CompTIA Cloud+ Practice Test (CV0-003)

The correct answer is 255.255.255.224. This mask corresponds to a /27 prefix, which supports up to 32 IP addresses, 30 of which are usable for hosts when accounting for the network and broadcast addresses. This fits the need for at least 28 devices. 255.255.255.0 is a /24 prefix, which supports up to 256 IP addresses and would also work but does not align with the criteria of efficient IP address usage specified in the question. 255.255.255.240 and 255.255.255.248 are /28 and /29 prefixes, supporting up to 16 and 8 IP addresses, respectively, which are insufficient for the requirement of at least 28 devices.

Using a configuration management database (CMDB) is the best approach to identify unauthorized changes as it provides an organized view of configuration data and a means to understand the relationships between system components. This facilitates the detection and tracking of modifications that diverge from the established baselines. Comparing the current configuration items against the known good baselines will quickly reveal any discrepancies that could be the source of the performance issues.

The Incident Response Coordinator or Manager has the overall responsibility for the incident response process; part of that role includes communication with external parties, such as law enforcement and other agencies. The Coordinator or Manager ensures the right information is communicated to the right stakeholders while managing the incident response from end to end.

Security Analyst is typically responsible for analyzing the incident, identifying the cause, and suggesting containment measures. Lead Investigator primarily focuses on investigating the breach, leading to identifying the vector and potentially the perpetrators. Forensic Specialist handles evidence collection and analysis, which may then be used by law enforcement, not coordinate with them. Legal Counsel may work with law enforcement, but primarily from a legal compliance and advisory standpoint, rather than leading the incident response effort.

Solution templates are pre-configured blueprints for virtual environments and services which allow for consistent and quick deployments. They ensure that each deployment adheres to certain standards and reduces the time and effort needed to set up complex environments. OS templates refer to pre-configured operating system images, and while they are a possible component of a solution template, they are not the overarching category. API gateways are components that allow for secure data transfer between systems but do not define deployment processes. Compute instances are the VMs themselves, with no relation to the templated deployment processes.

Collecting data over a significant period of time and under different load conditions is essential to establish a meaningful baseline, which can be used to detect anomalies and plan for future capacity needs. Peaks in utilization may only be observed during specific times or events, and capturing data over an extended period ensures that occasional spikes are also included in the baseline. The other options are inadequate because they might not represent the full scope of the environment's performance characteristics. Analyzing only maximum resource utilization or a snapshot of performance at a given time does not provide comprehensive information necessary to establish a detailed baseline.

A Storage Area Network (SAN) is the recommended solution due to its ability to deliver high throughput and low latency, which is crucial for large-scale virtualized environments. SAN is specialized for handling large volumes of block-level data and provides high performance since it operates on a dedicated network, reducing any additional load on the corporate LAN. This makes it highly suitable for enterprise-level storage tasks which demand high availability and management of significant workloads.

When a virtual machine is consuming almost all of its allocated memory without a significant change in workload, the first thing to investigate is memory leaks within the application. Memory leaks occur when an application improperly manages memory allocations, resulting in increasing memory usage that is not released back to the system for other tasks. This gradually reduces the available memory, leading to performance issues. Investigating for misconfigured cache is important but not the primary concern since it is not directly related to a sudden increase in memory usage without workload changes. Inadequate swap space can contribute to performance problems but is unlikely the sole cause if the application's memory consumption is consistently high. Insufficient physical memory would be an issue of resource allocation that should have been flagged before a new workload increase.

The correct answer is Managed NoSQL Database Service. Managed NoSQL Database Services in the cloud are designed to provide high availability and fault tolerance for non-relational databases. They are well-suited for handling unstructured data and can scale to meet high read and write demands, which are fundamental requirements in this particular scenario. In contrast, Relational Database Service would not be suitable since it is optimized for structured data with defined relationships. File Storage Service is incorrect as it is intended for storing files and not for database operations. Lastly, Block Storage Service is also not suitable because it's typically used for databases that require a fixed size of storage and low latency, not for databases with high scalability and unstructured data like NoSQL.

Using password vaults is the correct answer because they offer a secure method for storing and managing credentials. Scripts can programmatically retrieve the necessary passwords or secrets at runtime, which minimizes the risks associated with hardcoded credentials. Hardcoded passwords are a security risk, and using configuration files or environment variables to store them could still expose the credentials if not properly protected.

The correct answer is to review the deployment logs and orchestration configurations because discrepancies in software versions across service nodes suggest an issue with the deployment process. Proper log review can verify if the update reached all intended nodes, and examining the orchestration configurations may reveal misconfigurations or errors leading to this situation. Simply rolling back the update does not directly address the inconsistency or the potential misconfiguration and would only be a temporary solution. Contacting support without first investigating the issue does not utilize the problem-solving abilities of a cloud professional and may delay resolving the problem.

The correct answer is 'An inadequate allocation of processing power for the service,' because high usage of processing capabilities often indicates that the service has been allocated insufficient resources to handle its workload. This can lead to performance issues such as slow processing times and decreased responsiveness. The terms 'processing capability' and 'service' are used instead of specific terms like 'CPU' and 'VM' in the question to avoid reusing terms from the answers. 'Network constraints' and 'high memory demand' could also impact performance, but they are less likely to cause peaks in processing capability usage. 'Inefficient coding practices' might contribute to performance issues, but they would not directly explain the indicators of high processing capability usage that has been observed.

While all service models provide some level of hardware abstraction, SaaS offerings are specifically designed to deliver end-user applications over the internet, with the service provider managing the underlying infrastructure. This enables users to access the application on various devices with minimal internal IT maintenance efforts. Although PaaS offers high configurability, the greater focus on development and deployment overshoots the company's needs for a ready-to-use application. IaaS still requires the organization to manage the applications, which does not meet the desire to offload maintenance.

Software-defined networking (SDN) allows for the central management of network resources via software-based controllers or APIs. This central control enables rapid adjustments to network configurations in response to changing requirements, something that conventional hardware-based networking does not support as efficiently or dynamically. SDN is often used in cloud computing environments to quickly adapt to the various needs of different workloads and computing tasks by managing the network resources in a programmable way.

Digital signatures provide a means to verify that the documents have not been changed since the signature was applied. They use cryptographic algorithms to create a unique signature for the content of the document, which can be verified using the signer's public key. If the document content changes after the signature is applied, verification will fail, indicating a potential integrity violation. Hashing algorithms alone cannot tie the integrity check to an identity and do not provide non-repudiation. Encrypting document content protects confidentiality but does not by itself provide a way to verify integrity or detect alterations. File system permissions control access but do not provide a mechanism for ensuring or detecting whether file content remains unmodified.

Performing daily full backups ensures that the organization can restore operations from any given day, meeting the requirement for daily state recovery. Full backups are self-contained which simplifies and expedites the restore process, allowing the organization to meet the 2-hour RTO. Incremental backups would require all the backups since the last full backup to be restored, which could extend beyond the 2-hour RTO. Differential backups, while faster to restore than incremental backups, still involve more complexity and time than full backups to achieve a daily state recovery. Lastly, snapshots may be fast to create but can depend on the existing infrastructure to be intact, and don't always fit within backup policies as a standalone solution for meeting RTO requirements for databases.