CCSP Cloud Concepts, Architecture, and Design Practice Question
An organization is migrating a legacy application to the cloud and wants to maximize elasticity. Which THREE characteristics should the application support to benefit from cloud elasticity?
⚠ Common exam trap
CCSP often tests the misconception that vertical scaling (scaling up) is a valid cloud elasticity strategy, but elasticity primarily relies on horizontal scaling and statelessness to achieve dynamic, automated resource adjustments.
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
✓
Distributed architecture
Option A (Distributed architecture) is correct because spreading workloads across multiple independent components or nodes lets the cloud platform add or remove capacity in parallel, which is essential for elastic scaling. Option C (Horizontal scaling support) is correct because elasticity is achieved primarily by adding or removing instances (scale out/in), so the application must be designed to run across multiple identical instances. Option D (Stateless design) is correct because stateless components do not hold session or local state, allowing any instance to handle any request and enabling instances to be created or destroyed freely during elastic scaling. Option B (Monolithic architecture) is not correct because a single tightly coupled deployment unit cannot be scaled or updated granularly, limiting elasticity. Option E (Vertical scaling capability) is not correct because vertical scaling means resizing a single server (scale up/down), which is constrained by hardware limits and does not provide the rapid, automated elasticity that horizontal scaling delivers.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Distributed architecture
Why this is correct
A distributed architecture spreads workload across multiple independent components, so additional instances can be added or removed horizontally as demand changes. This stateless, loosely coupled design lets the application scale out and in automatically, which is the prerequisite for realising cloud elasticity.
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Monolithic architecture
Why it's wrong here
A monolithic architecture bundles all components into one deployable unit, so scaling requires replicating the entire application rather than the constrained tier, wasting resources and limiting elasticity. It suits small teams wanting simple deployment and a single codebase, but the scenario demands independently scalable components, which microservices or modular designs provide.
- ✓
Horizontal scaling support
Why this is correct
Horizontal scaling lets the application add or remove identical instances as demand changes, which is the mechanism cloud elasticity relies on. Without it, the workload cannot expand across additional resources, so it cannot fully exploit elastic capacity.
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Stateless design
Why this is correct
Stateless design stores no session data on the instance itself, so any instance can serve any request. This lets the platform freely add or terminate instances during scaling events, satisfying the stem's elasticity requirement without session loss.
- ✗
Vertical scaling capability
Why it's wrong here
Vertical scaling adds CPU or memory to a single instance, which is capped by the largest available instance size and typically requires a restart, so it cannot deliver the horizontal, on-demand capacity growth elasticity requires. It is tempting because it does increase capacity, but it is the correct answer only for scaling a monolithic database that cannot be distributed.
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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 ISC2 exam blueprint
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