Knowledge Check - IONOS Architecture and Services
Test your understanding of the key concepts from Module 2. Select the best answer for each question, then submit to see your results. You need to score at least 60% to pass.
A development team wants to build separate environments for production and testing on IONOS Cloud. They need each environment to have its own isolated network and resources, but both must be located in the same physical data center. Which IONOS Cloud concept best supports this requirement?
A Virtual Data Center (VDC) is a logically isolated container where you provision and manage compute, storage, and networking resources, and each VDC is created in a specific region (such as de/txl or de/fra). Because VDCs are logical constructs, you can create multiple VDCs within the same region to separate environments while keeping them in the same physical location. A region defines the geographic location, not the isolation boundary, and Cross Connect is used to link private networks between VDCs - not to isolate them. This concept is covered in Unit 2.1.
A financial services company runs a real-time transaction processing workload that requires consistent, predictable CPU performance without any interference from neighboring virtual machines. Which IONOS compute option is the best match for this requirement?
A Dedicated Core server gives each VM an exclusive physical CPU core (with Hyper-Threading providing two logical threads), which eliminates "steal time" caused by other tenants sharing the same hardware. This makes it the right choice for performance-intensive workloads like real-time transaction processing where consistent CPU performance is critical. vCPU servers use shared physical CPUs across multiple tenants, so performance can vary. Cubes and VM Auto Scaling address different needs - fixed VPS templates and horizontal scaling respectively - not CPU isolation. This is covered in Unit 2.2.
A media company stores thousands of video files that must remain available for years, be accessible from any location, and cost as little as possible to store. They do not need the files to be attached to a virtual machine. Which IONOS storage service is the most appropriate choice?
IONOS Cloud Object Storage is designed for storing large amounts of unstructured data such as videos, images, and logs using an S3-compatible interface. Objects are accessible via HTTP/HTTPS from anywhere, do not need to be attached to a virtual machine, and can use lifecycle rules to manage costs over time. Block Storage (SSD) is a network-attached volume for active workloads on a running server. NFS is best for shared file access between multiple compute instances. The Backup Service is focused on protecting existing server data, not on cost-efficient long-term media archival. This concept is covered in Unit 2.3.
A team is deploying a web application that uses HTTP and HTTPS traffic. They need the load balancer to route requests to different backend server groups based on the URL path - for example, /api traffic goes to one group and /static traffic goes to another. Which IONOS load balancer should they use?
The Managed Application Load Balancer (ALB) operates at Layer 7 of the network stack, which means it can inspect HTTP content and apply advanced routing rules based on URL paths, hostnames, HTTP methods, and headers. This makes it the correct choice for routing /api and /static traffic to separate backend groups. The Managed Network Load Balancer (NLB) operates at Layer 4 (TCP) and supports simple forwarding algorithms and sticky sessions, but it cannot inspect URL paths. The NAT Gateway provides outbound internet access for private LANs, not load balancing. Unit 2.4 covers both load balancer types.
An organization wants to apply consistent firewall rules to a group of virtual machines across their Virtual Data Center, so that all inbound and outbound traffic is controlled from a single policy definition rather than configuring each VM individually. Which IONOS service meets this need?
Network Security Groups (NSGs) let you define firewall rules once and apply them to any number of VMs or NICs within a VDC. Each NSG is stateful, meaning return traffic for allowed connections is automatically permitted without additional rules. You can use a Default NSG to protect all newly created VMs, or create Custom NSGs for specific workload groups. DDoS Protect defends against large-scale volumetric attacks at the network edge and does not provide per-VM rule management. Certificate Manager handles TLS certificate lifecycle, and NAT Gateway manages outbound internet access from private LANs. NSGs are introduced in Unit 2.6.