220-1101 Virtualization and Cloud Computing Practice Question
A cloud administrator needs to increase the amount of RAM allocated to a running virtual machine (VM) from 4GB to 8GB to handle a temporary workload spike. The administrator logs into the cloud management console, selects the VM, and changes the instance type to one with 8GB of RAM. The change takes effect immediately without requiring a reboot. Which cloud computing characteristic does this scenario BEST illustrate?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse on-demand self-service (the ability to provision resources without human interaction) with rapid elasticity (the speed and ease of scaling), but the question emphasizes the immediate effect without a reboot, which directly points to elasticity rather than just self-service.
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
✓
Rapid elasticity
Rapid elasticity is the cloud characteristic that allows resources to be scaled up or down quickly and automatically, often without requiring a reboot. In this scenario, the administrator changes the instance type to one with 8GB of RAM, and the change takes effect immediately, demonstrating the rapid provisioning and de-provisioning of resources to meet workload demands.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Measured service
Why it's wrong here
Measured service is a cloud characteristic centered on metering resource usage for billing and optimization, often presenting usage metrics to consumers. Although increasing RAM could change the metered consumption, the scenario's core is the immediate, non-disruptive scaling of a live VM's capacity, not the tracking or charging for that usage. Thus, it fails to explain why the change itself was possible without downtime or reconfiguration.
- ✗
Resource pooling
Why it's wrong here
Resource pooling describes a provider's physical and virtual resources being aggregated to serve multiple consumers via a multi-tenant model, with dynamic assignment based on demand. The action of adding RAM to a single instance is a point-in-time capacity adjustment, not an illustration of how shared resources are drawn from or returned to that pool. Because the scenario focuses on a single VM's elasticity rather than multi-tenant resource sharing, resource pooling is not the correct characteristic.
- ✓
Rapid elasticity
Why this is correct
Rapid elasticity allows cloud resources to be provisioned and released quickly, often automatically, to scale with demand. The ability to change RAM on a running VM without a reboot is a prime example of elastic scalability.
- ✗
On-demand self-service
Why it's wrong here
On-demand self-service allows users to provision resources without human interaction. While the administrator did perform the change themselves, the key point is the rapid scaling of an existing resource (RAM) without downtime, which is more characteristic of elasticity.
Go deeper
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Key term
Software as a Service
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Key term
Dual In-line Memory Module
A Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM) is a small circuit board that holds memory chips and plugs into a computer's motherboard to provide Random Access Memory (RAM).
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