Free Cloud Computing practice questions
10 free 220-1201 questions on Cloud Computing, each with a full explanation — no account needed. This section sits in the Virtualization & Cloud part of the exam. Answer every question to see your score, then read the lessons below for anything you missed.
A regional retailer must keep its customer database in a tightly governed environment due to internal rules, but it wants the web front end to scale quickly during seasonal spikes. The web tier must connect securely back to the database, and both environments need coordinated access control. Which deployment model best matches this design?
Hybrid cloud combines private and public environments in an integrated way, often using secured links and coordinated identity and security rules. Keeping sensitive data in a private environment while placing a scalable web front end in the public cloud is a classic hybrid pattern because the workloads are connected and work together across both environments.
A small business wants email and collaboration tools delivered as a subscription, accessible through a browser, with the vendor handling application updates and the underlying infrastructure. The business will manage users, passwords, and access rules. Which service model best fits?
SaaS delivers finished software accessed over the internet, with the provider managing the application and most of the underlying stack, including updates. The customer still manages identities and governance items like users, MFA choices, and access policies, which matches the responsibilities described.
A city forms a shared IT authority for several departments that must follow the same logging standards and data retention rules. Only approved member departments can use the environment, and governance is based on common policy requirements. Which deployment model is being described?
A community cloud is shared by a defined group of organizations with common needs such as policy, security, auditing, or data handling rules. The key clues are limited membership, shared governance, and consistent compliance requirements across participating members.
A department subscribes to an online ticketing tool where the vendor controls the application updates, availability monitoring, and the back-end servers. The department is responsible for defining roles, access permissions, and retention settings for stored tickets. Which model combination best describes this situation?
A vendor-delivered ticketing application with provider-managed updates and infrastructure aligns with SaaS. The customer responsibilities described—roles, permissions, and retention—match SaaS governance tasks. The scenario also aligns with a shared provider environment typical of public cloud deployment, where the vendor operates the underlying stack for many customers.
A retailer’s IT team keeps normal workloads in its private environment but adds public cloud compute only during peak demand. The environments use coordinated access control and connect through secure links so workloads can shift when needed. Which key characteristic makes this hybrid rather than simply using unrelated cloud services?
Hybrid cloud requires integration between private and public environments so systems can work together, often using VPNs or dedicated links, coordinated identity, and aligned security rules. The defining feature is not billing style or where the private environment is located, but the connected, coordinated operation of workloads across both environments.
A company wants to reduce server maintenance windows by having the provider handle the operating system, runtime, and much of the middleware for a new application. The company will still manage its code, scaling rules, and application settings. Which responsibility split best matches this choice?
PaaS shifts management of the operating system and much of the runtime and middleware to the provider, allowing the customer to focus on application code and configuration such as scaling rules and environment settings. This directly reduces OS-level maintenance burden compared to IaaS, and it differs from SaaS because the customer is still deploying their own application.
A support team moves an on-premises line-of-business server into the cloud by creating virtual machines, installing the same operating system, and continuing to patch and harden the OS themselves. The provider supplies compute, storage, networking, and the virtualization layer. Which service model is this?
IaaS provides the infrastructure building blocks such as virtual machines, storage, networking, and the hypervisor layer, while the customer manages what runs inside the VM. Continuing to install, patch, and harden the operating system and applications aligns directly with IaaS responsibility boundaries.
A compliance team requires a cloud environment dedicated to one organization, with full control over policies, access rules, and security design. The environment may be hosted on-premises or in a provider facility, but it must not be shared with other companies. Which deployment model is the best match?
A private cloud provides cloud-style services for one organization, with dedicated use and control over policies and security design. The location can vary, but the defining requirement is single-organization control and non-shared infrastructure from the customer perspective.
A startup uses a third-party provider where many unrelated customers share the underlying infrastructure, and resources can be provisioned in minutes with pay-as-you-go billing. The company must plan security and compliance carefully because the environment is shared. Which deployment model is being described?
Public cloud is owned and operated by a third-party provider and is designed for multiple customers using shared infrastructure separated by logical controls. Rapid provisioning and pay-as-you-go billing are common cues, along with the multi-tenant security and compliance considerations.
A startup hosts its application on a low-cost cloud tier. Users report that performance is inconsistent: some hours the app is fast, other hours it slows down without any change in the startup’s own usage. The provider confirms the service runs in a pooled environment with other customers. Which cloud characteristic best explains the shifting performance?
In a shared cloud environment, multiple customers run workloads on pooled resources. Multitenancy can introduce a noisy-neighbor effect when another tenant spikes CPU, disk I/O, or network usage, causing variable performance even if your instance size stays the same. Dedicated resources reduce this issue by limiting shared contention, while file sync and elasticity do not directly explain unpredictable slowdowns caused by shared host load.
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Every lesson that covers Cloud Computing on the 220-1201 exam.