CompTIA Cloud+: key terms

Flashcards for this exam CompTIA Cloud+ guide Class dates

• 3-2-1 Backup RuleA backup guideline: keep three copies of data on two different media types with one copy offsite.Foundational
• 7 Rs of Cloud MigrationSeven migration strategies: retire, retain, rehost, relocate, repurchase, replatform and refactor.Foundational
• Air-Gapped BackupA backup copy that is physically or logically isolated from production networks so attackers cannot reach it.Intermediate
• Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)AWS block storage volumes that attach to EC2 instances and persist independently of instance life.Foundational
• Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)AWS IaaS service providing resizable virtual servers (instances) billed per second or hour.Foundational
• Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)AWS object storage service offering virtually unlimited capacity with 99.999999999 percent (11 nines) durability.Foundational
• Application-Consistent BackupA backup taken after the application flushes buffers and pauses writes so data is in a recoverable, transactionally consistent state.Intermediate
• AWS LambdaAWS serverless compute service that runs code in response to events without provisioning servers, billed per request and duration.Foundational
• AWS OutpostsFully managed AWS hardware racks or servers installed in a customer's data center to run AWS services on premises.Intermediate
• Azure ArcAzure service that projects on-premises, edge and multicloud servers, Kubernetes clusters and databases into Azure Resource Manager.Intermediate
• Backup as a Service (BaaS)Cloud service that stores and manages backups offsite on provider infrastructure, often with policy-based retention.Foundational
• Bare Metal InstanceCloud server that gives the customer direct access to physical hardware without a provider hypervisor layer.Intermediate
• Bastion HostHardened server in a public subnet used as a controlled entry point for administrative access to private instances.Foundational
• Block StorageStorage that presents raw volumes divided into fixed-size blocks to an operating system, which formats them with a file system.Foundational
• Broad Network AccessNIST cloud characteristic: capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms from diverse client devices.Foundational
• Capacity PlanningForecasting the compute, storage, and network resources a service needs to meet demand and SLOs.Intermediate
• Capital Expenditure (CapEx)Up-front spending on physical assets such as servers and data centers, depreciated over their useful life.Foundational
• ChargebackAllocating and internally billing cloud costs to the business units or teams that consumed the resources.Foundational
• Cloud BurstingHybrid pattern where an application runs on premises and overflows to public cloud capacity when demand spikes.Intermediate
• Cloud ComputingDelivery of on-demand computing resources such as servers, storage, databases and software over a network with pay-as-you-go pricing.Foundational
• Cloud MisconfigurationIncorrect or insecure setting of a cloud resource, such as public storage or overly permissive access, that creates security risk.Foundational
• Cloud PortabilityAbility to move applications and data between cloud providers or between cloud and on premises with minimal rework.Intermediate
• Cloud Service Broker (CSB)Intermediary that aggregates, integrates or customizes cloud services from multiple providers on behalf of customers.Intermediate
• Cloud Service Provider (CSP)Organization that offers cloud computing services such as IaaS, PaaS or SaaS to customers.Foundational
• cloud-initThe industry-standard tool for initializing cloud instances at first boot using user data.Intermediate
• Cloud-NativeApproach to building applications that fully exploit cloud capabilities through microservices, managed services, automation and elasticity.Foundational
• Cold StartExtra latency when a serverless platform must initialize a new execution environment before handling a request.Intermediate
• Commitment-Based DiscountLower cloud pricing in exchange for committing to a level of usage or spend over a term, typically 1 or 3 years.Intermediate
• Community CloudDeployment model where infrastructure is shared by several organizations with common concerns such as mission or compliance.Foundational
• Composite SLAOverall availability of a solution calculated by multiplying the SLAs of the dependent services it uses.Intermediate
• Configuration DriftDivergence between the actual configuration of a system and its intended, documented, or code-defined state.Intermediate
• Configuration ManagementMaintaining systems in a known, consistent desired state by automating the configuration of operating systems, software, and settings.Foundational
• Consumption-Based PricingPricing model where customers pay only for the cloud resources they actually use, also called pay-as-you-go.Foundational
• ContainerA lightweight, isolated runtime environment that packages an application with its dependencies and shares the host operating system kernel.Foundational
• Data DeduplicationA storage efficiency technique that eliminates duplicate data blocks or segments, storing only one copy and references to it.Intermediate
• Data ResidencyRequirement or choice that data be stored and processed in a specific geographic location.Foundational
• Data SovereigntyPrinciple that data is subject to the laws and governance of the country in which it is collected or stored.Foundational
• Database as a Service (DBaaS)Managed cloud database offering where the provider handles provisioning, patching, backups and high availability.Foundational
• Dedicated HostPhysical server fully allocated to one customer, giving visibility of sockets and cores for license compliance.Intermediate
• Desktop as a Service (DaaS)Cloud-hosted virtual desktops delivered to users over the network, managed by a provider on a subscription basis.Foundational
• Differential BackupA backup that copies all data changed since the last full backup, growing each day until the next full.Foundational
• Direct-Attached Storage (DAS)Storage connected directly to a single server, such as internal drives or an external SAS enclosure, without a network.Foundational
• Disaster Recovery (DR)Policies, tools and procedures for restoring IT systems and data after a disruptive event such as a regional outage or ransomware.Foundational
• Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)Cloud service that replicates servers and data to a provider and orchestrates failover so workloads can recover after a disaster.Intermediate
• DockerA platform and toolset for building, shipping, and running containers, including Docker Engine, the docker CLI, Docker Compose, and Docker Desktop.Foundational
• EBS SnapshotPoint-in-time, incremental backup of an EBS volume stored durably by AWS and usable to create new volumes in any AZ.Intermediate
• EC2 Instance TypesNamed EC2 configurations of vCPU, memory, storage and networking grouped into families such as general purpose, compute and memory optimized.Intermediate
• Edge ComputingProcessing data near where it is generated, such as on devices or local sites, instead of in a centralized cloud region.Foundational
• Egress ChargesFees cloud providers charge for data transferred out of their network to the internet or across regions and zones.Foundational
• Elastic Load Balancing (ELB)AWS managed service that distributes incoming traffic across targets in multiple AZs, including ALB, NLB and GWLB.Foundational
• Elastic Stack (ELK)A log and search platform made up of Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana, and Beats, commonly called the ELK stack.Foundational
• ElasticityAbility of a system to automatically add and remove resources in near real time to match fluctuating demand.Foundational
• Erasure CodingA data protection method that splits data into fragments with parity fragments distributed across nodes or drives, rebuilding from any sufficient subset.Advanced
• Fault ToleranceAbility of a system to continue operating without interruption when one or more components fail.Intermediate
• FinOpsOperational framework and cultural practice that maximizes the business value of cloud through collaboration between engineering, finance and business teams.Foundational
• FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS)Open specification from the FinOps Foundation that normalizes cloud and SaaS billing data into a common schema.Intermediate
• Full BackupA backup that copies all selected data regardless of when it last changed.Foundational
• Function as a Service (FaaS)Serverless compute model that runs individual functions in response to events, billed per invocation and execution time.Foundational
• High Availability (HA)Design goal of keeping a system operational and accessible for a high percentage of time by eliminating single points of failure.Foundational
• Horizontal ScalingIncreasing or decreasing capacity by adding or removing instances or nodes; also called scaling out/in.Foundational
• Hybrid CloudDeployment model combining two or more distinct clouds, typically private and public, connected to allow data and app portability.Foundational
• Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI)An architecture combining compute, storage and virtualization on standard servers, with software-defined storage pooled across nodes.Foundational
• HypervisorSoftware that creates and runs virtual machines by abstracting physical CPU, memory, storage and network resources.Foundational
• Immutable BackupA backup that cannot be modified or deleted for a defined retention period, even by administrators.Intermediate
• Immutable InfrastructureAn approach where servers or containers are never modified after deployment; changes are made by replacing them with new instances built from a new image.Intermediate
• Incremental BackupA backup that copies only data changed since the last backup of any type, minimizing backup time and storage.Foundational
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)Cloud service model providing virtualized compute, storage and networking; the customer manages the OS, runtime, apps and data.Foundational
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC)Managing and provisioning infrastructure through machine-readable definition files rather than manual configuration.Foundational
• Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS)A storage performance metric counting how many read and write operations a device or system completes each second.Intermediate
• Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI)A protocol that carries SCSI block storage commands over TCP/IP, using TCP port 3260.Intermediate
• InteroperabilityAbility of cloud services, systems and components from different providers to exchange and use information.Intermediate
• Key Management Service (KMS)Managed cloud service for creating, storing, controlling, and auditing cryptographic keys.Intermediate
• Kubernetes (K8s)An open-source CNCF container orchestration platform that automates deployment, scaling, networking, and self-healing of containerized applications.Foundational
• Landing ZonePre-configured, secure, scalable multi-account or multi-subscription cloud environment that serves as the foundation for workloads.Intermediate
• Live MigrationMoving a running VM from one host to another with no perceptible downtime, as in Hyper-V Live Migration or KVM live migration.Intermediate
• Log AggregationCollecting logs from many systems into a central store for search, correlation, retention, and alerting.Foundational
• Measured ServiceNIST cloud characteristic: resource usage is metered, monitored and reported, enabling pay-per-use billing and transparency.Foundational
• Memory OvercommitmentAllocating more total memory to VMs than the physical host has, relying on reclamation techniques when demand peaks.Intermediate
• MonitoringCollecting, aggregating, and alerting on predefined metrics and checks to detect known failure conditions.Foundational
• Multi-Site Active-ActiveDR and availability strategy where full production capacity runs simultaneously in multiple regions, all serving traffic.Advanced
• MulticloudStrategy of using services from two or more public cloud providers within one organization or architecture.Foundational
• MultitenancyArchitecture where multiple customers (tenants) share the same physical infrastructure or application instance with logical isolation.Foundational
• Mutable InfrastructureInfrastructure that is updated in place after provisioning, for example by patching or reconfiguring running servers.Foundational
• NAT GatewayManaged network address translation service that lets private-subnet resources initiate outbound internet connections while blocking inbound ones.Foundational
• Network File System (NFS)A file-sharing protocol common in Unix and Linux environments, using TCP and UDP port 2049.Intermediate
• Network-Attached Storage (NAS)A storage device connected to a network that provides file-level access using protocols such as SMB and NFS.Foundational
• NIST Definition of Cloud Computing (NIST SP 800-145)The NIST special publication that defines cloud computing via 5 essential characteristics, 3 service models and 4 deployment models.Foundational
• Object StorageStorage architecture that manages data as objects with metadata and unique keys in a flat namespace, accessed via HTTP APIs.Foundational
• On-Demand Self-ServiceNIST cloud characteristic: consumers provision compute, storage or network resources automatically without human interaction with the provider.Foundational
• Open Virtualization Format (OVF)A DMTF standard for packaging VMs and virtual appliances; OVA is a single-file tar archive of an OVF package.Intermediate
• Operational Expenditure (OpEx)Ongoing spending on services and operations, such as monthly cloud bills, expensed in the period incurred.Foundational
• Pets vs CattleAn analogy contrasting uniquely cared-for servers (pets) with interchangeable, replaceable servers (cattle).Foundational
• Pilot LightDR strategy keeping a minimal core of critical systems, such as replicated databases, running in the recovery region, scaled up during disaster.Intermediate
• Platform as a Service (PaaS)Cloud service model where the provider manages infrastructure and runtime; the customer deploys and manages applications and data.Foundational
• Private CloudDeployment model where cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a single organization, on or off premises.Foundational
• Provisioned IOPS (PIOPS)Storage performance option where a specific number of I/O operations per second is purchased and guaranteed for a volume.Intermediate
• Public CloudDeployment model where infrastructure is owned by a provider and shared among the general public on a pay-per-use basis.Foundational
• RAID 10A nested level that stripes data across mirrored pairs, combining RAID 1 redundancy with RAID 0 performance.Foundational
• RAID 5Striping with distributed single parity across three or more drives, tolerating one drive failure.Foundational
• Rapid ElasticityNIST cloud characteristic: capabilities can be provisioned and released quickly, often automatically, to scale with demand.Foundational
• Recovery Point Objective (RPO)Maximum acceptable amount of data loss measured in time before a disruption.Foundational
• Recovery Time Objective (RTO)Maximum acceptable time to restore a service after a disruption.Foundational
• Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)A technique combining multiple drives into one logical unit for performance, redundancy or both, using striping, mirroring or parity.Foundational
• RefactorMigration strategy that re-architects an application to use cloud-native features, also called re-architect.Foundational
• RegionSeparate geographic area where a cloud provider operates one or more data centers, usually grouped into availability zones.Foundational
• RehostMigration strategy that moves applications to the cloud without modification, commonly called lift and shift.Foundational
• ReplatformMigration strategy that makes a few cloud optimizations without changing core architecture, sometimes called lift, tinker and shift.Foundational
• RepurchaseMigration strategy that replaces an existing application with a different product, typically a SaaS offering; also called drop and shop.Foundational
• Resource PoolingNIST cloud characteristic: provider resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers in a multi-tenant model with location independence.Foundational
• Resource TaggingAttaching key-value metadata labels to cloud resources for cost allocation, automation, access control and organization.Foundational
• Restore TestingRegularly verifying that backups can actually be restored and meet recovery objectives.Foundational
• RetainMigration strategy of keeping an application in its current environment for now, also called revisit.Foundational
• RetireMigration strategy of decommissioning applications that are no longer needed rather than moving them.Foundational
• RightsizingMatching resource types and sizes to actual workload requirements to eliminate waste while maintaining performance.Foundational
• ScalabilityAbility of a system to handle increased load by adding resources, either vertically or horizontally.Foundational
• ScriptingWriting small programs, typically in interpreted languages such as Bash, Python, or PowerShell, to automate repetitive tasks.Foundational
• Security as a Service (SECaaS)Delivery of security capabilities, such as email filtering, web gateways or SIEM, as cloud-hosted subscription services.Intermediate
• Security BaselineA documented minimum set of security configurations and controls that a system type must meet.Foundational
• Security Group (SG)Stateful virtual firewall attached to instances or network interfaces that allows specified inbound and outbound traffic.Foundational
• Serverless ComputingCloud execution model where the provider manages servers and scaling, and customers pay only for actual usage.Foundational
• Service Level Agreement (SLA)Contractual commitment from a provider defining service availability or performance targets and remedies if they are missed.Foundational
• Shared Responsibility ModelFramework dividing security and operational duties between the cloud provider (of the cloud) and customer (in the cloud).Foundational
• ShowbackReporting cloud costs to the teams or business units that incurred them without actually billing them.Foundational
• Single Point of Failure (SPOF)Component whose failure stops the entire system because no redundant alternative exists.Foundational
• Site-to-Site VPNEncrypted IPsec tunnel over the internet connecting an on-premises network to a cloud virtual network.Foundational
• Software as a Service (SaaS)Cloud service model delivering complete applications over the internet; the provider manages everything except user data and access.Foundational
• Software-Defined Storage (SDS)Storage in which management and data services run as software on commodity hardware, decoupled from proprietary arrays.Intermediate
• Sovereign CloudCloud offering designed so data, operations and control remain within a specific jurisdiction to satisfy sovereignty laws.Intermediate
• Stateless ApplicationApplication that keeps no client session data on the server, so any instance can handle any request.Intermediate
• Storage Area Network (SAN)A dedicated high-speed network that gives servers block-level access to shared storage.Intermediate
• Storage LatencyThe time taken to complete a single storage I/O request, usually measured in milliseconds or microseconds.Intermediate
• Storage SnapshotA point-in-time, typically space-efficient image of a volume, created using copy-on-write or redirect-on-write.Intermediate
• Storage TieringAutomatically placing data on different classes of media, such as NVMe, SSD, HDD or cloud, based on access frequency and policy.Intermediate
• Synthetic Full BackupA full backup assembled on the backup server from an earlier full and subsequent incrementals, without re-reading production data.Intermediate
• TerraformHashiCorp's infrastructure as code tool that provisions resources across many providers using declarative HCL configuration.Foundational
• Thin ProvisioningAllocating storage capacity on demand as data is written rather than reserving the full size upfront.Foundational
• ThroughputThe actual rate of successful data delivery over a link or path, usually lower than the rated bandwidth.Foundational
• Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)Full cost of owning and operating an IT system over its life, including hardware, facilities, power, staff and licensing.Foundational
• Type 1 HypervisorA bare-metal hypervisor that runs directly on server hardware without a general-purpose host operating system.Foundational
• Type 2 HypervisorA hosted hypervisor that runs as an application on top of a conventional operating system.Foundational
• Vendor Lock-InDependence on a provider's proprietary services or formats that makes switching providers costly or difficult.Foundational
• Vertical ScalingIncreasing or decreasing capacity by changing the size of an existing resource, such as more CPU or RAM; also called scaling up/down.Foundational
• Virtual CPU (vCPU)A virtual processor presented to a VM, scheduled by the hypervisor onto physical cores or threads.Intermediate
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)Hosting desktop operating systems in VMs in the data center or cloud and delivering them to users over a remote display protocol.Foundational
• Virtual Machine (VM)A software-defined computer with virtual hardware that runs its own operating system on top of a hypervisor.Foundational
• Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK)The VMware virtual disk file format storing a VM's disk contents on a datastore.Foundational
• Virtual Machine SnapshotA point-in-time capture of a VM's disk state, and optionally memory, used for short-term rollback.Foundational
• Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)Logically isolated virtual network in a public cloud where customers define IP ranges, subnets, routing and security controls.Foundational
• VM TemplateA master copy of a configured VM used to deploy consistent new VMs quickly.Foundational
• VPC Flow LogsFeature that captures metadata about IP traffic going to and from network interfaces in a virtual network.Intermediate
• Warm StandbyDR strategy running a scaled-down but fully functional copy of production in another site, scaled up on failover.Intermediate