Knowledge Check - Cloud Concepts
Test your understanding of the key concepts from Module 1. Select the best answer for each question, then submit to see your results. You need to score at least 60% to pass.
Which cloud characteristic describes the ability of a system to automatically provision and release compute resources in real time to match current workload demand, without manual intervention?
Elasticity is the dynamic, automatic provisioning and de-provisioning of resources to match changing demand in real time - for example, adding virtual machines when CPU load spikes and removing them when demand drops. Scalability is the broader ability to grow capacity to handle increasing workloads, but it does not imply automation. On-demand self-service means you can provision resources yourself without provider involvement, while resource pooling refers to shared physical hardware serving multiple customers. This distinction is covered in Unit 1.1, Section 1.1.
A company is migrating to IONOS Cloud and wants to reduce its infrastructure costs. Which pricing option provides discounts that scale with commitment length, roughly 15% for a one-year term and up to 40% for a three-year term, in exchange for committing to a baseline amount of CPU cores and RAM?
IONOS Cloud Savings Plans offer reduced CPU and RAM costs compared to standard pay-as-you-go pricing, roughly 15% for a one-year commitment and up to 40% for a three-year commitment (measured against the standard Intel-baseline PAYG rate), in exchange for a commitment to a specified resource amount. Critically, the discount applies flexibly across VM families, sizes, and regions - unlike reserved instances tied to a specific configuration. Pay-as-you-go provides maximum flexibility at standard rates. Spot pricing is not an IONOS pricing model. Cloud Savings Plans are covered in Unit 1.2, Section 2.2.
In the shared responsibility model, which area of responsibility always remains with the customer regardless of whether they are using IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS?
Across all three service models - IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS - the customer retains responsibility for their data and for managing who can access it. Operating system patching is a customer responsibility only in IaaS; in PaaS and SaaS the provider handles it. Runtime and middleware management shifts to the provider in PaaS and SaaS. Physical data center security is always the provider's responsibility. This division is illustrated in the shared responsibility table in Unit 1.3, Section 4.2.
A development team wants to deploy containerized workloads without managing a Kubernetes control plane, operating system patches, or cluster scaling. Which IONOS Cloud service model best fits this requirement?
Managed Kubernetes is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering where IONOS manages the control plane, security patches, and scaling, letting the development team focus on deploying and managing their applications. Compute Engine and Cubes are IaaS services that give the customer full control over the operating system - which means the team would need to manage the OS, patching, and Kubernetes setup themselves. SaaS delivers complete applications, not infrastructure for running custom containerized workloads. PaaS services for this use case are covered in Unit 1.3, Section 2.3.
Which of the following best describes why European organizations choose IONOS Cloud to meet data sovereignty requirements?
IONOS Cloud provides guaranteed European data residency: when you select a European region such as Berlin or Frankfurt, your data stays within the EU and is subject to EU law, not US regulations like the US Cloud Act. IONOS does not automatically replicate data across regions - customers are responsible for multi-region distribution. Pricing competitiveness is a separate concern and not the basis for sovereignty compliance. A Data Processing Agreement (DPA) is still required and provided by IONOS as part of GDPR compliance. Data sovereignty is covered in Unit 1.1, Section 3.1 and Unit 1.2, Section 4.1.