CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam
Objectives
Exam Number: CV0-001
INTRODUCTION

The CompTIA Cloud+ certification is an internationally recognized validation of theknowledge required of IT practitioners working in cloud computing environments.
Test Purpose: This exam will certify that the successful candidate has the knowledge andskills required to understand standard Cloud terminologies/methodologies, to implement,
maintain, and deliver cloud technologies and infrastructures (e.g. server, network,storage, and virtualization technologies), and to understand aspects of IT security and useof industry best practices related to cloud implementations and the application ofvirtualization.
It is recommended for CompTIA Cloud+ candidates to have the following:• CompTIA Network+ and/or CompTIA Storage+ Powered by SNIA, though
CompTIA certifications are not required.
• Have at least 24-36 months of work experience in IT networking, network
storage, or data center administration.
• Familiarity with any major hypervisor technologies for server virtualization,
though vendor-specific certifications in virtualization are not required.
The table below lists the domains measured by this examination and the extent to which
they are represented.
Domain% of Examination

1.0 Cloud Concepts and Models
2.0 Virtualization

12%
19%
21%

3.0 Infrastructure
4.0 Resource Management
5.0 Security
6.0 Systems Management
7.0 Business Continuity in the Cloud
Total

13%
16%
11%
8%
100%

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Or verify against this list:
http://certification.comptia.org/Training/testingcenters/policies/unauthorized.aspx**Note: The lists of examples provided in bulleted format below each objective are not exhaustive lists.
Other examples of technologies, processes or tasks pertaining to each objective may also be included on theexam although not listed or covered in this objectives document.
CompTIA is constantly reviewing the content of our exams and updating test questions to be sure our
exams are current and the security of the questions is protected. When necessary, we will publish updated
exams based on existing exam objectives. Please know that all related exam preparation materials will still
be valid.
(A list of acronyms used in these objectives appears at the end of this document.)

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1.0 Cloud Concepts and Models
1.1 Compare and contrast cloud services.
• SaaS (according to NIST)• IaaS (according to NIST)• PaaS (according to NIST)• CaaS• XaaS• DaaS• BPaaS• Accountability and responsibility based on service models
1.2 Compare and contrast cloud delivery models and services.
• Private• Public• Hybrid• Community• On-premise vs. Off-premise hosting• Accountability and responsibility based on delivery models• Security differences between models
o Multitenancy issues
o Data segregationo Network isolationo Check laws and regulations• Functionality and performance validation based on chosen delivery
model• Orchestration platforms
1.3 Summarize cloud characteristics and terms.
• Elasticity• On-demand self serve/just in time service• Pay-as-you-grow• Chargeback• Ubiquitous access• Metering resource pooling• Multitenancy• Cloud bursting• Rapid deployment• Automation
1.4 Explain object storage concepts.
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•
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2.0

Object ID
Metadata
Data/blob
Extended metadata
Policies
Replicas
Access control

Virtualization
2.1 Explain the differences between hypervisor types.
• Type I and Type II
o Bare metal vs. OS dependanto Performance and overhead considerations
o Hypervisor specific system requirements• Proprietary vs. open source• Consumer vs. enterprise useo Workstation vs. infrastructure
2.2 Install, configure, and manage virtual machines and devices.
• Creating, importing, and exporting template and virtual machines• Install guest toolso Driveso Management tools• Snapshots and cloning• Image backups vs. file backups• Virtual NIC
o Virtual networko IP addresso Default gatewayo Netmasko Bridging• Virtual diskso Limitso SCSI/ATA ID• Virtual switcheso VLANo Interface configuration• VLANo Assign IDs

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o Bind interfaces• VSANo Assign IDs
2.3 Given a scenario, perform virtual resource migration.
• Establish requirements• Maintenance scheduling• Reasonso Performance issues
o Testingo Upgradingo Utilization• Storage migrationo Virtual vs. physical• Online vs. offline migrations• Physical to Virtual (P2V)• Virtual to Virtual (V2V)• Virtual to Physical (V2P)
2.4 Explain the benefits of virtualization in a cloud environment.
• Shared resources• Elasticity
o Time to service/mean time to implemento Resource poolingo Scalable
o Available
o Portable• Network and application isolation• Infrastructure consolidation• Virtual datacenter creation
2.5 Compare and contrast virtual components used to construct a cloudenvironment.
• Virtual network components
o Virtual NIC
o Virtual HBAo Virtual router• Shared memory• Virtual CPU• Storage Virtualizationo Shared storageo Clustered storage
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o NPIV

3.0

Infrastructure
3.1 Compare and contrast various storage technologies.
• Network Attached Storage (NAS)o File level accesso Shared storage• Direct Attached Storage (DAS)o Block level accesso Dedicated storage• Storage Area Network (SAN)o Block level accesso Shared storageo HBAso LUN maskingo Zoningo WWN
o Fiber channel protocols• Different access protocols
o FCoEo FC
o Ethernet
o iSCSI• Protocols and applications
o IP
o FCP
o iSCSI• Management differences
3.2 Explain storage configuration concepts.
• Disk types
o SSD vs. spinningo Interfaces typeso Access speed• Tieringo Performance levels of each tiero Policies• RAID levels

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o RAID 1
o RAID 0
o RAID 1+0
o RAID 0+1
o RAID 5
o RAID 6• File system types
o UFS
o EXT
o NTFSo FAT
o VMFSo ZFS
3.3 Execute storage provisioning.
• Creating LUNs
• Creating network shares• Zoning and LUN masking• Multipathing• Implications of adding capacity to a NAS and SAN
o Impact to operations
o Downtime
o Best practices
3.4 Given a scenario, implement appropriate network configurations.
• NAT
• PAT
• Subnetting/Supernetting• VLAN and VLAN tagging• Network port configurations• Switching and routing in physical and virtual environmentso Routing tables
3.5 Explain the importance of network optimization.
• WAN
• LAN
• MAN
• QoS
• Bandwidth• Latency• Compression• Caching
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• Load balancing• Devices on the same subnet
3.6 Given a scenario, troubleshoot basic network connectivity issues.
• Toolso pingo tracert/tracerouteo telnet
o netstato nslookup/dig
o ipconfig/ifconfig
o routeo arp• Review documentation and device configuration settings• Review system logs
3.7 Explain common network protocols, ports, and topologies.
• Trunk ports• Port binding/aggregation• Common ports
o 80
o 21
o 22
o 25
o 53
o 443
o 68
• Common protocols
o HTTPo FTP
o HTTPSo FTPSo SFTP
o SSH
o DNS
o DHCPo SMTP• Types of networks
o intranet
o extranet
o internet
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3.8 Explain common hardware resources and features used to enable virtualenvironments.
• BIOS/firmware configurations• Minimum memory capacity and configuration• Number of CPUs
• Number of Cores• NICs quantity, speeds, and configurations• Internal hardware compatibility• HBAs• Storage media
o Tapeo SSD
o USB
o Disk

4.0

Resource Management
4.1 Given a scenario, implement and use proper resource monitoring techniques.
• Protocols
o SNMPo WMIo IPMIo Syslog service• Alert methodso SMTPo SMS
o SNMPo Web services
o Syslog• Establish baselines and thresholds• Automated responses to specific events• Examine processes usage / resource usage
4.2 Given a scenario, appropriately allocate physical (host) resources using bestpractices.
• Memory• CPU• Storage and network allocation• Entitlement/quotas (shares)
o Hard limit

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o Soft limit• Reservations• Licensing• Resource pooling
4.3 Given a scenario, appropriately allocate virtual (guest) resources using bestpractices.
• Virtual CPU• Memory• Storage and network allocation• Entitlement/quotas (shares)• Hard limit, soft limit• Reservations, licensing• Dynamic resource allocation• Resource pooling• CPU affinity• Physical resource redirection and mapping to virtual resourceso Serialo USBo Parallel port mapping
4.4 Given a scenario, use appropriate tools for remote access.
• Remote hypervisor access
• RDP
• SSH
• Console port
• HTTP

5.0

Security
5.1 Explain network security concepts, tools, and best practices.
• ACLs• VPNs• IDS/IPS hardware/software-based firewalls• DMZ• Review / audit logs
• Attackso DDoSo Ping of deatho Ping flood

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5.2 Explain storage security concepts, methods, and best practices.
• Obfuscation• Access Control Lists• Zoning• LUN masking• User and host authentication• Review/audit logs
5.3 Compare and contrast different encryption technologies and methods.
• PKI• IPSEC• SSL/TLS• Ciphers
o AES
o 3DES
o RSA
o DSA
o RC4
o RC5
• Encryption for data in transit and encryption for data at rest
5.4 Identify access control methods.
• Role-based administration• Mandatory access controls• Discretionary access controls• Multifactor authentication• Single sign-on• Federation
5.5 Implement guest and host hardening techniques.
• Disabling unneeded ports and services• User credentials
o Changing default passwords• Host-based/software firewalls• Antivirus software• Patching• Deactivating default accounts

6.0

Systems Management

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6.1 Explain policies and procedures as they relate to a cloud environment.
• Network and IP planning/documentation• Configuration standardization and documentation• Change management best practices
o Documentationo Configuration control
o Asset accountability
o Approval process
o Back-out plan
• Configuration managemento CMDBo Approval process
o Configuration control• Capacity managemento Monitoring for changes
o Trending• Systems life cycle management• Maintenance windowso Server upgrades and patches
6.2 Given a scenario, diagnose, remediate and optimize physical host
performance.
• Disk performance• Disk tuning• Disk latency• Swap disk space• I/O tuning• Performance management and monitoring tools• Establish baseline and create documentation with appropriate tools• Hypervisor configuration best practices
o Memory ballooningo I/O throttlingo CPU wait time
• Impact of configuration changes to the virtual environment• Common issues
o Disk failureo HBA failure
o Memory failure
o NIC failure
o CPU failure
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6.3 Explain common performance concepts as they relate to the host and theguest.
• IOPS• Read vs. write files• File system performance• Metadata performance• Caching• Bandwidth• Throughput (bonding/teaming)• Jumbo frames• Network latency• Hop counts• QoS• Multpathing• Load balancing• Scalingo Vertical vs. horizontal vs. diagonal
6.4 Implement appropriate testing techniques when deploying cloud services.
• Test replication• Test latency• Test bandwidth• Test load balancing• Test application servers• Test storage• Test application delivery• Service performance testing and application performance testing• Penetration testing• Vulnerability assessment• Separation of duties during testing

7.0

Business Continuity in the Cloud
7.1 Compare and contrast disaster recovery methods and concepts.
• Redundancy• Failover• Geographical diversity• Failback

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Replication
Site mirroring
Hot siteCold site
Warm site
Backup and recovery
Archiving and offsite storage
Replication typeso Synchronouso Asynchronous
• RTO
• RPO
• MTBF• MTTR• Mission critical requirements
7.2 Deploy solutions to meet availability requirements.
• Fault toleranceo High availability
o Local clustering /geoclusteringo Non-high availability resources• Multipathing• Load balancing
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CompTIA Cloud+ Acronyms
Introduction
The following is a list of acronyms which appear on the CompTIA Cloud+ exams. Candidates areencouraged to review the complete list and attain a working knowledge of all listed acronyms as a part of acomprehensive exam preparation program.

Acronym
ACL
API
APM
ATA
BCP
BIA
BIOS
BMR
BPaaS
BUN
C2C
C2D
CAB
CAN
CaaS
CAS
CIIS
CMDB
CNACOLO
COOP
CRL
CRM
CSP
D2C
DaaS
DAC
DAS
DBaaS
DBMS
DCB
DHCP
DMZ
DNS
DRP

Spelled Out
Access Control List
Application Programming Interface
Application Performance Monitor
Advanced Technology Attachment
Bridge Control Protocol
Business Impact Analysis
Basic Input/Output System
Bare Metal Restore
Business Process as a Service
Backup Network
Cloud to Cloud
Cloud to Database
Change Advisory Board
Campus Area Network
Communication as a Service / Computing as a Service
Content Addressed Storage
Client Integration Implementation Service
Configuration Management Database
Converged Network Adapter
Co-Location
Continuity of Operations Plan
Certificate Revocation List
Customer Relationship Management
Content Service Provider
Datacenter to Cloud
Data as a Service
Discresionary Access Control
Direct Attached Storage
Database as a Service
Database Management Server
Datacenter Bridging
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
Demilitarized Zone
Domain Name Service
Disaster Recovery Plan

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FC
FCIP
FCoE
FTP
ftps
GPT
GUI
HA
HAV
HBA
HTTPS
IaaS
ICMP
IDS
IFCP
IPMI
IPS
IQN
ISP
iSCSI
ISNS
JBOD
KVM
L2TP
LAN
LUN
MAC
MAN
MBR
MDF
MSP
MTBF
MTTF
MTTR
MTU
NAS
NFS
NIS
NNTP
NOC
NPIV
OLA
OSD
P2P
P2V
PaaS
PAT
PIT
QA
RAID

Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel over IP
Fibre Channel over Ethernet
File Transfer Protocol
FTP over SSL
GUID Partition Table
Graphical User Interface
High Availability
Hardware Assisted Virtualization
Host Bus Adapter
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
Infrastructure as a Service
Internet Control Management Protocol
Intrusion Detection System
Internet Fibre Channel Protocol
Intelligent Platform Management Interface
Intrusion Protection system
Initiator Qualified Name
Internet Service Provider
Internet SCSIInternet Storage Name Service
Just of bunch of Disks
Keyboard Video Mouse
Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol
Local Area Network
Logical Unit Number
Mandatory Access Control
Metropolitan Area Network
Master Boot Record
Main Distribution Facility
Managed Service Provider
Mean Time Between Failure
Mean Time To Failure
Mean Time To Recovery
Maximum Transmission Unit
Network Attached Storage
Network File System
Network Information Service
Network News Transport Protocol
Network Operations Center
N_Port ID Virtualization
Operational Level Agreement
Object Storage Device
Physical to PhysicalPhysical to Virtual
Platform as a Service
Port Address Translation
Point-in-Time backup or snapshot
Quality Assurance
Redundant Array of Inexpensive DisksCompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives 16 of 19
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RBAC
PBX
RDP
RIP
RPO
RTO
SaaS
SAN
SAS
SATA
SCSI
SDLC
SFTP
SLA
SNMP
SSD
SSH
SSO
TCO
TTD
UAT
UDP
UPS
UTA
V2P
V2V
VAT
VCPU
VLAN
VM
VNIC
VPN
VRAM
VSAN
Vswitch
VTL
WAN
WMI
WWNN
WWPN
XaaS

Role-based Access Control
Public Branch Exchange
Remote Desktop Protocol
Routing Information Protocol
Recovery Point Objective
Recovery Time Objectives
Software as a Service
Storage Area Network
Serial Attached SCSI
Serial ATA
Small Computer System Interface
Software Development Life Cycle
Secure FTP
Service Level Agreement
Simple Network Management Protocol
Solid State Disk
Secure Shell
Single Sign-On
Total Cost of Operations
Technical Training Device
Universal Access Transceiver
Universal Diagram Protocol
Universal Power Supply
Universal Target Adapter
Virtual to Physical
Virtual to Virtual
Virtual Allocation Table
Virtual CPU
Virtual LAN
Virtual Machine
Virtual NIC
Virtual Private Network
Virtual RAM
Virtual SAN
Virtual Switch
Virtual Tape Library
Wide Area Network
Windows Management Implementation
WorldWide Node NameWorldWide Port Nameanything as a Service

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Suggested Classroom Equipment to have for Cloud+ Certification Training** CompTIA has included this sample list of hardware and software to assist candidates as they
prepare for the Cloud+ exam. This list may also be helpful for training companies who wish to
create a lab component to their training offering. The bulleted lists below each topic are a sample
list and not exhaustive.

Equipment• Router• Firewall• SAN/NAS/DAS/HBA• At least two servers• Multiple PCs• Switch• Tablets/PDAs/Phones
Spare parts/hardware• Keyboard, mouse, monitors• CAT6• Spare drives• Spare bare-metal servers• Fiber cable• Spare HBA• Spare CD/DVDs
Tools
•
•
•
•

Screw drivers
Crimping tool
Network sniffer
Server administrative software tools

Software• Network sniffer• Port scanner
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•
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Hypervisor (Type I, Type II)
Client and Server OS
Various Internet browsers
Hypervisor management software
Database software
Network management software

Other
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Internet access
Remote access to cloud service providers (free services)
Administrative tools (Admin pack)Self-service provisioning portal

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