Cloud Digital Leader Fundamental Cloud Concepts Practice Question
A company needs to run a legacy application that requires full control over the operating system, including custom kernel modules. They want to minimize management overhead for the underlying hardware. Which cloud service model should they use?
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 virtualized computing resources where the customer manages the OS and above, while the cloud provider manages the hardware and hypervisor.
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 abstracts the underlying infrastructure; the provider manages OS patching, runtime, and middleware. Although the customer deploys code, they cannot modify the kernel or install custom OS-level drivers, so a legacy application requiring specific OS configuration or kernel modules cannot run. Only IaaS provides the needed OS-level control.
- ✗
FaaS
Why it's wrong here
FaaS executes stateless functions in a fully managed, ephemeral environment; the customer has zero visibility or control over the host OS, kernel, or runtime internals. A legacy application with persistent state, specific OS dependencies, or long-running processes cannot fit the function-based execution model. Thus FaaS is unsuitable.
- ✗
SaaS
Why it's wrong here
SaaS delivers a complete application that is fully managed by the vendor; the customer only configures features and data. There is no access to the underlying OS, runtime, or compute resources, making it impossible to install a legacy application or customize the environment. So SaaS is irrelevant for this need.
- ✓
IaaS
Why this is correct
IaaS provides virtualized compute resources (e.g., Compute Engine) where the customer selects the OS image, manages OS patches, and has full administrative control, including kernel tuning. This allows the legacy application to run with its required OS version and dependencies. Google only manages the physical hardware and hypervisor, not the guest OS. Thus IaaS is the right choice.
Go deeper
Related to this question
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Cloud Digital Transformation
Key term
IaaS
IaaS stands for Infrastructure as a Service, which means renting virtual computing resources like servers, storage, and networking from a cloud provider instead of buying and managing physical hardware yourself.
Key term
Hypervisor
A hypervisor is software that creates and runs virtual machines by allowing multiple operating systems to share a single hardware host.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This GCDL practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud 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 GCDL exam.