimal resource utilization and cost efficiency. It directly addresses the need for automatic capacity adjustment in a cloud-based application.
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High availability
Why it's wrong here
High availability (HA) is a design principle aimed at ensuring a system or service remains operational and accessible for a maximum percentage of time, minimizing downtime. This is typically achieved through redundancy, failover clusters, and robust disaster recovery strategies. While crucial for cloud applications, HA focuses on fault tolerance and continuous uptime, rather than the dynamic, automatic adjustment of resource capacity based on fluctuating traffic loads.
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Load balancing
Why it's wrong here
Load balancing is a method of distributing incoming network traffic evenly across multiple backend servers to improve application responsiveness and prevent overload on any single server. It enhances performance and reliability by ensuring efficient resource utilization among existing infrastructure. However, load balancing itself does not automatically add or remove servers from the pool; it only manages traffic distribution among the servers currently available.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
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