CV0-004 Cloud Architecture and Design Practice Question
A company wants to migrate its on-premises workload to the cloud and needs to maintain full control over the operating system, middleware, and applications. Which cloud service model should the company choose?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is equating 'control over applications' with PaaS or assuming any cloud migration implies managed services — candidates must recognize that full OS and middleware control is the defining characteristic of IaaS.
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
IaaS provides the highest level of control among cloud service models, giving the customer direct management of the operating system, middleware, runtime, and applications while the provider manages the underlying virtualization, servers, storage, and networking. Because the company explicitly requires full control over OS, middleware, and applications, IaaS is the only model that grants this level of responsibility. AWS EC2, Azure VMs, and GCP Compute Engine are canonical IaaS examples.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
PaaS
Why it's wrong here
PaaS manages the operating system and middleware on the customer's behalf, so control over those layers is lost; only the deployed application remains the customer's responsibility. IaaS preserves full control of OS, middleware, and applications. PaaS suits teams wanting to deploy code without patching servers or maintaining runtimes.
- ✗
FaaS
Why it's wrong here
FaaS runs individual event-triggered functions on a fully managed runtime, so the provider controls the operating system and middleware, and the customer supplies only function code. IaaS is needed to retain control of the OS, middleware, and applications. FaaS fits event-driven, short-lived workloads where infrastructure management is deliberately avoided.
- ✗
SaaS
Why it's wrong here
SaaS delivers a complete vendor-managed application, so the customer controls neither the operating system, middleware, nor the application itself. IaaS is required when retaining that full stack control. SaaS suits scenarios where an organisation wants to consume finished software, such as email or CRM, without managing any underlying infrastructure.
- ✓
IaaS
Why this is correct
IaaS delivers raw compute, storage and networking while the customer retains control of the guest OS, middleware and applications. This satisfies the requirement for full control, unlike PaaS or SaaS, which abstract the operating system layer away from the customer.
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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
This CV0-004 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 CV0-004 exam.