CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Guide (Exam CV0-003): Everything you need to know to pass the CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 exam (English Edition)

By Gopi Krishna Nuti

CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 Certification is highly regarded as a performance-based IT certification that recognizes the significance of cloud-based infrastructure services. If you aspire to enhance your career prospects in the dynamic field of cloud computing, this certification is well-suited for you.

This book is an essential resource that empowers you with the necessary knowledge and abilities to thrive in the rapidly evolving realm of cloud computing. By offering clear and succinct explanations, and practical exercises, the book comprehensively addresses all crucial areas and objectives of the Cloud+ CV0-003 exam. You will develop a profound comprehension of cloud architecture, deployment models, security considerations, troubleshooting techniques, and more. Moreover, this guide surpasses exam preparation by presenting real-world scenarios and industry best practices, enabling readers to effectively apply their knowledge in their professional roles.

Upon completing this book, you will have acquired a comprehensive understanding of cloud computing and its various facets.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BPB Online LLP
• Release date: Jul 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9789355513946

Book preview

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Introduction to CV0-003 Exam

Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the CompTIA® Cloud+ certification examination to readers. This chapter covers the purpose of the examination, who can attempt the exam, how to register for it, and what is expected from those who clear the examination. It also provides guidance on how to approach this book and how to prepare for the examination.

Structure

The following topics are covered in this chapter:

About CompTIA

About CV0-003 exam

Who should take this exam?

About this book

Exam Readiness Checklist

About CompTIA®

The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a leading vendor-neutral, independent source of information, education, training, and certification for the global IT workforce. They offer training and certifications on emerging technologies. Their membership and certification holders span the range of technology companies from established Fortune 500 leaders to small- and medium-sized tech businesses. By remaining vendor neutral, their certifications aim to evaluate the test takes on the concepts that are relevant to the industry without being confined to a single vendor.

About CV0-003 exam

CompTIA’s Cloud+ is a global certification that validates the skills needed to deploy and automate secure cloud environments that support the high availability of business systems and data. It is a performance-based IT certification that views cloud-based infrastructure services in the context of broader IT systems operations, regardless of the platform. CompTIA Cloud+ validates the technical skills needed to deploy, optimize, and protect mission critical applications and data storage.

There are no prerequisites for attempting the examination. CompTIA recommends a total of 5 years of IT experience, including 2-3 years of networking or systems administration experience, but it is not mandatory. The exam itself contains 90 questions that are mostly multiple-choice questions. A few performance-based questions are also included where the candidate should understand a given exhibit and answer questions based on that. In the 90-minute test, the candidate should score 750 marks out of 900. Being a vendor-neutral examination, the questions will not be specific to any cloud vendor.

From the date of acquiring, the certificate is valid for 3 years. After this period, candidates can renew their certificate by following the CompTIA’s Continuing Education program. Candidates can renew their certification by collecting and reporting 50 Continuing Education Units within 3 years.

The Cloud+ certification examination is continuously updated by CompTIA to ensure that it meets the latest industry requirements. CV0-003 is the latest version of the Cloud+ certification. It includes questions across five domains, which are listed in the following table:

Table 1.1: Distribution of questions in CV0-003 exam

Compared to CV0-002, the latest exam dropped the topic of Systems Administration and included the topics of High-availability, Automation and virtualization content, and Cloud architecture.

Who should take this exam?

CompTIA Cloud+ is ideal for cloud engineers who need to have expertise across multiple products and systems. As per CompTIA, the following job roles are primary and secondary beneficiaries of obtaining a Cloud+ certification. This content is taken as is from CompTIA’s website at https://www.comptia.org/blog/the-new-comptia-cloud-your-questions-answered.

Primary Job Roles for CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003

Senior systems administrator: A cloud systems administrator develops, maintains, and troubleshoots the network connections of cloud computing resources.

Systems engineer: Systems engineers monitor and manage hardware and software, and provide guidance when needed to their team to keep everything running smoothly.

Cloud engineer: A cloud engineer is responsible for maintaining the cloud so that it addresses the business’s needs fully and accurately.

Secondary Job Roles for CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003

Senior network administrator: A network administrator supports the company’s internal servers in installing and maintaining network and hardware systems.

Senior network engineer: Network engineers are responsible for building and designing communication networks. They are also called network architects.

Cloud specialist: Cloud specialists help organizations migrate their information and services to the cloud.

Cloud project manager: Project managers set timelines for projects and keep the group in scope and on budget.

Anyone wanting to showcase their knowledge of the cloud computing concepts and targeting the mentioned roles can attempt the exam and benefit from it.

About this book

This book is meant as a comprehensive guide for all information needed to successfully complete the CV0-003 examination. The book does not assume any prior knowledge of cloud computing. However, a basic knowledge of IT industry and the way of working of IT professionals is assumed.

Exam readiness checklist

Test takers are recommended to read the book thoroughly before scheduling the examination. Questions provided at the end of every chapter should be thoroughly practiced. Of particular importance is Chapter 14, which is a mock practice examination. It is highly recommended for candidates to practice the examinations in a timed manner and test their knowledge against the answer key provided. It is suggested to aim for a 90% correctness in these mock tests before appearing for the CV0-003 examination. Once you are confident of your scores, you should visit www.comptia.org and schedule your examination as per instructions on CompTIA’s website. Refer to the following table:

Table 1.2: Exam readiness checklist

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Overview of Cloud Computing

Introduction

This chapter shall provide an introduction to the concept of the cloud. We will look at how the idea of virtual machines started from the earliest days of computing, that is, the MULTICS Operating System, Unix. We will discuss how innovations in networking and computing have made computing ubiquitous and affordable to all. We will also briefly discuss the economic drivers, such as economies of scale and Capex/Opex considerations, that have driven cloud adoption in the enterprise.

Moving on, we will discuss the basic terminology of Cloud Computing. An eagle’s eye view of cloud-based application development will highlight the salient differences between traditional application development (that is, standalone/desktop applications) and cloud-based applications.

Structure

We will look at the following topics in this chapter:

History of cloud computing

Innovations in networking

Innovations in computing

Cloud service offerings

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

Anything as a Service (XaaS)

Cloud Delivery Models

Private Cloud

Public Cloud

Hybrid Cloud

Community Cloud

Common Cloud Jargon

Cloud developer beginner questions

History of cloud computing

The earliest computers were costly machines and very slow in computing speed. As the computing power of the systems increased, it was observed that all programs do not utilize the entire CPU. The concept of time-sharing emerged in the 1960s, with the idea of using the idle time of CPUs and improving the cost-efficiency of computing. Improvements in hardware and software algorithms have allowed enterprises to rent out their computing power to third-parties and monetize the idle time of their systems. This gradually became a business model where large organizations procured expensive computing power, and third parties used and paid for it on-demand.

Salesforce pioneered the revolution when it released its enterprise software as a subscription model known as SaaS. Amazon started offering storage and virtual machines over the internet and revolutionized the computing world with its IaaS model. Google offered a PaaS offering named Google App Engine, which provided a platform for application development over the internet. Coupled with significant hardware advances like hypervisors, hardware-assisted virtualization, and software innovations like Docker containers, software-defined networking, and so on, cloud computing redefined the software development paradigm and became the next big it thing.

Innovations in networking

It will be remiss if we do not consider the advances in networking that have contributed to the cloud computing phenomenon. When the concept of time sharing was in its infancy, the USA’s Department of Defence invested in other research at its Advanced Research Projects Agency. Computer networking is one of the many stellar inventions that came out of this place. It evolved into the internet and proved to be a major game changer for humanity. Evolution in networking like TCP/IP protocols, DNS, LANs, and improvements like Coaxial cables, fiber optics, routers, switches, and so on contributed to a steep reduction in data transfer cost while allowing for increasing complexity in computer networks. Innovations like software-defined networking have brough about significant maturity in cloud computing.

Innovations in computing

Several improvements in software have also contributed to the Cloud Computing phenomenon. Virtualization is the foundation of Cloud Computing, and software development has gradually moved away from monoliths to modular architectures. Improvements like client-server architectures, microservices, APIs, protocols like HTTP, REST, and so on, and disciplines like DevOps and extreme programming have all made Cloud Computing possible.

Cloud service offerings

In the previous paragraphs, we talked about Saas, Paas and IaaS offerings from Salesforce, Google and AWS, respectively. In this section, we will discuss them in detail. We will demystify the terms and discuss the differences and similarities between these offerings in layman terms. The most important differentiator between service offerings is the flexibility for the customers and responsibility distribution between customer and service providers.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

In a SaaS model, the application is installed on a remote server. End users access the application typically via a web browser. The entire infrastructure complexity is hidden from the end user in this model. If you have ever used web-based email services like Gmail and Yahoo, then you have used a SaaS cloud offering. This approach provides maximum control to the application developer and places minimum constraints on end user environment requirements. Salesforce was the first company to offer its CRM software as a SaaS offering. Customers pay for the services only to the extent they use those services. Applications like OneDrive, and GDrive are all examples of SaaS products.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

In a PaaS model, the service provider does not provide application software. They deliver the framework needed for building an enterprise-grade application. For example, you might want to host a web application. Using a Paas provider, you need not build web servers and other infrastructure. You can upload only your application code, and the PaaS provider shall take the responsibility of deployment, capacity provisioning, load balancing, and so on. Developers no longer need to worry about maintaining the underlying building blocks, reducing the amount of code to be written. Building a highly scalable application has become simpler than an altogether homegrown solution. Providers charge only for the services used. So, if the user demand is not high, then the organization’s finances will not get locked into purchasing expensive hardware and infrastructure.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

In an IaaS model, the cloud provider delivers raw infrastructure to the users. These can be virtual CPUs, RAM, GPUs, storage, network interfaces, and so on. Cloud service providers own the physical devices and ensure their upkeep. Users have complete flexibility in configuring and using these machines. Providing redundant machines and power supplies is the responsibility of the service provider. Organizations pay for these resources for actual usage, which is typically significantly cheaper than the cost of procuring physical devices. Admins can commission and decommission virtual machines quickly, improving the organization’s agility. Organizations can considerably reduce their capital expenditure requirements with the pay-as-you-go model.

It is essential to understand the different models adequately. All other cloud service models are essentially a variation of these three models. For example, Machine Learning as a Service is a PaaS model dedicated to Artificial Intelligence, and Communication as a Service (CaaS) is an intriguing combination of SaaS and PaaS.

Table 2.1 explains the differences between the different service offerings in generic and non-technical terms. We will revisit these differences in significant and technical detail again in Chapter 9, Migrating a Business Application to Cloud, when discussing cloud migrations.

Table 2.1 : Comparison of Cloud Service Offerings

Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

Desktop as a Service is also called a CloudPC. It is essentially a variation of SaaS. The end user gets a complete desktop virtually, which eliminates investment in purchasing a PC of their own yet provides the facilities of a personal computer at a low price point.

Anything as a Service (XaaS)

X stands for Anything. XaaS means that anything shall be delivered in a service model. The service provided could be a Database (DBaaS), Business Process (BPaaS), Communications (CaaS) or even a laptop.

Cloud delivery models

We have seen the different business models for cloud service offerings. Now we will look into the cloud delivery models. Choosing the cloud service offering is a design decision for an enterprise application developer. However, choosing the cloud delivery model is an organizational decision involving multiple aspects of the business. When selecting a cloud delivery model, organizations have to weigh decisions regarding administrative, data safety, legal, financial and other such concerns.

In typical data center-based enterprise application development, organizations procure high-performance hardware and build redundancies and fault tolerance. The choice of cloud delivery model redistributes this responsibility between the cloud service provider and the organization. The standard cloud delivery models are private clouds, public clouds, hybrid clouds and community clouds.

Private cloud

In a private cloud, the computing systems that host the virtual machines and enterprise software are owned, operated, and maintained by the organization’s IT department. This approach is comparable to maintaining traditional data centers. The IT support team function expands to support virtualization but otherwise remains the same. This model is helpful if the organization has already spent a considerable amount of money setting up its own data centers and on upkeep. However, the financial benefits of a private cloud are the lowest as compared to those of all the other delivery models.

Public cloud

The cloud service provider is a distinct organization catering to multiple cloud customers in a public cloud. CSP provides the IaaS/PaaS services consumed by the customer organization’s developers and administrators. The organization can choose to use them to build either a development environment for internal use or an end-user-facing SaaS application. The CSP provider uses the same hardware to create a virtual platform for multiple client organizations and distributes costs across multiple clients. By doing so, CSPs can bring down the price point for each customer. This is known as economies of scale and is a significant driver for adopting public clouds among startups. During the early days of the cloud computing revolution, large organizations faced stiff resistance from their internal IT teams and legal departments regarding the risk of data breaches. Subsequent improvements in hardware and software have allayed these fears.

Hybrid cloud

A hybrid cloud is a combination of private and public clouds. Organizations mix and match the capabilities of their internal cloud capabilities along with those of public clouds. Organizations can achieve a wide range of capabilities without compromising on non-negotiable business or legal constraints when using a hybrid cloud approach. For example, an organization may choose to use their private cloud only for storing data and public cloud for hosting their application software. This allows them to retain complete control of sensitive data while providing flexibilities like low latency, auto-scaling and so on.

Community cloud

A community cloud offering is similar to a public cloud, with one crucial difference. A community cloud is a custom-built cloud that meets the requirements of a specific group of companies or teams with similar infrastructure requirements. A public cloud is open to all individuals or organizations (unless prohibited by legal concerns). On the other hand, the community cloud has specific functionalities built to cater only to a set of organizations. For example, all banks have similar requirements regarding the availability of their systems, data backups and retention, and so on. So, it might be beneficial to build a community cloud only catering to FinTech customers. Such a community cloud might not be helpful for college students who only want to understand web application development. Table 2.2 provides an overview of the differences between multiple delivery models:

Table 2.2 : Comparison of Cloud Delivery Models

Figure 2.1 depicts how benefits differ for each delivery model:

Figure 2.1: Benefit differences for cloud delivery models

Common cloud jargon

As with any other business or technical domain, Cloud Computing has evolved to encompass several concepts. These concepts might often look like jargon to those unfamiliar with them, but as with most jargon, the underlying ideas are straightforward and easy to understand. The following is a list of terminologies one can expect to encounter when working with Cloud computing. There are certainly many more, but these should give you a general understanding of the concepts and help you engage in meaningful conversation:

On-premise hosting is the traditional way in which organizations host their data centers. Virtualized machines are hosted by the hardware on the premises of the organization. This is like a private cloud.

Off-premise hosting refers to hosting the virtual machines elsewhere, not in the organization’s own data centers. It is similar to public or community clouds.

Orchestration refers to the automation of the day-to-day administrative activities performed by IT teams in the cloud. Any business will have policies and procedures for tasks to meet their service-level agreements. Automating these tasks is crucial to achieving organizational agility.

Orchestration platforms provide automated tools to perform the tasks. They reduce a significant workload for IT administrators. For example, an orchestration platform might provide a template for creating virtual machines. Administrators need only fill up the template, and the platform will take care of building, spawning and maintaining the virtual machine based on that template.

Scalability is a cloud feature that allows data centers to handle larger workloads by adding additional physical machines (scale-out) or replacing the device with another higher configuration (scale-up).

Elasticity refers to a characteristic of a cloud that allows the organization to pool all its resources and utilize the idle resources without having to invest in additional hardware. The elasticity of the cloud permits developers to scale up/scale out their virtual machines on short notice.

On-demand service is a significant characteristic of cloud computing. It refers to a facility by which computing resources are made available to the user on an as needed basis. The user pays only for the actual usage of resources. It is also known as the Pay-as-you-Go model.

Pay-as-you-Grow is a different way of marketing on-demand services. Using a CSP allows the start-up to scale-up/scale-out as their business expands. Start-ups need not invest in expensive hardware upfront but can increase their infrastructure as they grow.

Ubiquitous access refers to cloud capabilities being available anywhere to their users. Whether the user is using a PC from within their company’s network or via a home Wi-Fi or internet kiosk, the cloud’s resources are available the same way. Individual organizations might place administrative constraints to restrict such access, but that is not a restriction for the cloud service provider itself.

Chargeback originates from an accounting concept known as activity-based costing. An organization typically has multiple teams using the cloud resources to different extents. The management needs to know how much each team’s usage has contributed to the overall cloud costs. This knowledge allows them to judge the return on investment and other such factors in a more informed manner. Distributing the cloud costs to individual resources or teams is called chargeback.

Metering is measuring the usage of cloud resources by each customer. Customers might place quotas and upper limits on cloud resource usage to prevent unintended costs from exhausting the budgets. The limits can be on CPU usage time, memory, network usage and uptime.

Multi-tenancy is an architecture wherein multiple tenants, that is, clients, are served by a single application server. However, one tenant cannot access or modify the data belonging to another tenant. Gmail and Yahoo mail are good examples of multi-tenant SaaS. The same server serves multiple email users, but no user can read another user’s email. In PaaS, the same platform serves the building blocks for different customers, but one customer cannot access or modify another customer’s data. Extending to IaaS, the same physical computer runs multiple virtual machines for different customers, but one virtual machine cannot share the data of another virtual machine. In single-tenant architecture, a virtual resource is limited to one tenant. Compared to multi-tenancy, single-tenancy can be more straightforward in terms of security but more expensive.

Cloud bursting is a technique employed in hybrid clouds, where the application typically runs on the private cloud but bursts onto the public cloud to meet higher demands of computing resources. For example, a retail company might have their own data center to host their applications but might want to use cloud servers for special sale days where shopping traffic might be very high. This technique is known as cloud bursting.

Autoscaling is a technique used by combining many of the concepts mentioned above. CSPs provide a way for the application to run on multiple VMs when the demand is high using elasticity. This flexibility of scaling out virtual machines is known as autoscaling.

Cloud elements are different elements that make up a cloud environment. While it is very