ZING CERTIFICATION FINAL PAPER 2026
CERTIFICATION EVALUATION QUESTIONS
AND SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
●● Jim the systems admin at a fictitious company is an absolute control
freak! From the list below, choose the most appropriate cloud solution
for him:
a). Virtual Machines
b). Containers
c). Serverless compute
Answer: ANSWER: a). *Virtual Machines.* Because he will emulate a
physical system, Jim can do whatever he likes (e.g. install software,
configure updates etc.)
●● Give the simplest definition of a container.
Answer: A container is similar to a VM but it doesn't need a guest
operating system.
●● What is Serverless Computing?
Answer: Serverless computing lets you run application code(e.g.
functions) without creating, configuring, or maintaining a server. When
compared to VMs and Containers, it is the lightest and fastest
deployment method.
,●● Rob is new to cloud computing and is confused by the terms:
"Vertical Scaling" and "Horizontal" scaling. Give him a brief rundown
on the differences between the two!
Answer: *Vertical scaling*: aka "scaling up", is the process of adding
resources to increase the power of an existing server. Some examples of
vertical scaling are: *adding more CPUs, or adding more memory*.
*Horizontal scaling*: aka "scaling out", is the process of adding more
servers that function together as one unit. For example, *you have more
than one server processing incoming requests*
●● Define: Scalability as it relates to cloud computing
Answer: You can increase or decrease the resources and services used
based upon the needs of your organization.
●● Define: Elasticity as it relates to cloud computing
Answer: As your workload changes due to a spike or drop in demand, a
cloud computing system can compensate by automatically adding or
removing resources. (e.g. a web-site during Black Friday Sale)
●● Define: redundancy as it relates to cloud computing
Answer: If one component fails, another is available to take its place and
its workload.
●● Define: fault-tolerance as it relates to cloud computing
,Answer: Customers and end-users are not impacted when a disaster
occurs.
●● Misha the cloud computing class nerd wants to engage you in a
discussion on Economies of Scale. Start the conversation off with an
adequate definition and an example.
Answer: Economies of scale is *the ability to do things more efficiently
or at a lower-cost per unit when operating at a larger scale.* In other
words, more money is saved, when production rates are higher. Users
also pay less for power consumption, cooling and network connectivity
than they would with on-premises infrastructure.
●● Compare / Contrast CapEx(Capital Expenditure) vs.
OpEx(Operational Expenditure)
Answer: •*Capital Expenditure*: the spending of money on physical
infrastructure up front, and then deducting that expense from your tax
bill over time. CapEx is an upfront cost, which has a value that reduces
over time.
•*Operational Expenditure*: spending money on services or products
now and being billed for them now. You can deduct this expense from
your tax bill in the same year. There's no upfront cost. You pay for a
service or product as you use it.
●● What is the primary benefit of CapEx?
Answer: Fixed Costs and a predictable expense for your budget!
Companies on a tight budget will lean here.
, ●● What is the primary benefit of OpEx?
Answer: Grows if demand is increased and shrinks accordingly. For new
companies / startups this will make lots of sense.
●● What is Cloud agility?
Answer: Cloud agility is the ability to rapidly change an IT
infrastructure to adapt to the evolving needs of the business. For e.g. if
your service peaks one month, you can scale to demand and pay a larger
bill for the month. If the following month the demand drops, you can
reduce the used resources and be charged less. This agility lets you
manage your costs dynamically, optimizing spending as requirements
change.
●● Describe the Public Cloud
Answer: Microsoft Azure is a public cloud provider. There is no local
hardware to manage or keep up-to-date - everything runs on your cloud
provider's hardware. In some cases, you can save additional costs by
sharing computing resources with other cloud users.
●● Give one example of where you would use a public cloud solution
Answer: Deploy a website or blog. The web-server is handled by the
cloud provider. You only worry about managing the site itself.
●● Give three disadvantages to using a public cloud model.
CERTIFICATION EVALUATION QUESTIONS
AND SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
●● Jim the systems admin at a fictitious company is an absolute control
freak! From the list below, choose the most appropriate cloud solution
for him:
a). Virtual Machines
b). Containers
c). Serverless compute
Answer: ANSWER: a). *Virtual Machines.* Because he will emulate a
physical system, Jim can do whatever he likes (e.g. install software,
configure updates etc.)
●● Give the simplest definition of a container.
Answer: A container is similar to a VM but it doesn't need a guest
operating system.
●● What is Serverless Computing?
Answer: Serverless computing lets you run application code(e.g.
functions) without creating, configuring, or maintaining a server. When
compared to VMs and Containers, it is the lightest and fastest
deployment method.
,●● Rob is new to cloud computing and is confused by the terms:
"Vertical Scaling" and "Horizontal" scaling. Give him a brief rundown
on the differences between the two!
Answer: *Vertical scaling*: aka "scaling up", is the process of adding
resources to increase the power of an existing server. Some examples of
vertical scaling are: *adding more CPUs, or adding more memory*.
*Horizontal scaling*: aka "scaling out", is the process of adding more
servers that function together as one unit. For example, *you have more
than one server processing incoming requests*
●● Define: Scalability as it relates to cloud computing
Answer: You can increase or decrease the resources and services used
based upon the needs of your organization.
●● Define: Elasticity as it relates to cloud computing
Answer: As your workload changes due to a spike or drop in demand, a
cloud computing system can compensate by automatically adding or
removing resources. (e.g. a web-site during Black Friday Sale)
●● Define: redundancy as it relates to cloud computing
Answer: If one component fails, another is available to take its place and
its workload.
●● Define: fault-tolerance as it relates to cloud computing
,Answer: Customers and end-users are not impacted when a disaster
occurs.
●● Misha the cloud computing class nerd wants to engage you in a
discussion on Economies of Scale. Start the conversation off with an
adequate definition and an example.
Answer: Economies of scale is *the ability to do things more efficiently
or at a lower-cost per unit when operating at a larger scale.* In other
words, more money is saved, when production rates are higher. Users
also pay less for power consumption, cooling and network connectivity
than they would with on-premises infrastructure.
●● Compare / Contrast CapEx(Capital Expenditure) vs.
OpEx(Operational Expenditure)
Answer: •*Capital Expenditure*: the spending of money on physical
infrastructure up front, and then deducting that expense from your tax
bill over time. CapEx is an upfront cost, which has a value that reduces
over time.
•*Operational Expenditure*: spending money on services or products
now and being billed for them now. You can deduct this expense from
your tax bill in the same year. There's no upfront cost. You pay for a
service or product as you use it.
●● What is the primary benefit of CapEx?
Answer: Fixed Costs and a predictable expense for your budget!
Companies on a tight budget will lean here.
, ●● What is the primary benefit of OpEx?
Answer: Grows if demand is increased and shrinks accordingly. For new
companies / startups this will make lots of sense.
●● What is Cloud agility?
Answer: Cloud agility is the ability to rapidly change an IT
infrastructure to adapt to the evolving needs of the business. For e.g. if
your service peaks one month, you can scale to demand and pay a larger
bill for the month. If the following month the demand drops, you can
reduce the used resources and be charged less. This agility lets you
manage your costs dynamically, optimizing spending as requirements
change.
●● Describe the Public Cloud
Answer: Microsoft Azure is a public cloud provider. There is no local
hardware to manage or keep up-to-date - everything runs on your cloud
provider's hardware. In some cases, you can save additional costs by
sharing computing resources with other cloud users.
●● Give one example of where you would use a public cloud solution
Answer: Deploy a website or blog. The web-server is handled by the
cloud provider. You only worry about managing the site itself.
●● Give three disadvantages to using a public cloud model.
