220-1101 Virtualization and Cloud Computing Practice Question
A company is migrating a legacy application to the cloud. The application requires a specific operating system configuration and the IT team needs full administrative control over the operating system, including the ability to install custom software and configure kernel settings. The company wants to avoid upfront hardware costs and pay only for what they use. Which cloud service model BEST meets these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse PaaS with IaaS, assuming PaaS offers OS control, but PaaS restricts access to the OS layer to enforce platform consistency.
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
✓
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
IaaS provides virtualized computing resources over the internet, granting full administrative control over the operating system, including kernel settings and custom software installation. This model eliminates upfront hardware costs by offering pay-as-you-go pricing, aligning with the requirement to avoid capital expenditure.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Why it's wrong here
SaaS products are fully managed, multi-tenant applications (e.g., CRM, email) where the provider controls everything from infrastructure to OS to application code. Customers can only adjust limited configuration settings through a UI or API; they cannot install custom OS components, kernels, or legacy runtime dependencies. A legacy application requiring OS-level control can't be 'migrated' into SaaS — it would have to be rewritten and repackaged as a compatible service within the provider's platform.
- ✗
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Why it's wrong here
PaaS provides an application hosting platform (runtime, web server, database) that abstracts and manages the underlying OS, middleware, and scaling. You deploy your code or containers, but you don't have administrative rights to the operating system kernel, file system layout, or system services. A legacy app that depends on specific OS versions, drivers, or configuration files would hit compatibility walls, because the OS is a fixed, provider-managed abstraction.
- ✓
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Why this is correct
IaaS delivers raw computing resources—virtual machines, storage, networking—where you fully control the guest OS, including kernel, drivers, packages, and custom services. This is the classic 'lift-and-shift' migration path, enabling you to replicate your on-premises server exactly and run the legacy application without code changes. You are responsible for patching and securing the OS, but you have the administrative privileges necessary.
- ✗
Desktop as a Service (DaaS)
Why it's wrong here
DaaS, also known as virtual desktop infrastructure, is a service that streams a remote desktop environment to end users; it's designed for user-facing virtual desktops, not for running server workloads. The provider manages the desktop OS and applications, and the customer typically gets user-level or limited admin control, not full OS-level access to a dedicated server VM. Migrating a legacy backend application to a desktop service would be architecturally inappropriate and wouldn't meet the OS control or performance requirements.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Multi-Monitor Configuration
Key term
Anything As A Service
A model where you rent any IT resource or service over the internet instead of owning it.
Key term
Operating system
An operating system (OS) is the core software that manages a computer's hardware and software resources, providing common services for computer programs.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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