Basic Cloud Computing Concepts

Question 1

What is Cloud Computing?

Answer 1

Cloud computing is the delivery of compute services over the Internet to provide faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale.

Question 2

What are the benefits of Cloud Computing?

Answer 2

Cost: Eliminates the capital expense of hardware and software purchased. Eliminates the management of the on-site data centers.

Speed: Cloud services are often self-service and on-demand, allowing vast computing resources to be provisioned quickly.

Global Scale: Provides the ability to scale elastically, meaning that the right amount of IT resources can be delivered from the right geographical locations.

Productivity: Reduces the need for time-consuming IT management tasks, allowing IT teams to focus on the more important business goals.

Performance: Uses a worldwide network of secure data centers that are regularly upgraded, ensuring fast and efficient hardware, reducing network latency, and providing more significant economies at scale.

Reliability: Enhances data backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity by mirroring data at multiple redundant sites on the cloud provider’s network.

Security: Offers robust security measures that help protect data, applications, and infrastructure from potential threats.

Question 3

What is a Shared Responsibility Model?

Answer 3

Division of responsibilities between the cloud provider and the customer in terms of security tasks and workloads.

Question 4

What are the shared responsibilities for the different cloud deployments?

Answer 4

On-premises: The customer manages everything.

IaaS: The customer manages applications, data, runtime, Middleware, and O/S. The cloud provider manages Virtualization, Servers, Storage, and Networking.

PaaS: The customer manages applications and data. The Cloud provider manages Runtime, Middleware, and O/S, Virtualization, Servers, Storage, and Networking.

SaaS: The cloud provider manages everything.

Question 5

What is the customer always responsible for regardless of the cloud deployments?

Answer 5

Data, Accounts, Endpoints, and Access Management

Question 6

What are the three cloud models?

Answer 6

Public, private, and hybrid

Question 7

Which cloud model gives the organization the most flexibility?

Answer 7

Hybrid cloud model

Question 8

What is the benefit of a public cloud?

Answer 8

No upfront costs. Pay as you go.

Question 9

What is a Consumption Based Model?

Answer 9

A model where users only pay for the resources they use.

Question 10

Benefits of Cloud Computing

Answer 10

High Availability
Scalability
Elasticity
Agility
Geo-Distribution
Disaster recovery

Question 11

What are the different scalability types?

Answer 11

Horizontal and Vertical

Question 12

What is Horizontal Scaling?

Answer 12

Increase the compute capacity by adding instances of the resource.

Question 13

What is Vertical Scaling?

Answer 13

Increase the compute capacity by adding RAM or CPUs.

Question 14

What are the different expenditure?

Answer 14

Capital Expense (CapEx) and Operational Expense (OpEx)

Question 15

What type of expense is cloud computing?

Answer 15

Operational expense as you pay for the resources only.

Question 16

Which expense impacts the profit?

Answer 16

Operational expense (OpEx)

Question 17

What are different Pricing Models?

Answer 17

Pay As You Go (PAYG), Reserved Instances, and Spot Pricing

Question 18

Which pricing model should be chosen for OpEx?

Answer 18

Pay As You Go

Question 19

What is the risk in Spot Pricing?

Answer 19

Azure can terminate Spot Pricing anytime.

Question 20

For long-term projects, which model is the best?

Answer 20

Reserved Instances

Question 21

Why do organizations move to the cloud?

Answer 21

For cost savings, improved speed and scalability, increased productivity, better performance, reliability, and improved security.

Question 21

What is the advantage of cloud computing’s self-service and on-demand nature?

Answer 21

It allows for vast amounts of computing resources to be provisioned quickly, giving businesses a lot of flexibility and taking the pressure off capacity planning.

Question 21

How does cloud computing lower operating costs?

Answer 21

By only paying for the cloud services used, rather than the capital expense of buying hardware and setting up on-site datacenters.

Question 22

What does “elastically scaling” mean in cloud computing?

Answer 22

Delivering the right amount of IT resources, such as computing power and storage, at the right time and from the right location.

Question 23

How does cloud computing improve productivity?

Answer 23

By removing the need for time-consuming IT management tasks, allowing IT teams to focus on more important business goals.

Question 24

How does cloud computing improve performance?

Answer 24

By running on a worldwide network of secure datacenters that are regularly upgraded to the latest generation of efficient computing hardware, reducing network latency and offering greater economies of scale.

Question 25

How does cloud computing improve reliability?

Answer 25

By making data backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity easier and less expensive through data mirroring at multiple redundant sites on the cloud provider’s network.

Question 26

How does cloud computing improve security?

Answer 26

By offering a broad set of policies, technologies, and controls that strengthen the overall security posture, protecting data, apps, and infrastructure from potential threats.

Question 27

What is the main advantage of using cloud computing?

Answer 27

Cost savings, improved speed and scalability, increased productivity, better performance, reliability, and improved security.

Question 28

What is the biggest difference between cloud computing and traditional IT resources?

Answer 28

Traditional IT resources required buying hardware and software, setting up and running on-site datacenters, and paying for electricity and IT experts. Cloud computing eliminates these expenses and provides flexible and on-demand resources.

Question 29

What are the benefits of cloud computing services?

Answer 29

Faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale.

Question 30

What are the different types of cloud deployments?

Answer 30

Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and on-premises datacenter.

Question 31

In which type of deployment do customers retain the most responsibilities?

Answer 31

In an on-premises datacenter, customers retain the most responsibilities, as they own the entire stack.

Question 32

In a SaaS deployment, which party is responsible for protecting the security of the data?

Answer 32

In a SaaS deployment, the customer is responsible for protecting the security of the data.

Question 33

In a PaaS deployment, who is responsible for managing and maintaining the underlying infrastructure?

Answer 33

In a PaaS deployment, the cloud provider manages and maintaining the underlying infrastructure.

Question 34

In an IaaS deployment, who is responsible for managing and maintaining the operating systems and middleware?

Answer 34

In an IaaS deployment, the customer is responsible for managing and maintaining the operating systems and middleware.

Question 35

What is a public cloud?

Answer 35

Services are offered over the public internet and available to anyone who wants to purchase them. Cloud resources, such as servers and storage, are owned and operated by a third-party cloud service provider, and delivered over the internet.

Question 36

What is a private cloud?

Answer 36

A private cloud consists of computing resources used exclusively by users from one business or organization. A private cloud can be physically located at your organization’s on-site (on-premises) datacenter, or it can be hosted by a third-party service provider. They key takeaway is that private clouds are used by a single organization.

Question 37

What is a hybrid cloud?

Answer 37

A hybrid cloud is a computing environment that combines a public cloud and a private cloud by allowing data and applications to be shared between them. Often used by large organizations.

Question 38

What are the advantages of using a public cloud?

Answer 38

No capital expenditures to scale up. Applications can be quickly provisioned and deprovisioned. Organizations pay only for what they use.

Question 39

What are the advantages of using a hybrid cloud?

Answer 39

Provides the most flexibility. Organizations determine where to run their applications. Organizations control security, compliance, or legal requirements.

Question 40

What is the consumption-based model in cloud computing?

Answer 40

The consumption-based model in cloud computing is a pricing model where end users only pay for the resources they use, and there are no upfront costs or need to purchase or manage infrastructure.

Question 41

What are some benefits of the consumption-based model in cloud computing?

Answer 41

Some benefits of the consumption-based model in cloud computing include the ability to pay for additional resources only when they are needed, the ability to stop paying for resources that are no longer needed, and the lack of upfront costs or need to purchase or manage infrastructure.

Question 42

What is the meaning of High Availability in a cloud environment?

Answer 42

High availability in a cloud environment refers to the ability to provide a continuous user experience with no apparent downtime, even when things go wrong, depending on the service-level agreement (SLA) that you choose.

Question 43

What is the meaning of Scalability in a cloud environment?

Answer 43

Scalability in a cloud environment refers to the ability of apps to scale vertically and horizontally, by increasing compute capacity by adding RAM or CPUs to a virtual machine, or by adding instances of resources, such as adding VMs to the configuration.

Question 43

What is the meaning of Geo-distribution in a cloud environment?

Answer 43

Geo-distribution in a cloud environment refers to the ability to deploy apps and data to regional datacenters around the globe, ensuring that customers always have the best performance in their region.

Question 44

What is the meaning of Elasticity in a cloud environment?

Answer 44

Elasticity in a cloud environment refers to the ability to configure cloud-based apps to take advantage of autoscaling, so your apps always have the resources they need.

Question 44

What is the meaning of Agility in a cloud environment?

Answer 44

Agility in a cloud environment refers to the ability to deploy and configure cloud-based resources quickly as app requirements change.

Question 45

What is the meaning of Disaster recovery in a cloud environment?

Answer 45

Disaster recovery in a cloud environment refers to the ability to deploy apps with the confidence that comes from knowing that data is safe in the event of disaster by taking advantage of cloud-based backup services, data replication, and geo-distribution.

Question 46

What is the difference between Capital Expenditure (CapEx) and Operational Expenditure (OpEx)?

Answer 46

Capital Expenditure (CapEx) is the up-front spending of money on physical infrastructure, and then deducting that up-front expense over time. The up-front cost from CapEx has a value that reduces over time. Operational Expenditure (OpEx) is spending money on services or products now, and being billed for them now. You can deduct this expense in the same year you spend it. There is no up-front cost, as you pay for a service or product as you use it.

Question 47

How is the cost of cloud services categorized?

Answer 47

Cloud services are categorized as an Operational Expenditure (OpEx) because of their consumption model. There’s no asset to amortize, and its cloud service provider (Azure) manages the costs that are associated with the purchase and lifespan of the physical equipment. As a result, OpEx has a direct impact on net profit, taxable income, and the associated expenses on the balance sheet.