Chapter 1
Cloud Architecture
Course: Comptia Cloud Cv0 004
Subject: Comptia Cloud Cv0004
Chapter: Cloud Architecture
Compute Resources in Cloud Environments
Cloud computing provides a range of compute options tailored for different types of workloads. These compute models differ in abstraction level, isolation, startup latency, scalability, and operational overhead.
1. Virtual Machines (VMs)
Definition:
A Virtual Machine (VM) is a full emulation of a physical computer, including its operating system and hardware resources. It runs on top of a hypervisor (like VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, KVM, or Xen) which abstracts the physical hardware and enables multiple VMs to run on a single host. Each VM includes:
- A guest OS (Linux, Windows, etc.)
- Dedicated virtualized CPU, RAM, storage
- Virtual network interface cards (vNICs)
Pros:
- Strong isolation and security boundaries:
VMs are isolated by hardware virtualization. Even if one VM is compromised, the risk to others is minimal.