Drag a concept onto its matching description — or click a concept then click the description.
Concepts
Matches
Virtualized computing resources
Platform for application development
Software delivered over the internet
Virtual desktop infrastructure
220-1101 Hardware Practice Question
Match each cloud service model to its description.
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
✓
IaaS: Provides virtualized computing resources over the internet
Cloud service models categorize the level of abstraction: IaaS provides raw infrastructure, PaaS adds development platforms, SaaS delivers applications, and FaaS offers serverless compute.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
IaaS: Provides virtualized computing resources over the internet
Why this is correct
IaaS delivers on-demand access to virtualized physical resources—compute, storage, and networking—over the internet. You don't buy or manage the underlying hardware; instead, you provision virtual machines, disks, and virtual networks, and you're responsible for patching and configuring the OS and applications. This model provides the raw building blocks for IT infrastructure without capital expenditure.
- ✓
PaaS: Provides a platform allowing customers to develop, run, and manage applications
Why this is correct
PaaS abstracts the infrastructure layer further by providing a complete development and deployment environment, including runtime, middleware, databases, and development tools. Developers focus on coding and business logic while the provider handles the underlying servers, operating systems, and scaling. It's ideal for building, testing, and running applications without managing the platform itself.
- ✓
SaaS: Provides software applications over the internet
Why this is correct
SaaS delivers fully functional, ready-to-use software applications over the internet on a subscription basis. Users access the application through a web browser or thin client, with the provider managing everything from the underlying infrastructure to the application itself. This eliminates the need for installation, maintenance, and ongoing version upgrades on the user's side.
- ✓
FaaS: Provides serverless functions to execute code in response to events
Why this is correct
FaaS is a serverless computing model where you upload individual functions and the cloud provider executes them in response to events, such as HTTP requests or file uploads. Scaling, capacity planning, and server management are entirely abstracted; you pay only for the compute time consumed during execution. It is event-driven and ephemeral, with functions typically taking milliseconds to run.
- ✗
IaaS: Provides software applications over the internet
Why it's wrong here
This description incorrectly assigns SaaS attributes to IaaS. While SaaS does indeed provide software applications over the internet, IaaS provides lower-level infrastructure like virtual machines, storage, and networks. The mix-up occurs because both are cloud service models, but they operate at different levels of abstraction—IaaS is the foundation, SaaS is the finished application.
- ✗
PaaS: Provides virtualized computing resources
Why it's wrong here
This statement confuses PaaS with IaaS. IaaS provides virtualized computing resources as bare-metal-like infrastructure, leaving the customer to manage operating systems and applications. PaaS, in contrast, builds on that infrastructure to provide a managed platform with preconfigured runtimes and middleware, so the distinction is the level of management and abstraction offered.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
Go deeper
Related to this question
Key term
Software as a Service
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a cloud computing model where users access software applications over the internet on a subscription basis, without installing or maintaining the software locally.
Key term
Platform as a Service
Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a cloud computing model that provides a complete platform for developing, running, and managing applications without the complexity of building and maintaining the underlying infrastructure.
About these practice questions
This 220-1101 question is part of Courseiva's 896-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1101 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 220-1101 exam.