A small business wants to migrate its on-premises file server to the cloud to reduce hardware maintenance costs. They need low-latency access for local employees and want to avoid egress fees for large data transfers. Which cloud deployment model best meets these requirements?
Hybrid cloud allows the business to keep frequently accessed data on-premises (private) for low latency and use public cloud for backup and scalability, reducing egress fees.
Why this answer
The hybrid cloud model allows the business to keep sensitive or frequently accessed data on-premises (or in a local edge location) for low-latency access, while leveraging the public cloud for scalability and backup. By using a hybrid architecture, egress fees for large data transfers are avoided because bulk data can be processed locally and only metadata or less critical data is sent to the cloud. This directly addresses the need to reduce hardware maintenance costs while maintaining performance and controlling data transfer costs.
Exam trap
CompTIA often tests the misconception that 'public cloud' is always the cheapest option, but the trap here is that egress fees and latency requirements make hybrid cloud the correct choice for this specific scenario, not public cloud.
How to eliminate wrong answers
Option A is wrong because a public cloud alone would require all data to be transferred over the internet or a direct connection, incurring egress fees for large transfers and potentially higher latency for local employees. Option B is wrong because a private cloud still requires the business to own and maintain the underlying hardware, which does not reduce hardware maintenance costs as required. Option D is wrong because a community cloud is shared among several organizations with common concerns (e.g., regulatory compliance), but it does not inherently provide low-latency local access or eliminate egress fees for a single business's file server migration.