Cloud Computing Overview

These flashcards cover key concepts in cloud computing and related services, enhancing understanding and retention for exam preparation.

What financial tradeo/ is a core cloud benefit?

Trading capital expense for variable expense.

What cloud benefit comes from being part of hundreds or thousands of users?

Massive economies of scale.

What problem does the cloud help avoid when planning capacity?

Guessing capacity.

What can happen when you under-capacity infrastructure?

Failures, poor experience, stress, and time limits.

What can happen when you over-capacity infrastructure?

Overspending and maintenance burden.

What flexibility does the cloud provide for resources?

You can scale up or down at will.

How does cloud computing affect speed and agility?

It increases speed and agility.

What does IaaS stand for?

Infrastructure as a Service.

What does PaaS stand for?

Platform as a Service.

What does SaaS stand for?

Software as a Service.

What does IAM stand for?

Identity and Access Management.

What three identity constructs can IAM create?

Users, Groups, and Roles.

What are IAM users?

Individual accounts.

How are permissions provided to IAM users?

Based on policies.

What security feature is specifically listed as a key IAM point?

MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication).

What does S3 stand for in AWS?

Simple Storage Service.

What is a bucket in S3?

A container or web folder.

Must S3 bucket names be unique across all of AWS?

Yes.

What are objects in S3?

Entities, or files, stored in S3.

How much data can one S3 object store according to the PDF?

Up to 5 TB per entity.

What is an S3 object made up of?

Data and metadata.

What are keys in S3?

Unique identifiers that identify stored entities.

What does 'durable' mean in the context of S3?

Will my data still be there in the future?

What durability percentage does S3 advertise in the PDF?

99.999999999% durability.

What does 'available' mean in the context of S3?

Can I access my data right now?

What availability percentage is given for S3 Standard Storage Class?

99.99% availability.

What consistency model does a PUT for a new S3 file use according to the PDF?

Read-after-write consistency.

What consistency model does a PUT for an existing file use according to the PDF?

Eventual consistency.

What does EC2 stand for?

Elastic Compute Cloud.

What AWS feature can scale EC2 based on triggers?

Auto Scaling.

What do EC2 instance types define?

Resources such as vCPU, memory, storage, and network.

What availability percentage is listed for EC2?

99.99%.

What backup and recovery mechanism is listed for EC2?

Snapshots.

What AWS service is listed for EC2 encryption?

AWS KMS.

What encryption algorithm is listed for EC2 encryption?

AES-256.

What three EC2 pricing options are listed in the PDF?

On-Demand Instances, Reserved Instances, and Spot Instances.

What is the main creation step listed for EC2 instances?

Create the EC2 instance.

What network environment is listed as the default for EC2 creation?

Default Virtual Private Cloud.

Name one EC2 VM state listed in the PDF.

Started.

Name another EC2 VM state listed in the PDF.

Stopped.

Name another EC2 VM state listed in the PDF.

Terminated.

What type of load balancer is specifically listed in the PDF?

Application Load Balancer.

Name one common load balancer problem listed in the PDF.

Health checks.

What AWS service is presented as serverless compute in the PDF?

Lambda.

Name one benefit of Lambda listed in the PDF.

Cost effective.

What service is listed with the Lambda example?

API Gateway.

What does RDS stand for?

Relational Database Service.

What is RDS according to the PDF?

An easy, managed way to create relational databases in AWS.

What is DynamoDB according to the PDF?

A fast, flexible NoSQL managed database service that scales.

How does DynamoDB store information according to the PDF?

In key-value pairs.

What is ElastiCache according to the PDF?

An easy-to-deploy and operate in-memory cache in the cloud.

What two engines are listed for ElastiCache?

Redis and Memcached.

What is Redshift according to the PDF?

A fast, fully managed, petabyte-scale data warehouse.

What is Amazon Route 53?

A highly available and scalable DNS.

Can Route 53 route users to infrastructure outside AWS?

Yes.

How can Route 53 use health checks?

It can route traffic away from unhealthy applications.

What is CloudWatch according to the PDF?

A service that monitors and alarms based on service metrics.

What is CloudTrail according to the PDF?

A web service that records AWS API calls for your account and delivers logs of those calls.

Which security services are explicitly listed in the Protection Services PDF?

AWS Shield, AWS WAF, AWS Trust Advisor, and AWS Inspector.

According to the shared responsibility PDF description, what is the individual responsible for?

Application and maintenance responsibilities such as security group rules, operating updates, and application settings.

What is the role of cloud computing in financial flexibility?

It trades capital expenses for variable expenses.

What is a key benefit of cloud scalability?

It allows organizations to adjust resources based on current needs.

What potential risk is mitigated by accurate capacity planning in the cloud?

Avoiding failures and poor user experiences.

What happens when infrastructure capacity is not managed correctly?

It can lead to overspending or inadequate performance.

How does cloud computing improve operational agility?

By enabling quicker adjustments to resource allocation.

What is one of the main benefits of using IaaS?

Flexibility in managing infrastructure resources.

What is the purpose of IAM in cloud services?

To manage user identities and access permissions.

What are IAM policies used for?

To define permissions for users and groups.

Why is MFA important in cloud security?

It adds an additional layer of verification for user access.

What type of storage does S3 provide?

Object storage.

How is data organized in S3?

In buckets and objects.

What is the maximum storage size for a single S3 object?

5 TB.

What characterizes the S3 data durability?

It is designed to ensure data is retrievable over time.

What is the significance of S3's high durability percentage?

It indicates a very low likelihood of data loss.

What is the importance of availability in S3 storage?

Ensures user access to data at all times.

What does EC2 enable users to do in AWS?

Run and manage virtual servers.

What triggers can be used for auto-scaling EC2 instances?

Load conditions, time schedules, etc.

What are the main components of an EC2 instance type?

vCPU, memory, storage, and network configuration.

What does a snapshot in EC2 allow you to do?

Create a backup of an instance's volume.

What role does AWS KMS play in security?

Provides encryption for data stored in AWS.

What is a common use case for Spot Instances?

Cost savings on non-critical workloads.

What is the default networking setup for new EC2 instances?

Default Virtual Private Cloud.

What state must an EC2 instance be in to be available for use?

Started.

What is an example of an EC2 instance state that indicates no active resources?

Stopped.

What does it mean when an EC2 instance is terminated?

It is permanently deleted and cannot be restarted.

What type of load balancer optimizes application performance in AWS?

Application Load Balancer.

What common issue can load balancers face?

Handling health checks of target instances.

What is a key benefit of using AWS Lambda?

It eliminates server management.

How does AWS API Gateway relate to serverless architecture?

It allows building APIs for serverless applications.

What type of databases can RDS manage?

Relational databases.

What functionality does DynamoDB provide compared to traditional databases?

Highly scalable and flexible NoSQL model.

What is one of the primary use cases for ElastiCache?

Caching frequently accessed data to improve performance.

What differentiates Redshift from standard databases?

It is optimized for analytical processing at scale.

What features does Amazon Route 53 offer beyond DNS?

Routing and health check capabilities.

What role does CloudWatch serve in cloud management?

Monitoring resources and alerting on performance metrics.

What is the function of CloudTrail in AWS governance?

It records API activity and changes to AWS resources.

What critical area of responsibility lies with users in the shared responsibility model?

Maintaining application security and updates.