Lesson 7: Cloud and Virtualization
Week of Mon, Nov 2 · lesson closes Sun, Nov 8
By the end of this lesson you can:
- →Compare public, private, hybrid, and community cloud deployment models and their trade-offs. CCR-5 MSDE-CTE-IT-4.1 MSDE-CTE-IT-5.1 FC0-U71 3.4
- →Identify IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS service models and their respective customer responsibilities. CCR-5 MSDE-CTE-IT-4.1 MSDE-CTE-IT-5.1 FC0-U71 3.4
- →Explain cloud storage types and data protection strategies including the 3-2-1 backup rule. CCR-5 MSDE-CTE-IT-4.1 MSDE-CTE-IT-5.1 FC0-U71 2.5
- →Describe Type 1 and Type 2 hypervisors, VM snapshots, and container technology. CCR-5 MSDE-CTE-IT-4.1 MSDE-CTE-IT-5.1 FC0-U71 3.4
Take Meerk's quiz for Lesson 7
This lesson's items
Exact due times are in Canvas.
Watch — Professor Messer
Professor Messer's Free A+ 220-1201 Training Course
Free, independent educational resource. Not affiliated with or endorsed by CompTIA. Watch, then read the notes below.
Know these cold
Cloud Service Models
- IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): virtual machines, storage, networking — you manage the OS and above (AWS EC2, Azure VMs).
- PaaS (Platform as a Service): runtime environment for developers — you manage only your application code (Heroku, Google App Engine).
- SaaS (Software as a Service): fully managed application — you just use it (Gmail, Office 365, Salesforce).
- Responsibility model: IaaS = most customer responsibility; SaaS = most provider responsibility.
Cloud Deployment Models
- Public cloud: infrastructure shared among many tenants, managed by provider (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).
- Private cloud: dedicated infrastructure for one organization; more control and security, higher cost.
- Hybrid cloud: combination of public and private clouds; allows sensitive data on-premises, scalable workloads in public cloud.
- Community cloud: shared infrastructure for a specific group (e.g., government agencies or healthcare organizations).
Virtualization
- A hypervisor runs multiple virtual machines (VMs) on one physical host; Type 1 (bare metal, e.g., VMware ESXi) runs directly on hardware; Type 2 (hosted, e.g., VirtualBox) runs on top of an OS.
- Each VM has its own virtual CPU, RAM, storage, and NIC — isolated from other VMs on the same host.
- Snapshots capture a VM's state at a point in time; used for safe testing and quick rollback.
- Containers (Docker) are lighter than VMs — they share the OS kernel but isolate the application and its dependencies.
Cloud Storage and Backup
- Object storage (S3, Azure Blob) stores unstructured data as objects with metadata; scales to petabytes easily.
- Block storage is like a virtual hard drive attached to a VM; used for databases and OS volumes.
- The 3-2-1 backup rule: 3 copies, on 2 different media types, with 1 copy offsite (or in the cloud).
- RTO (Recovery Time Objective) is how fast you must recover; RPO (Recovery Point Objective) is how much data loss is acceptable.
Quick check — before the quiz
1. Which cloud service model gives the customer the MOST responsibility for managing infrastructure?
2. A Type 1 hypervisor runs:
Meerk's quiz — open the Lesson 7 gate
10 questions, no time limit. 85% on your first attempt in a 24-hour window opens the gate. Retakes inside the window are practice — they help you learn, they don't count. Work alone; the point is to know it, not to have seen it.
Stuck?
Raise your hand. Mr. James gets a message right away and can help you remotely. Nothing else is stored — just your last name, grade, and where you're stuck.
Dinner Table Question
Ask at home: When you use Google Docs or iCloud, where is your data actually stored?
En español: Cuando usas Google Docs o iCloud, ¿dónde se almacenan realmente tus datos?