Your FREE CompTIA Cloud Essentials+ Flashcards 2026 – 150+ Cards

On-demand delivery of computing resources — servers, storage, applications — over the internet on a pay-as-you-go basis.

The provider supplies raw compute, storage, and networking; you manage the OS, runtime, and applications. Example: virtual machines.

A managed environment to build, test, and run applications; you manage only your code and data, not the platform below.

Complete, ready-to-use applications delivered over the internet, such as web email or CRM. The provider manages everything.

Umbrella term for any cloud delivery model, including DBaaS, CaaS, BPaaS, and MaaS.

IaaS → PaaS → SaaS. Moving up the stack, the provider manages more and the customer manages less.

A cloud owned and operated by a third-party provider and shared by many tenants (multi-tenant) over the internet. Lowest cost, highest scale.

A cloud dedicated to a single organization, on-premises or hosted, giving the most control and isolation at higher cost.

A combination of public and private cloud connected so workloads and data can move between them; enables cloud bursting.

A cloud shared by several organizations with common concerns, such as the same compliance or security requirements.

Overflowing from a private cloud into a public cloud when demand spikes — a hybrid-cloud capability.

The framework defining which security and management duties belong to the provider vs. the customer; the split shifts with the service model.

The cloud's ability to automatically add or remove resources to match demand in near real time, in both directions.

The capacity to grow or shrink resources to handle changing workloads; can be vertical or horizontal.

Adding more power — CPU or RAM — to an existing resource.

Adding more resources of the same type, such as additional servers behind a load balancer.

The ability for users to provision cloud resources on demand without provider intervention.

Cloud capabilities available over the network and accessed through standard devices.

A pricing model where you pay only for the resources you actually consume.

Designing systems so resources remain accessible with minimal downtime, often via redundancy and multiple zones.

A dedicated, private network link between an organization and a cloud provider, bypassing the public internet.

An encrypted tunnel over the internet used to connect securely to cloud resources.

A protocol for remotely accessing a graphical desktop, commonly used to manage Windows cloud instances.

An encrypted protocol for remote command-line access, commonly used to manage Linux cloud instances.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure — encrypted web traffic; a common access method for cloud services.

Separating the network control plane from the data plane and managing it centrally in software, making cloud networks programmable.

Distributing incoming traffic across multiple servers to improve performance and availability.

Translates human-readable domain names into IP addresses so users can reach cloud services.

A control that filters network traffic to and from cloud resources based on security rules.

Stores data as objects with metadata in a flat namespace; ideal for unstructured data at scale (backups, media, big data).

Splits data into fixed blocks attached to a server like a virtual disk; ideal for databases and low-latency workloads.

Organizes data as a hierarchy of files and folders accessed over a network share.

Reducing the size of stored data to save capacity and cost.

Eliminating duplicate copies of data so only one instance is stored, saving capacity.

Provisioning additional storage as needed without buying it up front.

Hot storage is fast and for frequently accessed data; cold storage is cheap and for rarely accessed archives.

Abstracting storage management into software, decoupled from the underlying hardware, like SDN does for networks.

Geographically distributed servers that cache content close to users to cut latency and reduce origin load.

Duplicating critical components so the failure of one does not cause an outage.

Designing systems to stay operational with minimal downtime, often through redundancy and zones.

The plan and resources to restore systems and data after a major disruption.

The maximum amount of data, measured in time, you can afford to lose in an incident; it sets backup frequency. Looks backward.

The maximum acceptable downtime to restore service after an incident; driven by recovery speed. Looks forward.

Defining what the business needs now and will need later, a key input to a cloud assessment.

A snapshot of current performance and cost used as a reference point for a cloud assessment.

An assessment of whether a cloud project is practical and worth pursuing.

A comparison of the current state to the desired future state to identify business and technical gaps to close.

Standard reference measurements used to compare options or judge performance during an assessment.

The people with an interest in or influence over a cloud project, identified early in an assessment.

The designated person responsible for communication on a cloud project or vendor relationship.

A large up-front purchase of assets like servers, depreciated over years; fixed and predictable.

Ongoing, pay-as-you-go costs expensed as incurred; variable and usage-based. Cloud shifts spending from CapEx to OpEx.

The core financial argument for the cloud: replace big up-front asset purchases with ongoing pay-as-you-go spend.

Variable cost changes with usage (typical of cloud); fixed cost stays constant regardless of usage.

The full cost of a solution over its life, including hidden and indirect costs, used to compare options.

The financial benefit of a project relative to its cost.

The metering and invoicing of consumed cloud resources, often itemized by service and usage.

A document that gathers general information about vendors and their capabilities.

Reusing software licenses you already own when moving a workload to the cloud, avoiding paying twice.

Paying a recurring fee (per user or per period) that bundles the software license into the cloud cost.

The people side of cloud adoption — training and professional development to build needed skills.

A document detailing the specific deliverables and tasks a vendor will provide.

A contract defining the expected level of service — uptime, performance, support — and the remedies if it is missed.

Vendor-provided expertise (time to market, skill availability, support, managed services) that supports cloud adoption.

Outsourcing the operation and maintenance of cloud resources to a provider (MSP).

A small experiment that tests whether an idea or technology can work at all.

A demonstration that a solution delivers measurable business benefit.

A limited, real-world deployment to a subset of users that validates a solution before full rollout.

The defined, measurable conditions a pilot or evaluation must meet to be judged successful.

Open-source software is freely available and modifiable; proprietary software is owned and licensed by a vendor.

Managing who can access what in the cloud, using controls like SSO, MFA, and federation.

Authenticating once to gain access to multiple applications.

Requiring two or more verification factors (something you know, have, or are) to grant access.

Linking a user's identity across multiple systems or organizations so one login works across trust boundaries.

Breaking an application into small, independent services that each do one job and communicate over APIs.

Packaging an app with its dependencies into a lightweight, portable container that runs the same way anywhere.

A data-analytics technique where systems learn patterns from data to make predictions without explicit programming.

Systems that perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence; a cloud-enabled data-analytics capability.

Extremely large or complex data sets that the cloud can store and analyze cost-effectively.

A network of connected devices and sensors that generate and exchange data, often processed in the cloud.

A distributed, tamper-evident ledger of records shared across a network; a cloud-supported solution.

Hosting user desktops on cloud servers and streaming them to thin clients or devices.

Migrating an application to the cloud largely unchanged — fast and low-effort, but not cloud-native.

Rebuilding or swapping an application for a cloud-native or SaaS solution — high effort, biggest long-term payoff.

Moving workloads to the cloud in stages to limit risk and disruption.

Keeping some workloads on-premises while moving others to the cloud.

Copying data across locations or systems for redundancy, performance, or availability.

Where data is physically stored, which affects performance, cost, and compliance.

Creating recoverable copies of data to protect against loss.

Cloud resources that can be spun up and torn down on demand, treated as temporary.

Isolated locations within a cloud region used to build redundancy and high availability.

Replicating resources across geographically separate locations to survive a regional failure.

Continuously observing cloud resources through alerts and logging to detect issues and inform decisions.

Automated notifications triggered when a monitored metric crosses a threshold.

Recording events and activity in cloud systems for troubleshooting, audit, and security.

Automatically adjusting the number of running resources to match demand, protecting performance and cost.

Matching each resource's type and size to its actual workload to avoid paying for over-provisioned capacity.

Tuning cloud resources — via auto-scaling and right-sizing — to balance performance against cost.

Defining and provisioning infrastructure through version-controlled template files instead of manual setup.

Reusable, machine-readable definitions of infrastructure used to provision resources consistently.

Automating the build, test, and release of software to deliver changes quickly and reliably.

Running code or tests in an isolated environment so they cannot affect production.

Testing how a system performs under expected and peak traffic.

Re-testing after changes to confirm existing functionality still works.

The automated coordination of multiple tasks and services into a single managed workflow.

Performing a single task without manual intervention; orchestration strings many automated tasks together.

Maintaining systems in a known, consistent state through orchestration, automation, and patching.

Applying software updates and security fixes to keep cloud systems current and secure.

Connecting cloud services and applications programmatically through application programming interfaces.

A culture and practice uniting development and operations to deliver software faster and more reliably.

Capacity committed for a 1- or 3-year term in exchange for a discount; best for steady, predictable workloads.

A provider's spare capacity offered at a deep discount but reclaimable at short notice; best for interruptible jobs.

Billing each department or project for the cloud resources it actually consumes, driving accountability.

Attaching metadata labels (owner, environment, cost center) to resources for tracking and cost allocation.

Tracking what licenses are used and how many, to avoid over- or under-licensing risk.

Ongoing operational costs to keep cloud resources running, reviewed as part of financial expenditures.

Identifying and evaluating risks, including asset inventory, classification, and ownership.

A catalog of an organization's assets, used as the starting point for risk assessment.

A risk response that reduces the probability or impact of a risk (e.g., encryption, redundancy).

A risk response that acknowledges a risk and takes no further action, often when treating it costs more than the impact.

A risk response that eliminates the risk by not engaging in the activity that causes it.

A risk response that shifts the impact to a third party, such as insurance or a contractual clause.

A document recording identified risks with their findings, owner, response, and status.

The difficulty and cost of moving off a cloud provider once you depend on its proprietary services and formats.

The ability to export your data in a usable, standard format so you can switch providers; counters vendor lock-in.

A documented, repeatable process for performing a task consistently.

A controlled process for reviewing, approving, and implementing changes to systems.

The planned process for detecting, containing, and recovering from a security incident.

Rules that define who may access which resources and under what conditions.

The principle that data is subject to the laws of the country where it is physically stored.

Laws such as GDPR or HIPAA that govern how data must be handled in the cloud.

Sector-specific rules, such as PCI DSS for payment card data, that a cloud deployment must meet.

Frameworks like ISO standards that provide consistent, recognized requirements across borders.

Independent attestations that a provider meets a given standard, used to prove compliance.

A potential event or actor that could exploit a vulnerability to cause harm.

A weakness in a system that could be exploited, such as unpatched software or a misconfiguration.

An authorized simulated attack used to find exploitable security weaknesses.

Automated scanning that detects known weaknesses in systems and configurations.

Testing applications for security flaws such as injection or misconfiguration.

The core information-security goals: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability.

Keeping data secret from unauthorized parties, protected with encryption and sanitization.

Ensuring data is accurate and unaltered, protected with validation controls.

Encoding data so only authorized parties with the key can read it; protects confidentiality.

Securely removing data from media so it cannot be recovered.

Labeling data by sensitivity so the right controls and handling are applied.

Granting each user or process only the minimum access it needs, and nothing more.

Determining what an authenticated user is allowed to do.

Reducing a system's attack surface by removing unnecessary services and applying secure configurations.

A review of access, configurations, and activity to verify security and compliance.

A control point that enforces security policy between users and cloud services.

An incident in which data is accessed, disclosed, or stolen without authorization.

An attack that floods a service with traffic from many sources to make it unavailable.